what welder should i buy?

i want to start fabricating my own bumpers, rocksliders and roll cage eventually, i have very little welding experience but would like to improve what are some cheap welders i should look at buying for this purpose

I want a wire fed one and i want o spend as little as possible, but i want to make sure the welds will hold up

Unfortunately, "cheap" and "good" are 2 words that don't mix with "welder"
Miller, Lincoln, and Hobart are the big names. I'd stick with those. Look on craigslist/ebay for used equipment. Better to buy a used high quality system then a new cheap one.
Size wise, if you're serious about building cages, a 240V, 180 amp rig is your minimum. Bumpers/sliders/armor can be put together with the 110V-120a or 140A, but 1/4" is the outside limit for that size. If you do get one of the smaller welders(any 110V machine) get one that includes the gas regulator and setup, even if you are planning to start out with flux core wire and upgrade later. You don't save any money by upgrading later, and the machines that don't include the regulator are all low end units.

There are cheaper ones available, but size-wise, this is probably minimum for roll cage/serious armor fab (it would be my choice):
Millermatic 180 If you buy used, you can get the older model of the -180 which doesn't ahve the "auto-set" feature a lot cheaper.

Here's something else to think about whith the small welders: Duty cycle. Check out the chart here: http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/onephase.php At the bottom, you'll notice the -140 is listed at 20% duty cycle at 90 amp setting. What that translates into is if you're welding over 1/8" metal, you're spending a lot of time sitting around waiting for the welder to cool down.

ok thanks for all the info..im going to just wait untill i find a good used one as i cant afford to buy a new one right now

i have a hobart 140 which i will be upgrading to a 187. both are relativley cheap and that 140 has far outperformed what i thought it would do. lil pre heating and .035 wire burns .25 no problem

I recently purchase a Hobart 187 and love it! By far the best welder I have ever used.

something withs ze 220v

Figure out the best one you can afford, then get the next higher model.

xcm said:

something withs ze 220v

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I know this may seem like a silly question...

Can I use the 220v (3 phase?) behind the drier for a 220v single phase welder until an outlet is installed in the garage?

Chances are that unless you had some kind of crazy wiring/power upgrades done when your house was built, your 220V dryer plug is single phase. 3 Phase is typically only found in commercial/industrial locations that regularly use electrical equipment with a heavy power draw.

I could be wrong (it happens often) but I think you'll be just fine using your welder in your dryer plug so long as the circuit breaker it is on is rated high enough for your welder.

dryer's are single phase. so yes that would work if you can get it close enough or you can build a extremely heavy extension cord to make it reach around the garage easier. i have used a lincoln 140 and had pretty good luck with if for smaller stuff, but the next welder i get will be the miller 211!

You should decide on a welder model, then buy the next one bigger. Because someday you'll wish you had done that from day one.

bubba46 said:

I know this may seem like a silly question...

Can I use the 220v (3 phase?) behind the drier for a 220v single phase welder until an outlet is installed in the garage?

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one thing i learned while stepping up to 220v, is NEVER LISTEN TO PEOPLE ONLINE. =)

i had a lot of people tell me 'oh, just do this this and this, BAM, 220!'... it never worked out right. turns out my house is decrepid, who knew?

sorry man, i have no clue!

Oh boy here we go. Getting myself in trouble again with my total, complete lack of knowledge, safety principles, and generally giving real bad advice (laying on the sarcasim pretty thick).

YES, you should get a 180 machine if you CAN. But if you CAN'T, you can't. The folks saying things like, "pick one you need then buy the next one up" are well meaning but unrealistic. A budget is a budget.

Now, let me just say this. My Miller 140 has welded everything from skids, bumpers, sliders, frames, axles tabs, and cages. Guess what, never had a weld fail, EVER. And yes, they've been put to the test. The real test. Years of the Con', Fordyce, Dusy, pulling a 4500# trailer cross country, etc...

Now for my disclaimer. You SHOULD by a 180 if you CAN afford it. Better bigger than smaller. But a 140 will work fine with practice.

OK guys with the 220 welders, unleash you hell upon me! lol

One of my leaf shackle mounts is held together by welds done with .035 fluxcore @ max power on an 80-90 amp lincoln rig. It's quarter inch plate with bits of 3/16 and 1/8 involved too.

So far it's held up to me doing things I should not have done, we'll see how much longer it lasts. Maybe it's because I triple stitch fish welded it.

That being said, buy the biggest welder you can reasonably afford and power.

Buy the harbor freight 220 unit. Google "harbor freight welder mods" and add the $50 worth of capaciters/resistors/rectifiers. Buy a gas regulator and rent a bottle of argon/CO2. Then you will have a damn good welder for under $300.

DaveNJeep said:

Oh boy here we go. Getting myself in trouble again with my total, complete lack of knowledge, safety principles, and generally giving real bad advice (laying on the sarcasim pretty thick).

YES, you should get a 180 machine if you CAN. But if you CAN'T, you can't. The folks saying things like, "pick one you need then buy the next one up" are well meaning but unrealistic. A budget is a budget.

Now, let me just say this. My Miller 140 has welded everything from skids, bumpers, sliders, frames, axles tabs, and cages. Guess what, never had a weld fail, EVER. And yes, they've been put to the test. The real test. Years of the Con', Fordyce, Dusy, pulling a 4500# trailer cross country, etc...

Now for my disclaimer. You SHOULD by a 180 if you CAN afford it. Better bigger than smaller. But a 140 will work fine with practice.

OK guys with the 220 welders, unleash you hell upon me! lol

Click to expand...

Yeah, I only said get the next one up because I wish I did. I have a Lincoln 135-SP+. For a 110V unit, it's freakin awesome. But I still wish I had a 220V unit. At the time I couldn't afford it and I happened to get a pretty good deal on this one (used, with very few hours)

An interesting read, particularly the graph on the bottom of p. 2
http://www.oxejalsa.com/images/catalogo/MicroAlambre/Lincoln/SP135Plus.pdf

Just out of curiousity what is your budget? Your going to need a gas bottle. It will run you about 150 filled. Give us an idea what your going to spend. The advantage of a 240 volt machine is it burns hotter. That gives better penetration with less SKILL. Please stay with a brand name machine. That way when theres a problem you can get parts or have it fixed. Used is OK. Take someone who can weld to test it out. If you got Craigslist its a good place to start lookin.
Ron