looking for a cheap, yet efficient and reliable mig welder. i just want it for patching up holes in my firewall and laying simple welds on some things. not looking to lay the perfect bead. i saw the Lincoln Handy Mig and its only about $300. Lincoln is a very reputable company, so i figured this would probably be the best bang for my buck. would like to hear everybody's opinion on it

 

whatever you buy make sure to get a gas mig. i have a lincoln and have used the **** out of it and it works great. My next one will be a miller though. I think they weld better. Make sure to buy a welder that is bigger than what you hink you need though as you will always find stuff to do with it after you buy it and if its too small for what you need your welds will be really weak.

I would at least buy a 140 lincoln at minimum. it will do alot of random projects that you have to do and will handle the sheetmetal work you were talkin about.

Check out craigslist for decent used welders. I have seen some nice welders on there for way cheap. just a thought.

 

okay, well this is what it is. it says it does to 24ga-1/8" which i would think should be more than enough for the thin sheet metal in need to get done

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00920580000P

 

Well buy what you want. It seems like your mind was made up before you asked on here.

That welder is bad in my opinion because of the lack of adjustment that it has. And for about a 100$ more you could buy the lincoln 140 from homedepot. It is a much better welder and has alot more adjustment and comes with everything that the handy mig does.

And like i said there are usually a decent amount of good welders that usually even come with a welding bottle for what your wanting to pay for that handy mig.

 

you make a very good arguement. i originally wanted the 140, but $500+ was a little out of my price range. what are the comparisons between the Hobart 140 and the Lincoln 140? i have found the Hobart for around $50 less than the Lincoln

 

I spent a little more than $300 on mine but it's a great little MIG welder. I got it a few years back for $475,so if you can find one used on Ebay or Craigslist I bet you could find one for around $300. It's a Lincoln 135T NASCAR Edition. It was the most powerful unit they made before stepping up to 220V. This is a 110 but it welds 1/4" steel with ease. It's absolutely fool-proof when it comes to exhaust work. I set mine to "C-6" and it's like using a hot glue gun. So easy to use.

 

the difference between the hobart and the lincoln 140's will be negligible. I prefer my lincoln over the hobarts that i have used but the hobarts layed down nice beads as well. Either would work for you and if the hobart is cheaper than that sounds like the one to go with.

Atleast your not dead set on that handy mig. I had a century 110 welder for my first one and it was very very similar to that handy mig and i hated it. As soon as i switched welders my welding quality of all types got better. The handy mig is so short of settings that it makes it hard to setup right for what you need. You always have it just a little too "hot" or a little to "cold".


Just my 2 cents

 

thanks for the comments. i did some more digging around last night and found the Lincoln/Century 140. what is the difference between the Lincoln 140 and the Lincoln/Century 140? it appears to have lots of settings and appears pretty solid. since its made by Lincoln i can only assume that it is a good unit, but i have only really used Miller in the past, and they were large high dollar units

 

anybody? i'm looking to buy VERY soon so i can get some stuff done before the really cold weather starts to come

 

the century model shouldnt be to bad if its there 140 version. It should be a hell of alot better than the lincoln handy mig. Id say go for it if the price is in your price range and go from there.

As long as its got a decent amount of setting range then it should be able to be dialed down far enough for doing sheet metal work fine. And should have enough power to do up to the 1/8th inch range and possibly more with the proper beveling and multiple passes.