Welder Advice Needed

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FASTBACK340

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I'm thinking of picking up a small MIG welder from a liquidator. At my previous employer we had a MIG set up w/ a gas cylinder. This el-cheapo version appears to be strictly electric. I have 220 service in the house & garage, but is it worth buying for small projects? I'm not looking to build chassis's... I'm just looking to build simple stuff. I've never been educated on the differences and what to look for, and avoid, in in-expensive welders.

e-Bay # 360263419012

Thanks gang.
 
I had the lincoln with the flux wire and It was a great lil' unit,they sell a kit to upgrade it to use with gas. the flux welds are not all that pretty and are brittle.i would say look for a good quality brand such as lincoln with the gas setup from the get go and you won't be dissapointed.the one I had ran off 110 and worked great unless an extension cord was used.I currently use a power mig 200 lincoln and was about 1500$ with owner bottle,new self darkening helmet and delivered,then you just have to make a 220 extension cord and wire it up(that was about 80$ in parts)
 
You should avoid flux core completely. get a Lincoln 185, that runs on 220 volt, with a gas regulator. Get yourself a bottle of 75/25 shielding gas. And you will be fine. The next step up would be a lincoln 225 amp, I say this only because it has a continuous duty cycle.
 
IMO save your money a little longer and just get the mig with the shielding gas set up on it. you can still run flux core if you want to but after you weld with the gas, you'll not use the flux core again. my mig is a lincoln. and it works like a champ.
 
I got the MillerMatic 211 , it works with 120 or 220V.
Autoset helps me get a better weld....... Lincoln , Miller, Hobart all good........ get one with gas
 
MEH! :angry7::angry7::angry7::angry7: I hate crappy pos harbor freight migs!

Millermatic is your friend.
 
if its for small projects its ok to have Miller or Lincoln is the best you can get i prefer Miller myself
 
I have a 110 millermatic 135 that is ok for small stuff but I barley use it (it was a gift), my favorite is my 220 Hobart handler 150 with the 12' Tweko gun it works on for everything from sheet metal to sub frames. For sheet metal I still like gas welding with a 000 tip.

If you are going to get that ebay "welder" play with it on a scrap fender or whatever. The placement of the ground will be very important, the closer to the weld area the better. My brother in law has one like it and it took a long time for him to "master" it.

Lots of good info here... http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/index.html
 
360scamp said:
I have a 110 millermatic 135 that is ok for small stuff but I barley use it (it was a gift), my favorite is my 220 Hobart handler 150 with the 12' Tweko gun it works on for everything from sheet metal to sub frames. For sheet metal I still like gas welding with a 000 tip.

If you are going to get that ebay "welder" play with it on a scrap fender or whatever. The placement of the ground will be very important, the closer to the weld area the better. My brother in law has one like it and it took a long time for him to "master" it.

Lots of good info here... http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/index.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link. I bookmarked it so I can keep learning stuff....
 
I have a Hobart 140, 115v, shielding gas, cost me $479 @ Tractor Supply, the gas bottle cost me $125 filled @ AirGas Co, and I love the thing, nice little welder.

FF
 
I have the Lincoln 185 also,with gas hookup.Tank filled and 1 year lease was $75.Great tool to have handy when in need.:cheers:
 
I just have a 110 Clark wire-feed with gas. It works OK if no extension cord, not impressive, paid $300 with full bottle.
 
I have a 140 hobart with gas works great.....lincoln 140 works good too..... but def get gas.....
 
John,
I started off with a Schumacher 110V 135A welder with a small (~18" tall) gas bottle. It worked pretty well, especially to get my feet wet. Several years later, I upgraded to a Lincoln 220V 180A unit and could not believe the difference. I got the Lincoln on a close out of demo units that had been refurbished and had full manufacturer's warranty. I remember about $650 last spring from an outfit in Wisconsin and that included shipping. I'm not sure what "famous name brand" that is, but my recommendation would be to skip it. If you are not in a hurry, scour Craig's list (found a good deal on a TIG unit there). Stuff pops up on occasion and if you know what you're looking for and can affort to wait, that is a strategy worth considering.
Another thing that I learned the hard way is gas bottle pricing. When I bought my new MIG, I wanted to get a larger bottle than the 18 incher I had. They were about $100 (I bought mine) and the ~ 3 footers were about $200 and I figured that would supply me with a much larger capacity. What I didn't do was ASK what the next size up (~4 foot) would cost. I was all set to get another 3-footer for the TIG and the counter guy slid me a price sheet for the bottles. The next size up, 4-foot, was only $20 more than the 3-foot bottle! When I need to refill the MIG bottle, I will be trying to see what I can do about negotiating a bigger bottle. Good luck.

Jim
 
nuttyprof said:
I just have a 110 Clark wire-feed with gas. It works OK if no extension cord, not impressive, paid $300 with full bottle.
Click to expand...
If you are going to run a 110v feeder off of an extention cord use no smaller than a 10guage cord. If yuo get a 10 then you will not notice any difference in it's welding capabilities.

FASTBACK340
Pass on this one and as others have said, pick up a Lincoln, Miller or Hobart. I have been repairing welders for 18 years now and can tell you this one will cause you more frustration than it is worth.
 
I have a Lincoln 135 w/gas, I run it with a 15' 12gauge extension and it works great. Built my whole car with it......
 
Holbart 180 220V here, works like a champ i use 75/25 gas welds great thin or thick. i would like to have a spool gun as well so i can play with Aluminum but i have not yet.
you can not go wrong with a Holbart, Miller or lincoln.
 
John
This is a good welder for a really decent price. http://www.eastwood.com/welders/eastwood-welders-1/mig-welder-110vac-135a-output.html

It is a repackaged Lincoln. The older SP series before they came out with the Powermigs. Looks like they incorporated a few of Lincolns Century line parts to drop the price a little. Still a very good price on a welder that has infinite adjustment on both wire speed and voltage.

Tincup, running that short of a cord you can get by with it but believe me anything much over that will drop the input voltage which will drop the output voltage and also shorten the life of the welder.
 
I got a Millermatic 140 Autoset a while back, and couldn't be happier with it. I was doing almost perfect tacks on some 20 gauge right out of the box. The autoset feature is nice for inexperienced welders such as myself. It's quite pricey compared to other 110V welders, but a good welder will last you a very long time and is a great investment.
 
I just got the Lincoln 140 with gas (110V). After growing up using Millermatics, i was skeptical about the Lincs, but this little baby has worked out well. Don't get the cheapest lincolns as they have plastic drive units. You'll want something with an aluminum drive body. And as gearhead says, the bigger the bottle the better the value. I couldnt go too big as storage was an issue. I bought the little welding cart for 50 bucks from Harbor-Junk. Its pretty nice for a china special and holds cylinders too.

Trav
 
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