Welders

[bowtiemonster]

Not being to familiar with welders but, wanting to know.

Which one is a good one for a beginner that can keep up with someone that is experience?

I have done some welding and would like to try doing it again, just wondering what I should be looking for in a welder and what you would suggest.

[VWMMP]

Re: Welders

Last year I decided to buy a MIG welder and researched quite a bit. Everyone that had experience recommended to buy a lincoln or Miller. I ended up with a lincoln MIG. After a year I know realize that I should have saved longer and purchased a TIG welder. Again everyone ends up recomending a Lincoln or Miller.

[milner351]

Re: Welders

It really depends on what you want to do, and how much welding you're going to do on what thickness of material.

Migs are very easy to use - work great for body work / sheetmetal up through about 3/16" steel for the smaller machines.

If portability is critical - buy a 110v machine - it won't do the heavier stuff.

I would stay away from a flux core machine - they are great for outdoor work that doesn't need to be pretty, but they are frustrating to work with on finer projects. Gas and solid wire makes nicer welds.

TIG is another category all together - it takes a lot more practice and a finer touch - it also requires a much more expensive machine - but you can do more with it, and do finer work.

In order to weld aluminum you either need a spool gun with aluminum wire for a mig, or, the preferred method - a tig with AC ability. You can't weld aluminum with DC.

I would say you're better off buying a good macine (lincoln miller hobart) used, as you'll get more machine for less money.

I have an ancient SP200 lincoln mig - and I've never had an issue with it.
I too have a TIG and a plasma cutter on my wish list - but I'm not ready to spend a grand or more on either just yet.

[KeithTurk]

Re: Welders

I've been lucky enough to acquire all three... a Mig, Tig , and a plasma cutter... all Lincolns...

Mig 110V
has been updated twice... and is currently a SP135... ( it's the only one I'd recommend... and I've welded the snot out of 3/8ths in plate... just gotta take your time...

Tig is a 175 squarewave. ( had it 10 yrs and I still suck at it.. )
Fine for what ails ya... doesn't have a water cooler and that sucks after about 10 minutes of Aluminum welding... but again ya go slow and it's more then adequate..

Plasma cutter is a Pro Cut 55 ( I think ) it's the second one... I learned the hard way that they have to have GOOD clean air.. so filter it right before the unit with a paper filter you can see.

Ahhh and the Gas Bottles.... my favorite and most effective welding tools in the shop... Guys you don't need any of that other stuff up there if you can operate a torch... weld aluminum and do super quality header work... Trust me.. they did all this to every car made prior to WW2 with a freaking gas welder to include building all those airplanes that fought... so why do we have to have this other fancy junk? ( Cause it's faster is why and we're to stupid to have maintained the skills required )

Keith

[RacerRick]

Re: Welders

I have a couple of lincolns and a no-name Plasma cutter.

The 110v lincoln is an ancient MigPak 10 setup with gas usually, but right now its setup for flux to be portable since I have the bigger one at the shop. Great little machine.

I also have a SP200 Lincoln at the shop. It works great. Its about 6 years old. I have a spool gun and want to try it out some time on some aluminum. I use this one 99% of the time.

Other than routine maintainanc, neither unit has ever needed anything.

The plasma cutter is another storey. Always put a filter and water trap on the machine itself. It popped about 5 times from water condensing in the air lines.

[milner351]

Re: Welders

I have a two stage ingersol 7.5hp compressor with an 80 gallon vertical tank, coupled to an additional 60 gallon tank for additional capacity (sand blasting cabinets use A TON of air).

I went through all the trouble of running black iron pipe through most of the shop, I put in drain valves, I pull all my supply air running it up from the main line then making a u turn and coming down to the outlet....

I also have an auto drain valve on the tank.

I STILL get a good bit of rusty water in some places - is the only answer to use a huge expensive dryer?
I know the paint guys spend good money on dryers to make sure they don't end up with water in the paint job.... but I can't see running a huge dryer all the time - and they aint cheap.

any suggestions?

[RacerRick]

Re: Welders

Water traps at the end of the lines. They are cheap and only need to be emptied every now and them.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: Welders

Keith you would have loved it, : after Drag Weeks wheel stand, I knew the limiter would go thru the header tube and it did. :'(  Sooooooo I got out the gas torch and a coat hanger and welded the two holes up, after finishing it the guys in the shop where watching I told them OLD School baby, they laughed and a older guy in the shop said he had not seen that done for years, I told him you just got to do that kind of stuff once in a while LOL ( I will retube it this winter, and tig it then).

