Topic: Welders Thread

[Aaron J Williams]

For MIG I use a Hobart handler 135 which is a 110v argon/ArCo shielded gun and it works great. I've used it pretty regular for 5 years without any problems. Before I had that I used (tried to use) a Century 110 flux wire gun and it totally sucked. Buy a Hobart or Miller gun, they are worth the extra money IMHO.

[fuzzybutt]

i use a lincoln pro140. it can be set up for flux, mig (it comes with the hoses and regulator, just add tank) and it can also be used to weld aluminum. i paid 479 dollars for it at lowes. it plugs into 110-125v house current.

[mark]

I had a 110v toy mig and it stunk. Wasted $350 , basically. Bought a Lincoln Wire-Matic 255 about a dozen years back and it has been worth every dime of that $1600.... Found a new-looking 30 year old Miller 250 AC-DC stick welder at a yard sale for $300 and it is the smoothest stick machine I have used yet. MSRP on the same model was $1700 a coupla years ago. Ya gets what ya pays fer.

[Spikeybike]

if your looking for home use (110v) get one that can run both flux core and mig. that way if you run out of gas you can just switch the wire and change the polarity,(not hard on little welders)

i swear by miller welders,  never used a northern , but there hand tools are famous for being sub par.

you get what you pay for

[mrblasty]

I've used the above mentioned Hobart extensively for several years and I would have to say it's probably the best bang for the buck.

[edbikerii]

I've got a Hobart Handler 135, too.  I like it, but I don't get the chance to use it as much as I'd like.

[mark]

I use the Lincoln all the time. It's like the ultimate hot-glue gun for steel!
I found a CO2 bottle at another yard sale for $5. It didn't say 'Property of XXX Soda Pop Co.' so the gas store swapped for a full one and a receipt with the 'customer owned cylinder' box checked. That kinda balanced the price of the Ar/CO2 mixed gas bottle. They were proud of that one. The dinky bottle from the toy mig deal got swapped for straight argon for aluminum work. Need more practice there. Some of the welds on my bumper look like a pigeon crapped on it.

The Lincoln handled all of the welding on the #73 truck project easily. The cooling fan even kicked on a few times to let me know it still works. 2 full seasons and I've torn some metal up but the welds have held!
I did most of the trailer with the stick for practice and because it was outdoors and the wind was blowing away the mig gas.

'Duty Cycle' is important to note. The little mig was like 25% at 100 amps or so. Weld for 2-1/2 minutes in 10. Big Red and Big Blue are both rated around 30-35% at 250A and 100% at around 125-140A. The Lincoln can lay a continuous bead on thin stuff until gas or wire run out or my arm falls off.

[Terry in Australia]

Over here in Oz normal household current is 240V, (single phase) and industrial stuff uses 415 volt. (3 phase)

I bought a 200 amp MIG after farting around with a toy 120 amp for a few years (great for panel steel, but not much else) and it's so good I sold my 160 amp ARC welder, and I only use my Oxy/Acetylene rig for bending steel or brazing.

I'm not sure if you can run a bigger MIG off your 115 volt household supply, but if you can, my advice would be to buy the biggest one you can afford.

I've only used fluxed wire on a friends portable 120 amp MIG once (welding in patch panels on a car) and for someone who takes a little pride in my work, it wasn't a happy experience............ 

[kghost]

Over here in Oz normal household current is 240V, (single phase) and industrial stuff uses 415 volt. (3 phase)

I bought a 200 amp MIG after farting around with a toy 120 amp for a few years (great for panel steel, but not much else) and it's so good I sold my 160 amo ARC welder, and I only use my Oxy/Acetylene rig for bending steel or brazing.

I'm not sure if you can run a bigger MIG off your 115 volt household supply, but if you can, my advice would be to buy the biggest one you can afford.

I've only used fluxed wire on a friends portable 120 amp MIG once (welding in patch panels on a car) and for someone who takes a little pride in my work, it wasn't a happy experience............ 

Well Said Terry..

I have a miller 200 syncrowave.

I'd rather be over machined then under but the Miller Tig does 5-200 amps. Square wave technology and everything

[78 k550]

I do it as a hobby on my 4x4's.
Got a smoking deal few years back never used miller 175 and auto tint helmet and gauges for bottle $500. I had to run 220 in the garage, but well worth it. I will never need to step up unless building a ship  LOL

Paul

[rachet]

I had always dreamed of owning my own welder (now I'm dreaming of a plasma cutter  ) and finally bought a Miller 175 a couple years back.  It is a 240v unit but I had no trouble installing a big enough breaker and running the correct wire and plug for it.  It can weld up to 1/4 inch and while that's really over kill for motorcycles it sure gets the job done!  I don't remember the exact cost, but with tanks/gas, Helmet, and other little doo-dads I know it cleared a thousand dollars easily.  The selling point over a Lincoln is a small piece that is metal on the Miller, and Plastic on the Lincoln.  I believe it's where the Hose connects to the unit.

She's been faithful.

Rachet~

[rbmgf7]

ok, so i've been craigslisting it up lately and came across a hobart handler 135 and lincoln 3200 (the home depot package. similar to the hobarts specs.). the hobart is $300 and the lincoln is $325, but the lincoln is closer. they work out equally after the price of driving.

i stopped by the local farm store and took a look at their welders. they carry hobart 140 and 180s, lincoln weld pack 100, and clarke 135s. i was suprised to see the clark was only $300 with cart, gloves, helmet, and spools. however, it is only flux so i need the mig kit. anyone have any experience with clarke brand welders? the hobart 140 is nearly doubled the clarkes price. something tells me the quality of the clarkes is less than par?

