Welding

Leo Voisine

Member
Messages
5,703
Location
East Freeetown, Massachusetts
I am thinking about buying a welder.

I don't need or want anything fancy

I want simple to use - easy to learn.

I am thinking mostly for my signs. \

I will be welding light steel box steel tube - 1" square

I will weld rebar, and the concrete mesh to rebar.

MAYBE - aluminum - MAYBE

I don't really want to spend a lot of money

220 is ok - 110 is ok

What is good and what is not

What are the Pro's and Con's
 
I had a little 120volt generic mig and was never happy with it.

Upgraded to a Lincoln 180HD 220v unit with a bottle of welding gas and I would not look back. I've been able to dial it down to do some thin sheet metal and have used it to weld together a little garbage cart out of 1" square tube steel.

I went ahead and got the little spool gun I could use for welding aluminum.

It's a nice little unit and pretty versatile.

But I'll let the experts chime in on what they think.
 
The unit Brent posted would be my choice also, for aluminum, the spool gun is recommended as with the regular mig wand the aluminum wire gets bent/jammed too easily in the wands cable.
 
Similar unit to the Lincoln, I have the Hobart handler 140, so far it's done all I want and is pretty good for a 120v unit. Haven't tried aluminum with it yet, aluminum looks hard, and I don't have a spool gun which you'd definitely want :D
 
I have a lot to learn.

A guy at work said I would be better with a 220v welder.

I want to weld rebar

I want to weld light duty square tubing.

The stuff I have in mind is this stuff

post-5.jpgPost-1.jpgpost-2.jpgpost-4.jpgpost-8.jpgSign Frame-1.jpgsign frame-2.jpgTeal Sign.jpg


I can sell a mailbox tree stump post for around $1500

The signs are $1000 - $5000

A sign like the TEAL sign with the post - around $5000 or more.
 
I figured I'd go for the 220. I know my previous 120 unit was a piece of junk, but the duty cycle made it tough to use at times.

When I welded up my garbage cart, I had no problem at all with the duty cycle, and dialing in the speed and power was a piece of cake.

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Get the 220v unit, don't look back, get the bottle set up, it welds the best by far, get a good unit, not some trash from China. Miller, Hobart, Lincoln, you can't go wrong with any of those, IMHO.

Get good PPE, especially don't skimp on the helmet, I learned this the hard way I had a series of cheap helmets, they don't work so well and they are tiring to wear, they never stay up or come down nicely.

I like the Jackson helmet, it is pricey but good, it is a joy to wear and you can see very well through it.

See more about it in this thread post #8

Buy a half decent welding jacket and gloves, you don't need something super heavy weight with the MIG, but decent gloves that you can work in.

Buy a good cut off saw, don't skimp here either, when the saw will NOT cut at a 90 or a 45 well, you spend a LOT of time filling gaps and then sanding or grinding the extra away.

Get a good quality 4" grinder, I went through maybe 4 cheap ones that were actually quite expensive as they did not last very long, I finally bought a good quality Hitachi unit and it has lasted for many years now.
 
And good closed toed shoes :). Hot foot ain't fun!

You might look at the local college and see if they have a welding program, it's a nice way to try out different techniques and tools before you buy.
 
Getting instruction proved to be challenging when I was looking a few months ago. I found an instructor who taught out of his own shop. Cost me less than a semester at a community college and in one morning I felt fairly confident that I could weld decently. I was lucky. I found him on line and he was less than 100 miles from me. And he is available if I get into trouble.

The community college program was set up to progress me though technologies in which I had no interest or equipment and it took insanely long to get to what I wanted to learn. Theirs is an academic agenda, not necessarily a technical one. My welding guy makes his living teaching new welders how to really weld and get certified. He is usually hired by an employer who needs skilled help.

