1989toy4wd

Alright, I want to get into welding, and I dont know what machine to get!!

I want to do roll cages, body modifications, bumpers, flat steel projects and all that good stuff. But I dont know what type of welder to get. I want a simple to use one, thats not too expensive, but not cheap either, that will last me a while.

I am looking in to taking some night classes on it, and want a good machine to learn on, but also one that I wont have to upgrade when my skill increases. Any ideas?

bigt

do you have 220v in your shop??

i have a 120v mig lincoln the small one everyone has and it works great for what it is.. i was gonna do anything structural like a SAS i would want a 220v .. im also learning myself

miller or lincoln or hobart make good machines

nc994run

I have had a little 110V welder for a little over a year, I am upgrading (hopefully around x-mas) to a Miller 211. Its not too expensive (around $1K) and has some nice features, such as autoset (pick the metal thickness and wire speed and it does everything else) and also comes ready to hook up shielding gas. It also has 110V and 220V plug, so its versatile.

Hopefully I can put up a review around New Years!

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Take the classes first before you buy anything would be my advice. Then you'll find out what type of welding you feel the most comfortable with and what features in a machine are useful to you.

Likely a 220V MIG welder, but a good stick welder would be half the cost.

TucsonToy

While a stick welder would be fine for almost any project (with practice), welding round tubing with one is not the easiest thing to learn. MIG is a great all-around welder for almost anything gear heads will ever do. 110V can be a little underpowered, though of course you can double pass (i.e. run one bead over the other to get the proper penetration). 220V MIG is great and will not cost much more if you have the 220V supply. A lower priced decent model will start at about $500, the Lincoln 180T (Home Depot HD 180, Lowes ProMIG 180) is usually about $650 or so, plus the gas bottle ~$50-100.

I ran a Craftsman 110V 90A (Lincoln rebadged) for about 8 yrs and used the buzz box stick welder for heavier stuff. I finally stepped up to the Lincoln 180 and couldn't be happier.

904_runner

x2 I agree 100%.

I wouldnt just go out and buy a welder, you might hate it.
Take some classes, and pick up on the basics and then decide where you want to go from there.

I have a 120V lincoln and i love it.
Ive done much work on my truck with it and don't question it at all.

chrishf12

Stick with Miller, I have used both 110 and 220 models and they do a excellent job. Don't get me wrong I have heard good things about Lincoln when they are working but I can't tell you how many times I have been into shops and seen broken Lincoln welders just sitting in a corner.

toyospearo

I totally agree 100%
Had I not taken the class I did I would have gone out and bought the first (best for my need) welder without any first hand experience. I realize now that would have been a mistake.
A class is worth the time and money!

93YotaMonster

get a MILLER, i got a miller 180, and it welds great it runs on 220V and it will do up to 5/16's i bought it used it was only a week old the guy needed money so i gave him 500 and the welder was like 937.00 brand new, if you want something cheap but welds good get a hobart there made by miller. i have a hobart 140 and it will do 1/4" plate with ease

toyospearo

$500.00 for that welder is a STEAL #&^%&^@^&%@ I never find deals like that and I look everyday!

93YotaMonster

yeah i was lucky, the guy came into work and he said he needed to sell it. so i went and took a look at it and bout it same day. the next welder ima get is a tig either the miller syncrowave 250 dx or the lincoln precision 225

AdrianaTer

Learn to TIG.....a good tig welder can pickup any type of welding really fast. Tig allows you to tackle any project as is a very clean process. Structural integrity will never be a problem with tig and is the process of choice if you ever need to do rollcages (chrome molly) or any other precision fab work on your truck.
Look into older transformer Lincoln / Miller machines ~250A AC/DC. You can pick one up for less than a $1k with a watercooled torch setup. (and every residential panel has 220V...110 is off the centertap (neutral) ).
And the older machines can be used as stick welders too.

