Whats up fella's, I have been wanting to get into welding for a while. I recently came across a brand new Lincoln Weld Pak 175HD for $450 but I am going to offer the guy $400 and see if he takes it. It came right out of Home Depot and they sell it for mid $600's I think. My question.... Is this welder a good unit for someone starting out from scratch?

I only need it for your basic automotive welding, tacking some AL/stainless charge pipes., downpipes and exhausts etc to take to my friend to be finish tig'd, basic things like battery mounts and all the other little things associated with racing and automobiles. Any feedback is appreciated

 

I have the model that was superseded by the 175HD and I love it. I think it's a perfect starter welder. I've probably put over 20000 feet of wire through it and it still works great. It'll do up to about 3/8" mild steel without issue and a little 1/4" if you chamfer the pieces properly.

I wouldn't bother with welding AL unless you get a spool gun for it.

 

Yea I was not planning on physically welding AL with it, just want to be able to put a birdshit tack or two on some very thin AL, then take it to my friend who Tig's all day and let him do his magic.

So if I can get this for $400 I should be set for a while then, I would just hate to buy it and then be limited on what I can do, I still have to go out and get a gas tank and a cart for it but thats no big deal.

Thanks for the feedback

 

I have a Lincoln SP-135 and its a great for exhaust, charge pipes, etc. I think that the 170 replaced the 135 at places like Home Depot. I'd grab it!