[KB02]

So, as my project progresses and I start to think of other projects in the future, I have started to look at buying a welder. since I am a cheap ba$turd, I have, of course, been looking at lower prices.

For the most part I have been looking at wire feed mig welders. I stopped buy Sears the other day and they had one that was non-gas shielded. The gas shielded one next to it was far more expensive.
So here is my question:
     My plan is to do some exhaust work, and some slight frame modifications, and in the future I see some Frame construction welding Steel and stainless steel (not on a SOHC, but other things - so I'm thinking of the future as well). So will a non-gas shielded welder be okay, or should I spend the extra cash and get a gas shielded one?

I know the basics behind the gas shielding is to form a stronger weld as it keeps the O2 away from the molten metal to form a tighter bond, but do I need to worry about it for what I want?

[troppo]

G`day mate
Gassless mig is lower quality than gas mig, unless you are trying to weld in a wind tunnel dont bother with it, the extra you spend on your welder and gas will come back in the quality of welds.
If your looking at anything structural (frame for example) you need a decent weld, you could be betting your life on it.
Gassless has its place but i`ve never found it to be of the same standard as gas shielded mig welding.
The choice is yours in the end, it depends on what sort of welding you want to do.

[754]

Sounds like the basic one wont cut it for you.. You get what you pay for.. get a good one it will serve you well..

[BlindJoe]

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00920580000P?vName=Tools&cName=ElectricalShop&sName=Welders&psid=FROOGLE01&sid=IDx20070921x00003a

      I just bought this one a couple weeks ago, it can be used with flux core or gas. I've only used it with the flux core so far and it's worked great, the welds weren't the prettiest but that wasn't my concern, I will probably switch to gas when I start welding on my 550 frame. I shopped around for awhile and this was the best bargain I could find. Owning a welder is great, you'll be able to fix things you would never even consider fixing before.

[mark]

I bought one of those cute little welders when they first came out.......

Should have spent the $300 on cocaine and prostitutes instead.



The big Lincoln cost 5X as much and I haven't regretted it for a second.

... You get what you pay for.. get a good one it will serve you well..

[smccloud]

my dad has a flux core welder that can be converted to gas, he hasn't seen a reason to do that yet.  he even welded a 8.5' by 12' trailer with it and the damn trailer didn't even flinch with my 750K2, myself, my dad, and my brother (all of us are over 200lbs with my dad and i being well over that).

[rbmgf7]

get a MIG (GMAW if you want to be p.c.). you'll get a little better penetration with a gas over flux, resulting in a stronger weld. yes, the argon/co2 mix keeps the impurities from contaminating your weld. you can't weld with mig wire without gas (you can but good luck).

my best advice is to camp on craigslist and get a hobart, miller, or lincoln mig/flux. i've used mostly lincoln and it's good stuff. i used a hobart (owned by miller) and those are a good welder as well. i've also used some cheap harbor freight stuff, and yes, you get what you pay for.

a 125 should be all you need. start with flux and when you are ready for gas, look for a local welding/gas supplier. i'd try and stay away from airgas. their prices are crazy high.

[78 k550]

I would go with the gas.
I was told that flux core wire is better penetration because it burns hotter? Is that true.
I started welding with gas and never really used flux core wire. Here it is about 45.00 for a bottle of argon/co2. might be more have not bought one for a few years.
I use a Miller 175.

Paul

[754]

I have to mention, that when i see stuff like maybe weld a bike frame, that is a whole different world than building a utility trailer (not that terrible things cant go wrong with them).

But a bike frame is not an item to be playing or learning on..IMO


Auctions can be a great source for welders, but I have to stress.. YOU MUST KNOW what you are buying.... repeat, must know what you are buying..

Personally I cant see buying a lower end machine and expecting stellar results..

[PJ]

You can achieve a nice weld with flux core wire if you do *good* prep before welding. The clean up after the weld is also alot more work, small projects are not a problem but alot of welding equals alot of clean up. Some people leave the mess on there but you never really get a good look at the weld if you do. My advice is buy the welder that you think will do the job.... then upgrade that by one. You'll never have too much. I have a Miller, 175amp/220v and had to run an outlet in the garage. I can't really take it anywhere because 220v outlets are always a problem. It would have been much easier to have a 140amp 110v welder.

[rhinoracer]

C'mon guys, weld quality has little or nothing to do with the type of welder (gas vs flux core). Skyscraper building structures are to this day still being welded by arc all over the world.

I bought my miller mig 12 years ago and honestly prefer to use flux cored wire on all but the finest jobs, I would say 1 spool of gas wire vs. 2 dozen spools of flux wire. If you're learning to weld, flux core will be easier too since there are less variables to sort out.

Since you mentioned the word cheap, I would go for a used quality welder like miller, lincoln, etc. than a cheap new one. And by the way for stainless you'll need a TIG not a MIG.

[coyotecowboy]

Get what you can afford (save your pennies and get more than you need though)  The argon is easy enough to set up, I just run 75/25 and set it at 28 to 30 lbs and go to work.  The main thing is to practice practice practice!!!  Did I mention practice?  Arc welders (and flux-core jobs) have their place, construction, oilfield and the farm.  If you're in a shop and don't have to fight the wind, gas-shielded will be a better bet.

[masonryman]

You can weld stainless, aluminum and mild steel with a wire feed welder.

 1. flux care wire can make a Very nice looking weld with enough heat which is not only controlled by the temp but also by the wire speed therefore the wire dia is important.
 2. to weld stainless you need a trigon gas set up, for aluminum you need helium. Aluminum dissipates heat very quickly so you have to pre heat to get the weld to lay down

I am currently using a Millermatic 130 with a argon co2 mix for most of my welding, it is a 110 unit. Depending on the wire size, ranging from .23-.35, you can weld for very thin to 3/8 steel.