[Stoneshrink]

Re: Welders

I used do a lot of light guage welding (building Stainless steel commercial kitchen equipment), and will not own anything but a Miller - I own two, a MIG 135 that I just got a couple years ago, and a 220v powersource that my dad bought in 1970 and still works great (TIG, Arc). Lincolns are decent machines but their drive systems on their small MIG bluntly suck, and stay far far away from their Costco/Home depot welders.

[Eric68]

Re: Welders

Its nice to see someone else that likes their 110V MIG Keith I have a Hobart 140 and have done fairly thick plate with it too. I LOVE the portability of the 110 V stuff.

[milner351]

Re: Welders

My brother in law is one of the best welders I've ever seen, he and I built my tilt bed trailer - or should I say overbuilt it.
the damned thing weighs 3500lb empty.
i think his decision to make the entire bed out of a single sheet of 3/16" plate weighing 1100lb was just a tad over the top... and the frame is I beam, 2 7000lb dexter torsion axles with brakes, yea, overbuilt.

ANYWAY -- his shop is all blue - Miller all the way, he prefers the high end power source seperate from the wire feed set up.

He welds for a living and is certified for all types of welding at DOW / DOW Corning - stainless, oxygen pipes, caustic pipes, etc, etc.

His arc/stick beads look as good as mine with a MIG.... it all takes practice.

Someday I'll have a miller TIG machine, I really enjoy welding aluminum and stainless -- stainless welds like butta!

[milkovich]

Re: Welders

I have a 110 lincoln mig that has given me no problems whatsoever but it wasn't a big box store unit (I didn't know there was a difference) but I love the stinking thing because it's so easy and handy.

I bought a squarewave 175 and immediately moved out of that house and lost the 220 outlets.

When I was a kid, everything was a stick arc welder and I've put sheetmetal patches on with the harris torchset and a coat hanger (not pretty but functional).

I've heard you can weld aluminum with a mig if the sheath is teflon coated instead of needing a spool gun? Are they blowing smoke?

[Narider]

Re: Welders

Biiggest thing is what do you want to weld and how much do you want to spend?

I've got a 110 Lincoln wire feed that makes a great arc welder and a mig welder (on unimix for steel and straight Argon for aluminum), Oxy/Acet setup including a Henrob 2000(that can cut cleaner then a plasma cutter and weld beer cans together if you're capable of it), a 110 Hobart plasma cutter with onboard compressor, and a 220v welding oven.
Not much I can't weld from mild, moly, and stainless to a good bit of cast iron and aluminum(the aluminum's good integrity wise, jsut not visually), aluminum that I'm not going to be machining down or need pretty looking vibration proof welds for liquid tanks and such I take to my buddy(until I invest in a tig someday).

My advice starting out(especially if concentrating on mild and stainless steel alot) would be a 135-175amp wire feed (that'll run AC & DC and flux core and solid on gas like 75/25) that you can keep as time goes by to have as a easy and quick access unit when/if you decide to upgrade. Oxy/Acet is mandatory for so many things, especially if welding any even slightly porous material(cast) so you can use it to keep things hot when you weld it and less hot as you cool it.

I'm certainly no welder, but there's VERY little I have to send out and have repair many of cast iron heads & cylinders, and aluminum sand cast cases & pressure formed or billet heads, built swingarms and done frame mods for anything from dirtbikes and wheelie prone Harleys, to handling the smooth concrete of the Maxton mile.
Todd
Ohh yeah, number one tool is get alot of scrap and spend as much time as you can figuring out what doens't work.

[KeithTurk]

Re: Welders

Like I said this wasn't my first stab at the small wire welder... The key in Lincoln units is the SP designation.. there are others like the Voltage's that are designed for low end sales in high volume and they cost like that too...

I've always found that the fella that makes money on my gas and supplies is OFTEN interested in my welder business as well as supplies... so..

Personally I don't think there's two cents difference between high end welders... Lincoln, Hobart, Miller... Whatever your local company deals in ... is most likely what you oughta buy...

And a damn Gas welding set up... read books ... practice... buy some Harris 1070 Aluminum brazing flux and give it a whirl... or ask me how to do it... and I'll lie like a banshee ... cause I really suck at it... but it won't be the first welding I suck at...

K

[HEMI]

Re: Welders

I always said that I would never buy a mig,welds seem too brittle,but I like their versitility.Anyway I bought one on ebay.Seller said it was NIB Millermatic 140.Never opened.Got it last Fri. at 6:00p.m.Seller was honest,but when I opened box,it turned out to be Miller's newest,most expensive model.He didn't know what he had.Spent $500.00.Glad I bought it now.