Let's hear it, all you DIY welders......

Would love to hear from all the old salts out there.......help edgemicate a noob to the art of welding, just got some B-day money and I need a new hobby anyways
Now we need to keep this reasonably priced, not starting up my own fab shop here, would like the middle of the road welder to get the job done......mig, tig, wire fed, all terms i have heard but know nothing about, so please let the class begin......

go straight to a 220 vac welder....

175 amps is a great size.......

lincoln and miller are brandnames you cannot go wrong with......

everyone likes to say this, but no, hobart is not the same as a miller.......the guts and other componants have differences here and there, however the specs are almost the same, if not exactly the same......for a great bang for the buck, i have to give to nod tot he hobart 175......if you have a few more bucks to spend, Miller and Lincoln get my vote, but first hand experience is showing the miller to have a little bit smoother speed/heat sweetspot........but that's opinionated.....

however, it was a side-by-side comparison....my shop has a bunch of miller cp300's a 250 lincoln, a few airco's but out of the bunch, I sure like the millermatic 300 with onboard feed assy.......

at home its the miller 172 challenger. it has become the 175 and the guts changed....i love that little welder, it has welded everything that I've remembered to weld.........(sorry little inside humor there)

DON'T SCREW AROUND WITH 120VAC WELDERS.

I will defend that opinion to the death.

welder opinion

My opinion is to get yourself a MIG welder. Also called a wire feed welder. I had no prior experence with welding and I was fabbing stuff in no time. It has to be the easiest welder to use. I tried stick welding with no success. What I would suggest is to shop around for the largest MIG welder that can run off of 120 volts and that can use both flux core wire and steel wire that requires a gas bottle, regulator and hose. (Hobart 135) Other brands are available. Start off using flux cored wire.(No gas bottle to worry about) Read the manual and get familiar with Heat settings and Wire Speed. After practicing with flux wire you can work your way into using inert gas which gives you cleaner welds.(No slag build-up from the flux to clean off)This should get you in a good direction. You're gonna have some fun now!

Another angle to look at things.

Beezils post should definately be considered BUT....I would of been screwed out of some side jobs welding odds and ends for other people. I found that not to many homes are plug and play friendly for a 230 volt welder. Thats why I was steering you to the largest 120 volt model. All of your friends will want you to weld something for them when they find out you have a welder!

Just a couple of side notes......

Beez is the definitive metal bytch. Listen to him, for he speaks the truth (and occasionally remembers to weld it.) Go 220V if there is any way that you can swing it. The 120V welders I've seen are both short on duty cycle and on material thickness.

I grew up with a stick welder (goobers at best) and my brother picked up a Lincoln 220V a year ago. If you can strike an arc with a stick, you can be an artist with a wirefeed.

I'd rather go gas feed than flux core. A major part of the attraction of a wire welder is how clean the joints are (as TH noted.)

Listen to the B man....I have a 120 wire-feed, I like it...but should have bought a 220. Even .120 wall took some time to weld up making sure to get good penetration. 220 would have been faster and better.

About welding for friends.....
If they cannot get it to my place, it does not get done. Also, I am real carefull about who I weld for, if a weld fails and I injury myself, thats 1 thing, but if a weld fails and someone else gets hurt....well.....I think we know the guilt and other things that can happen. I am NOT a proffessional welder, and do NOT claim to be a good or even satisfactory one.

Beezil is.....nuff said?

Rev

For the price I like my AC/DC Lincoln stick welder. But, they are more difficult to learn to use.

When you do decide on a welder, give E-bay a look-see. I shopped around and then looked there. I saved $100 and was able to find one with "Buy it now" instead of having to win a bid. Look at all of them listed and see if you can find a deal that includes shipping - mine was - total price was $545. I bought the Hobart 175 in the 220 volt. Had some wiring issues to work out to use it at the house, but it's gonna be sweet once I get to using it!

BTW, Beezil was my reference for my research he speaks the truth!

Good luck!

ditto on the "do not buy 110V, go directly to 220V, do not pass go, do not waste $400"

I bought my first Mig Pack 10 (110V) second hand. Previous owner had it less than a year, I had it less than a year.

Also, just about every house I have seen has a 220V outlet for a drier near the garage. I have a 24 foot 4 gage extension cord for my welder. And adding a 220V outlet will run you about $35 in materials and couldn't be simpler.

I have the Miller 175 that I bought new off of ebay for $560.

SeanP

I got a Miller Synchrowave 180SD 220V TIG Last year.... I love it.

The only reason my upgrade to put 220 in my garage was expensive is that i had to upgrade my house service a the same time... Or it would have been about $50-75 to run a 220.

Man, do I wanna jump on the "all hail Beezil" bandwagon, hmmmmmmmmmm. Yep, for once I do.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON A 110 WELDER

Kids, what have we learned in class today?

Yours truly,
Sean
aka: Beezil's lowly servant

damn sean, your post is gonna cost me an arm and a leg.......

hey, you guys! wiring 220 is not a big deal!!!!

those of you lucky enough to have attatched garages its even easier, but don't be afraid of electric.....do it BY THE BOOK in your area. In Chicago, electric codes are REAL TUFF! We can't use bx, or romex, or any of the easy crap that they allow in the burbs (bomb em) so I think its safe to say, most of you have it easier than I did......I had to TRENCH to lay my pipe for my run below the frost line to my detatched garage. Some of you will be able to run overhead SO cord, cjeck your local codes.

otherwise, wiring for 220 is about as easy as installing a 2-pole single trip breaker in your main box, some will want to run a line to a sub panel, so the size of the breaker(s) wires will vary....

Not trying to reply with instructions here, but essentially, 220 is nothing , more than grabbing two 120 lines from seperate legs in your main and running a ground attatched to the neutral buss....

perhaps resident certified electrician bob loose will post, which will be fun, cause I can argue with him....

well crap

thanks for the info guys.....esp "beezil" but seeing as how I am stuck in an apt now and will probably have to move to another one soon, (in the service) looks like I will use my jeep mentality on this purchase...buy it right, buy it once....but I will definately save this info for when I finally do get a house, shore duty isn't too far off......

Well, we didn't realize you were gonna use jeep mentality. Get an underhood welder and learn how to use stick. The one that Mark sells is an excellent unit (Beez and I both know this). You'll have an excellent trail tool that can be used anywhere without pluggin' in to an outlet. How's that for general jeep reasoning?

Sean

check my question, please!!!

Hey, all you welders, please check out my question in the "Other Tech" section about choosing an electrode for stick welding. PLEASE!!!

One last tid-bit. I made an adapter so I can use my 220 v. and run it off of a clothes dryer plug...lots of homes out here use electric dryers...lets me weld at friends houses when they can't get there projects over here....just another thaught.

Jump....

be careful...

check specs.

your welder manual will specify what size breaker it needs for adequate protection, as many welders do NOT have on-board protection int he form of a fuse or breaker......

If you have say, a GE type or Square D QO box, or the like, and have space, the correct breaker can be easily installed.....

I don't know what kind of dryer you are running, but if your dryer is drawing more amps than your welder does, and assuming that that particular outlet has the correctly mathced outlet/wire/breaker installed that exceeds what your welder calls for, you may no longer have adequate protection for your welder......