axelkoup

any machine thats a tig machine, will double is a stick machine, its the same concept, a constant current machine, just tig uses a foot pedal to iniate the electricity flow, unless its scratch start, which sucks, b/c you contaminate the tungsten and you can hook a wire feeder up to most machines and have a mig setup on top of the other 2 processes

everyone looks at tig as the , trust me, if its not done properly, its no stronger than a mig weld, the welds only as strong as the filler metal thats deposited, as on er60 or er70 or er80 mig or tig electrodes..... which also go right along with a e60??, e70??, e80?? and e90?? stick electrodes

explanation:
e- electric welding eletrode
60 series- 60,000psi tensile
70- 70,000 psi tensile
80- 80,000psi
and so forth

you can use mig wire as a tig filler

also, if youre going to weld a lot of stuff thats 1/4 or bigger, go with a 220v machine, you'll be able to weld heavier stuff longer, b/c you'll have a better duty cycle..... and a 220 machine can be turned down just as low as a 11v machine can be and most of the time, they work better turned down than a 110 machine....hence the knobs on the front

pros and cons are also that mig requires shielding gas, so the bottle has to be lugged around with the machine, and if theres no shielding gas, the weld becomes full of porosity and its useless, stick, doesnt, everything needed is right on the electrode, as the flux burns off, it creates a shielded puddle, via a smoke plume, but stick can get arc blow a lot, especially on straight or reverse polarity, its from built up magnetism in the weldement, ac doesnt really have this problem b/c of the alternating current, mig does not have arc blow problems.... and it can happen at the most unexpected times and if youre not familiar with coping with the erratic arc, the welds deemed useless or unsafe

personally im a lincoln fan, they make some of the best machines out there, millers just as good, and their customer service is top notch, hobart, ehh, most their s made my miller....snap-on's machines are nice and HTP welders are extremely nice machines, they're just not as huge of a name as lincoln or miller.... esab, stay away, although their stick electrodes are top notch..... just dont cheap out and buy a harbor freight piece of garbage

also, mig is much much much more forgiving to learn with than stick is, any other questions, feel free to ask away or pm me, slightly educated in this field of expertise haha

Green_slime

you dont need gas to run a mig welder you can get one that takes flux core wire and it will weld just the same as using argon gas the only difference is the flux core wire dont weld as pretty but its just as good of a weld

hross14

I have the Miller passport plus and it is a good machine. Very versitile and you can weld aluminum if you get the spool gun. It can run flux wire or regular mig wire and with just a push of a button, switch over to alum spool gun----oh and it does stainless steel.

AND--it can run 110 and 220--no rewiring required and has a SMALL CO2 BOTTLE for aobut 30 minutes of welding while in the field. Good versitile machine and it will weld up to 1/4 alum/SS or 3/8 steel.

axelkoup

ya, every mig machine is flux core compatible, thats a given, just dont use a gas....but flux core is a lot harder for a beginner, unless its a dual shield flux core and uses a gas along with the core'd wire... and its harder to tell when a sufficient weld deposit has been made.... and stainless is a given too, just change the wire to to an er308 or 309 filler, and straight argon works the best, or straight helium (mixes dont protect the puddle as well)

and small bottles can be bought, but the smaller the cylinder, the less time you can get out of it, i run a 150lb cylinder, its more overhead, but for me, it doesnt need refilled for almost 2 months.... but a 20lb cylinder will last you quite some time and around here, Pittsburgh, its about $20 to get filled.... i dont see why you would want to piss with flux core, especially if youre welding is gonna be in a garage or driveway...

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

yes by all means take some classes . Get an idea what your likes are

nothing like getting the wrong welder.

I can just see people trying to tig weld on a rusted out pa frame.

xjdubber

I've welded stick,mig,tig, and torch. If I had to buy a welder for myself i'd buy a tig so much nicer to work with takes some practicing though.

22RUCRAZY

Im just starting to weld on my rig and was wondering if you can stick weld a roll cage and can you stick weld a spring hanger to a frame , I bought an old red 220 volt stick welder and am just learning thanks

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Yes, possible with some practice and the right rod. I originally put spring hangers on my '85 with a stick welder made of 3 batteries in series and some battery cables as clamps. Just get a rod rated for overhead welding (fast freeze):
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri....shtml#Welding
For welding round tube, that is a little trickier, need to work out which beads need a longer rod (due to access) and which ones you can do with the shorter rod (as it burns down). Probably best to use all the scraps to practice welding the round beads.