what is Miller Cricket worth/my first welds!

[1971ford]

I need a welder for body work on the '69 and the '71. I also plan to use it for offroad bumpers, light rack, roof racks etc. But not for the roll cage in the '71.

The boss at the welding shop i work at had this laying around, so he had me do some welds with it and i have the owners manual with me right now. He wants me to find out what its worth so we can get a price figured out. What is it worth? i cant find anyone selling one on the internet. Its a 115v MIller Cricket, i was using it with argon/c02. i will be getting a bottle of my own once i get the money


Today i used it and these are the first few welds (4th/5th welds) i have ever done with a welder. I think my beads/penetration was pretty good for first time holding a gun.




I grabbed some scrap metal that were the same thickness as .120 wall and tried my best to penetrate the metal (turned wire speed down, power at full, and slowly making the bead) and it was very close to penetrating the thickness but did not fully do it. Maybe someone experienced could of though.

[flyboy2610]

You don't have to penetrate the full thickness of the metal. The plant I work at is a supplier for Honda Motors. I do inspection/rework welding. The minimum penetration required by Honda, on seat parts that are important to safety, is 5% penetration. The plant's certification requirement for a welder, and what we shoot for for robotic welds, is 20% penetration.
At 5%, the metal will fail before the weld does.

[1971ford]

You don't have to penetrate the full thickness of the metal. The plant I work at is a supplier for Honda Motors. I do inspection/rework welding. The minimum penetration required by Honda, on seat parts that are important to safety, is 5% penetration. The plant's certification requirement for a welder, and what we shoot for for robotic welds, is 20% penetration.
At 5%, the metal will fail before the weld does.

allright, so the welders got to be a fair match to .120wall

[oldschoolrods]

PM or post the serial number of the machine and I can tell you what year it is. The latest owners manual out is for a 1991 year machine, so I'd say its probably worth $150-200 depending on the shape of the machine, pics would help.

[1971ford]

i was on another welder forum trying to find information with the search tool, and one guy said it would be about $150-200 as well.
I should of got a picture but i didnt have the camera.

the owners manual says "June 1990"
the owners manual also says "affective witih Serial No. JK716660

Thanks. Right now im thinking of a price of $175. Any more info would be great.

[Ranchero50]

Welds look ok, moving a bit slow (welds humped up), do J hooks of figure eights and it'll look better. Less heat. Most welders set the heat and wire speed about the same (1/4-1/4, 1/2-1/2, etc) as a good starting point.

The J hook do a 3/8" line on the base and then whip back to the base of your line and make a J hook up to the other peice of metal, drop back to the base and go 1/4" further then J hook it again. Works great for welding thick to thin or good to bad metal. Keep the base line on the good or thick part and hook up to the soft or thin part. The dims are for lower settings, higher settings or larger wire make you line and hook longer.

Figure eight or 'S' pattern spreads the weld between to peices that are equal. Just as you move the gun wiggle the tip in a figure eight motion so you are flashing the weld bead from one peice to the other. Again, thinner metal gets smaller movements.

Push and pull are important too. Pushing the gun with the wire aimed foreward gives better penetration, but also more splatter. Use it for structural stuff (3/16-1/4" with .023 wire) Pulling (or dragging) the gun lets you build on the old weld so you can weld thinner material.

Finally for real thin stuff and rusty / cracked sheetmetal hold the gun really still and blip the trigger for a split second spot weld, then wait two -three seconds and hit it again. Move around 1/16-1/8" before each hit. Also worked very well for poorly cut butt joints in floors and exhaust pipe.

Jamie

[oldschoolrods]

JK is a 1989 serial number. $175 sounds like a fair price to me. I just recently bought a small tig welder off ebay of around that vintage for $175. Sounds like a good score.

[1971ford]

Jamie, thanks for the tips! once i bring it home and get some gas im going to have to get alot of scrap metal to practice on. Im going to print out your reply and other site's welding tips so i know what technique to use for what, and how to correctly do it.

Oldschoolrods, thanks. $175 it is.

[1971ford]

Here it is
cururently waiting on a bottle


i also need a new thing of wire. this one is full of dust and i want the .23 stuff.