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Welder choices

A

abrahamfh

Active Member
Good morning all,
So I figured I would throw this out there. I found this Miller welder on the Sears website, thought I would put this out here to see if I could get some welder feedback. My welding skill level is very basic as in I used come out of my office to help TIG weld a little if we had no one else to do it. I did okay but my specialty was starting the fling the stainless rods across the shop into the wall in the tightest group contest.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00920580000P?mv=rr#

Thanks everyone
 
That little welder will do most of the jobs you'd need to do on your car (sheet metal welding). Personally, I find that the lower powered welders are more tricky to get dialed in; welders with more amperage (220v) seem to have a better arc.

Whatever welder you purchase, get a decent auto-darkening helmet and covert the welding setup to use an argon/co2 gas mix, instead of flux core mig wire.

I consider myself to be an experienced novice welder, so take my recommendations accordingly.

One last thing, to learn the basics I took a welding class at the Crucible in Oakland. It really took the mystery out of getting started.
 
Home Depot dropped the price on the Lincoln 175 Weld-Pak 220V from $500 to $300. i bought it at $500, then a friend, who also bought it at $500, went in there couple months after and saw it at $300. we both got the discount.
:lol
 
"garner67" said:
That little welder will do most of the jobs you'd need to do on your car (sheet metal welding). Personally, I find that the lower powered welders are more tricky to get dialed in; welders with more amperage (220v) seem to have a better arc.

Whatever welder you purchase, get a decent auto-darkening helmet and covert the welding setup to use an argon/co2 gas mix, instead of flux core mig wire.

I consider myself to be an experienced novice welder, so take my recommendations accordingly.
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I could not have said it better. My auto-dark helmet makes me look like I almost know how to weld. :vic

I'd be tempted to buy a slightly better welder...I bought one with infinitely adjustable wire speed and it is night and day compared to the ones with the rocker switches. There are some nice $350-400 deals out there too, places like Lowes seem to have sales pretty frequently.

Here's a thought though, I was looking to see if I could find something nicer to replace my $100 craigslist special....there are some really nice used welders out there and they have started playing funny games with the output ratings on the new ones. The more I look at it, the more I start to think I'd rather have an expensive used welder Vs. a REALLY expensive new one. :rofl

You might want to just stick with a 110v unit, in which case a new Hobart 140 or something would do you just fine. The good deals on used ones only seem to come when you move up to big 220v units anyway.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone. Someone suggested taking a welding class and so I have decided to looking into them ans taking one before taking the leap and investing on one until I have a better understanding of what I'm looking at.
 
I think that is a great choice! I learned the basics before I bought a welder and started on the 66. My welds still don't look very purty, but the penetration is there and the are solid.

I bought a 120V Daytona Mig in 97, one of these days I'm going to sell it and buy a 220V Miller :coo
 
"abrahamfh" said:
Thanks for all the input everyone. Someone suggested taking a welding class and so I have decided to looking into them ans taking one before taking the leap and investing on one until I have a better understanding of what I'm looking at.
Click to expand...

Excellent choice! I did that, going to classes at night at a local Vo-Tech school. Unfortunately, they did not have anything set-up for thin sheet metal, so I bought my own wire so I could learn how to MIG weld. The teacher basically let me go on my own, since I wasn't going for a welding certificate. I found there were some days where I could do no wrong, and other days when I couldn't do a damn thing and had to walk away. Finally, I realized I was better than the teacher, and I went out and then put up the big bucks for a 220V Lincoln welder and never looked back.
 
If you buy a good welder, you will be set for life. Your post said Miller, the ad says Lincoln. I own both brands, but Home Depot and Lowe's sell a stepped down model of the Lincoln. I researched this to death years ago and at the time Lincoln was using a plastic drive roller to feed the wire...not sure if this is still true, but after finding out that Gem, I went to my local welding store and bought a REAL welder. It was a MillerMatic 130, 115v MIG and it cost me a couple hundred more. Miller and Lincoln are both good brands, but just make sure that you aren't getting plastic drive rollers!

If I was doing this again today, and I was jJUST getting into welding, I'd go to my local WELDING store and do it again! When it comes time to buy a gas bottle and gas, you are going to go to that same store anyway, so why not give them a chance at your business. As for HD and Lowe's can't help you with the gas!

But, as far as my current situation, I've been welding everything metal around the house for years! I just recently upgraded that old MillerMatic 130 to a 135 and now to a 140 autoset. The 130 was a Much heavier duty simpler machine and better for thicker metal, but I also bought an Ironman 251 Hobart 220v along the way and the newer Millers weld the thin stuff much better than the old 130. I now know what to look for in a used welder and so, I have no fear going that route! BTW, my Lincoln is a TIG, if you get this far and are still wondering!
 
Your absolutely right, I did say miller and the ad is a Lincoln. Thank you for the noticing it and mentioning it. LoL
 
I agree with taking a welding class at the local college. I now own a TIG and a 110 MIG. I prefer the Lincoln. I feel that I got a better weld out of them. Personal preference though. I wish now though that I would have bought the 220 MIG. I just used my bosses the other day for a project at his house and it put down a real nice bead. If you are just going to be a hobby welder you can get away with the cheap harbor freight auto darkening hood. It is what I started out with and it is a decent hood for the price.
 
Thanks Pete. I really appreciate it. I'm getting either the Lincoln or this HF welder tonight for sure. I'm not a big fan of harbor freight but found the following ad. Has anyone had any experience with it?

23be1d57.jpg
 
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I had an older model of that one. It worked great for light weight welding. When you approach 3/16", it starts to get weak. Other than that, it was good. Never had any problems. My Dad bought it to supplement our old stick welder.
 
I'm not sure that weldpak 100 is worth the $300. My understanding is that it is only a 100 amp machine although the add pete points to shows it's 145A. If it's the older model, I'd probably stay away from it. My BIL had one a Weldpak 100 circa 1990s and no gas conversion kit... only got $75 for it last year.

If you can swing the upgrade cost, go for one with infinite voltage settings... the 4 tap settings are not enough in my opinion. Also if you can swing it the 220V system, it will give you more capacity which you will find as an advantage when you want to fab up heavier parts. I have a made by lincoln "Weldmark" SP 135 Plus... got it in 2002 for about $550, I use it fairly often for a variety of projects. I've easily run 75-100# of wire through it... It has served me very well. I would stick to one of the top names if you plan to do much with it. I'm not sure a harbor freight unit would have the same resale value if you chose to upgrade later.
 
I hope I'm not too late to reply before you buy a welder! I first had the 90amp flux from HF and it wasn't very good at all! then I progressed to a mig from Northern tools, was about 350bucks, then an aluminum bottle(C25gas) from a local welding supply 135.oo, then you really need a large spool of wire vs. the small rolls that they normally come with. The little spools tend to unwind and mess up all the time, not all the time, plus a large spool lasts forever! I love my welder! I will say HF has a great support/parts department when the handle of mine fell apart, but it was destined to fall apart~ it was cheaply made, but that welder was only 119.00! you get what you pay for. And a big plus for the auto darkening hood!
dne'
 
Also, if you are going mig, invest in the larger gas bottles. I had the little 3 foot tall bottle and then upgraded to the 5 foot tall bottle. I think the little one was a 55cf and the larger one was 110cf, the price to fill the larger one was less than a $3 difference, for DOUBLE the gas!
 
I have a 120V Daytona Mig and it's worked great since 97, but if I had it to do over...I would get a 220V Miller 180.
 
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