thanks.

Welcome back and welcome to ArtMetal...hope we can help to inspire and motivate you . There are a lot of amazing people here. Some have so much knowledge and are willing to share...If you are ever in NY, my studio is 2hrs away from NYC. You can come sweep my floors anytime!!! SteelyJan

thank u im on my way

Martiin,
Hellow man, and welcome to the site too!
I`ve checked some of your work (some problems with Internet here) and its very nice. I`ll comment more specific as I get to see all your pics. Hope this will be a great learning and sharing experience for you and all...Nelson.

Thanks Nelson, I'll find some pictures and I'll post them. Thanks to all of you for the support and warm welcome

Welcome, Motu, I am sure you will really enjoy getting back to metal. I'll leave the welder and electric info to those that are better informed than I am. Before you buy too much equipment, you might want to check out your local college for classes. Here in Prescott, Az, our junior college has a great metal sculpture program, as well as technical welding classes. That is how I started. I am now exploring some blacksmithing classes and workshops. The equipment is somewhat different for both disciplines, so you want to know what direction you want to go before you but too much stuff. Pieh Tool Company, based near us in AZ, has a web site with lots of blackmith and farrier tools. www.piehtoolco.com Good luck. Lin

Hi Motu, the sqr hole in the anvil is called a hardy hole and the tools that go in them might be called "hardy tools", but im not sure.

The small 220 welders would probably be a good bet as long as you weren't going to keep pushing the machine all day. The 70' run would probably be ok with them as well as long as you didn't have the amps maxed out on the cord. There are charts online that will answer that.

As for the plasma, I have hypertherm 600 and i love it. I certainly wouln't run it on a 70' extension cord though.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

Hey Motu, I think a Miller 180 is a very good choice. I bought mine about 2 1/2 years ago and it works beautiful. I have never had a problem with it and it is portable enough to carry it around.

Motu, The square hole in the anvil is, indeed, called a "hardy" hole as Jake said. It is used to hold a tool called a hardie that is a chisel-shaped tool used for cutting hot steel. It is also used for holding any number of bottom tools such as swages, fullers, stakes, dies, bick irons, etc. Look online for "The Blacksmith's Craft" a publication of The Council on Small Industries in Rural Areas, in England. You can find it here: Blacksmith's Craft  It will tell you most of what you need to know about anvil tooling.

On your welder:  A Miller 180 is a great little MIG.  I have one and love it for general purpose welding and jig making.  If you're going to run it on a 70 foot extension cord, you'll need a very hefty cord.  At least 10 gauge, and 6 gauge would be better andmake the welder much happier.  I have a sixty foot run form the breaker panel to my welder and I have 8 gauge wire which is just adequate bu tleaves no margin for adding an extension cord.  The manual that comes with the welder will tell you what wire size to use and you should follow their recommendation.

As for plasma, I can only say that plasma cutting is a messy job and I prefer to sub that work out.  I use O/A for heavy cutting and a bandsaw for cuts on stock under about 1/2".  Much less cleanup that way.  Your mileage may vary.  :-)

Hello Motu and welcome,
I have a passport, but I would suggest a regular 180 also. I bought my passport for instalations and such, we now use it in the shop also and they weld realy smooth, but unless you need a portable unit it's not worth the money.
for the plasma I also think the best unit on the market is the hypertherm 600, had one but had to sell it in order to get the 1000 for the cnc. for hand cutting the 600 has the best torch size to amp rate ratio.
and as Rich said, don't skimp on the power cord.
Matt

I appreciate all the help!!