Wire feed welding setup is great, and there are a few good online
tutorials, some with video, for learning it.
For a rusty old mower deck, a flux core welder would work great ( the
actual MIG welders with shielding gas will give cleaner welds on new or
clean material, but for old rusty stuff, the the flux core can
generally work better. I've got a gas setup, but I'll pop the flux core
wire in when working on rusty old stuff or out in a high wind ) Of
course, having it is half the job, need to remember to use it ( the deck
on my riding mower gave out about a month ago, i've got some serious
restructuring to do on that thing )
Yours sounds alot like mine. If you weld a few pieces of heavier strap
across it to give it some structure, then weld a thin plate over that to
keep the grass from building up, you'll be in good shape.
----------Robert
Allan Streib wrote:
Think this was hashed through recently, but since I was not really in
the market I glossed over the thread.
I have an old Wheel Horse lawn tractor. The mower deck hangs from the
a lift mechanism under the tractor by a bracket that is bolted to the
deck.
The deck sheet metal must be slightly too thin, because over the years
metal fatigue has caused the bolts to pull through the deck, taking a
small section of the deck with them.
The deck is otherwise sound, and the tractor is otherwise built like a
tank and very reliable, so I'm thinking of trying to grind the
fatigued area back to solid metal and weld in a patch.
I've never done any welding, but I can foresee that having a welder
could be very handy. Plus for the cost of a new deck for the mower I
could probably come very close to buying a welder. So I am wondering
what might be a good welder to start off with. My garage is already
equipped with a 240 outlet.
I've heard that TIG welders have more flexibility but are harder to
learn. Would a wire-feed MIG unit be a good choice? How hard is it
to learn from books/video?
Allan