FWIW. I hope you find someone to help you. BTW, in retrospect, I'd take some training BEFORE I bought any equipment. I am now looking for a better rig with his input. Wish I had done that first. Now I have a 120V rig to sell. Brent and Stu are right. Major brand. 220V. With gas. The Lincoln 180C is the one I am looking for. Tim, my welding instructor, pointed out to me why that particular model was worth the money. It has to do with feeds and guides. Plastic in those areas are not good, even for the occasional welder. It also has to do with gun liners though you can replace a gun and its liner on a lesser welder.
 
And good closed toed shoes :). Hot foot ain't fun!

You might look at the local college and see if they have a welding program, it's a nice way to try out different techniques and tools before you buy.

Funny you should mention that. I did some minor repairs on one of those cheap HF decorative windmills this weekend. Funny, I just don't think they were built to withstand the RPM's the winds can generate out here, LOL.

Anyway, a little bit of very hot metal managed to find it's way into the top of my tennis shoe and burn right through my sock into my foot. I remember thinking at the time. 'OW that's Hot', or words to that effect.
 
The local college programs vary a lot, the one local to us has an access class that's basically "here's our welders", followed by a short safety overview and then "holler when you need help". They also have a more formal certification program which would be closer to what Carol found.
 
At the risk of being proven wrong some of the China rigs are getting pretty decent..

I went with Century 110 many years ago. I wish it was 220 but putting a bottle on it helped a lot. It paid for itself with the job I bought it for..

One thing I was having so much problems when I bought it I called and talked to an engineer at Century. He was really helpful, and explained to me that flux core core dissipated much more heat in the work than gas. Has to do with the fact you change polarity between the two. With gas much more heat is dissipated in the wire, which is a good thing especially when trying to weld thin material. This advice really seemed to help me out. Also you can use flux core with gas in what is called double shield which on really thin stuff made some of my welds look like I knew what I was doing.

I was cutting angle out this morning for a small three point carry call for my B7100 Kubota. Because I only have the little 110 welder I will have to weld this up with my Lincoln AC buzz box. If I had a 220 volt mig then no doubt I would head for the mig. Hopefully I can tack it and square it with the little mig..

Long winded way of saying if your can justify it a 220 unit is the only way to go....
Garry
 
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Name Brand

220v

So far - that is all I can say I know.

As to school - our local Vocational Technical High School offers welding classes - that is what I will enroll in. The classes are in September.

I will more than likely buy something before that - but then - maybe not.

I am certainly not ready now.
 
That's is decent price, but don't think that welder will fit the needs of the projects you listed. Dad had one and can't remember him ever welding light metals with it, might be capable with the right rods, but I'd personally go with a mig or tig (if I had the money).
 
That might be a decent price for a used stick welder, but the rods are most likely junk it the boxes are opened and the rods are not stored correctly they will absorb moisture and be junk, just saying :D
 
Agree with what has been said.
Look at your needs, and your long term needs.
When Carol was talking about a bucket for the tractor, I was a little shocked at the 110 welder. (seems light for the stresses a bucket would go through)
I have a Millermatic 140 autoset, that I picked up with all the trimmings for the price of just the welder. (they sell the new ones, used and not, from the Skills competitions) I could have picked up the 180 but my source told me he knew someone who actually needed that size (few left), and I am doing light sheet metal on a VW, maybe exhaust work, and eventually learn to do light aluminum, plus the portability of a 110 unit for some work stuff.
Eventually I may end up with a 220 unit but it will be better then 10 years (based on needs) and I have friends who have heavier welders and better skills that tell me to bring it to them. I first will end up with an oxy/acet unit to both practice gas welding and cutting, and hopefully a plasma cutter.

Century used to (don't know anymore) make a decent welder, but certainly the big three (Miller/Lincoln/Hobart) make good ones. Classes will help you learn what you need and might help with some supplies (might get a discount on a helmet). Also try different helmets, as fit on expensive ones can be as bad as on cheap ones, and a bad fitting helmet makes them less likely to be properly used.
Even with classes, one is still going to both need practice and learn/evolve as they grow.
 
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