Just curious what are some things to look for in a welder? Will something thats adaptable to houshold 120v outlets and like 135 amp units good enuff to do like exhaust work and fab up piping and stuff?

 

Personally I always want variable adjustments on the wire speed and voltage. The "detent" ABCD style adjustments always **** me off. I'm spoiled I guess.
I use the Miller 135 it is a great 110volt MIG welder. It has not let me down yet.
There are some good Lincoln and Hobart models out there also.
Look for some welding forums, those usually have good information and suggestions for someone looking to buy a welder that is matched to their needs and price range.

Now I need to start thinking of what TIG welder I sould buy.....hmmm

 

What kind of work do you do with it ? i was told that the 110-120 volt ones are worthless, but this person tlaks out there *** most of the time and doesnt know what they are talking about .

 

i have a licoln 135 and ill put it this way, its great for exhaust piping,

andteh ABCD havent been a problem to me, i mastered it pretty quick, i mean your 99% gonna be welding steel, and ABCD is plenty, its all in teh person after that

anyhtoing else thats that precise that falls in between should be TIG'ed, and MIG aluminum is the cheap way out

dont spendmore than 600$, i bought mine form lowes, they even havethem online for $400

i have done IC piping, like 8 turboback exhausts, intakes, little brackets , stuff liek that
i leave all the detail stuff for TIG

 

Talk to people on http://www.hobartwelders.com or do a search there. From what I have seen most people are happy with their 120v machines at first but tend to out grow them within a year or two. They either get pissed because they can't pentrate thicker stuff too well and the welds always come out looking like **** or they can't pentrate it at all. Personally I'm saving up for a millermatic210 or 251 but I haven't heard any real complaints from a sp175 plus which is a 220v machine that works very well and is only like 50-100 more than a 120v.

 

i would say again

dont spend more than 600$
master it and the welds can come out very clean

dont spend a grand on a MIG either, for that youre a few hundred shy of a TIG that will son all MIG's

i penetrate 1/2 flanges no problem,
why would you wanna weld anything thicker than that with a small MIG?

kinda sucks cause a small MIG is like 500$, a big MIG is like 900$ and a TIG like tinker uses is 1500$, either go one extreme or the other

i agree with dude above, i am not outgrowing it, but just use it on stuff that doesnt have to be meticulous like test pipes, exhausts etc.

 

See the thing is why i was looking at something smaller voltage becuase i rent my apt with my garages, and im sure thye wont beed to happy with me putting a 220 feed in there. Im sure they dont even like me doing the work i do in there, but oh well . But yea, i guess all i would need one for is like exhaust stuff, piping , brackets, maybe some body work ****. other thna that i gues si wont be welding too crazy of thick stuff.

 

we use a matco 110volt welder - I'm sure it's rebadged - probably around 130 amp or so. Anyway, it works great for exhaust and charge pipe - which is pretty much all we do with it anyway.

Just get something with gas hookup - avoid flux core

made this downpipe with it:

 

then get a lincoln 135, EXCELLENT for that stuff, and body work uses MIG's mostly i believe, hell, i have a house (parents) no electricity in the garage, but just run an extension cord from the 2nd floor LOL and it works PERFECT (well my mom says the lights do dim, butthats cause our electric panel is old school)

 

Weld exhausts, sheetmetal, tack welding, Stainless Steel, Mild Steel, brackets, and a buch or other stuff I can't recall right now. I bought it to be portable. That way if a friend needed some quick welding done at their place or if I had to weld on the road, it could be done easily.
Don't plan on butt welding 3/4" plate steel, you would need a larger welder for that.

I figure it is is small enough I can use the 110v MIG, everything after that I usually TIG weld anyways. My suggestion is to buy a good helmet, it is worth every penny

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BROOD &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Don't plan on butt welding 3/4" plate steel, you would need a larger welder for that.

I figure it is is small enough I can use the 110v MIG, everything after that I usually TIG weld anyways. My suggestion is to buy a good helmet, it is worth every penny </TD></TR></TABLE>

lucky for me a neighbor gave me for free an auto dark helmet, that handheld mask that comes with it is a nightmare, butyes, great for portability

 

yea i tried to weld for the 1st time last night and the autodarkening helmet was nice. how much do those usually run ?

 

anywhere froma cheap-o one from80$ to like 300$, try and find one for like 120$ or so, i have a no name one that came from my neighbors mahcine shop, works dope

when i MIG, i try and keep my right hand on the gun, left and barrel of tehgun per say between my left pointer and thumb to make it steady, stay like 1/4" away and maintain taht disatcne and move evenly, most importantly MAINTAIN THE DISTANCE and once theres enough weld there (.5 sec), start moving

just a heads up

 

yea thats how i was shown last night, the guy was actually suprised how well i did for never doing it before and how quick i picked it up .
I would really love to do more and play with this on the side, im sure its conveneient as hell .

 

You don't need much power if you aren't going to be welding thick stuff. I rented a Miller 135 for a week and it was alright. Never turned it up too much- I think the thickest metal I had was 3/16"...maybe. You don't really do anything thicker on a car unless you are welding exhaust flanges.
The wire feed on the Miller broke down after day 5. I thought they were supposed to be bulletproof and they probably are, just not the one that I had.
Auto-dark is definitely the way to go.
Personally, I'd get a cheap 90 amp or even a little less from Home Depot and if that doesn't work out then I'd spend more $$ on a 135.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dennis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">we use a matco 110volt welder - I'm sure it's rebadged - probably around 130 amp or so. Anyway, it works great for exhaust and charge pipe - which is pretty much all we do with it anyway.

Just get something with gas hookup - avoid flux core
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup! I use the same setup...


And get a VERY good helmet... I use a $450 Snap On Tools auto darkening helmet

 

well i deff need to penetrate flanges. so thats a must

 

What welder you decide on is up to you but I can tell you this, make sure that you get a rig that has gas shielding and not flux core wire. That flux core stuff sucks!!

 

Pete, you might want to look into oxy welding. Its about the same price as mid-range mig welding. It requires more skill, but you'll be able to pick up Tig welding in a second after learning oxy.

 

Boosted is rite, oxy ace is the first setup that I welded with and then eventually got into tig and mig. Once you can pick up welding with the oxy ace setup you will be able to make the change to tig pretty easily, all the motions are basically the same except with tig you have a pedal to work.

 

is that like the torch stuff? pardeon me if thta sounds wayyyy off, im just learning with the little info ive started reading on

 

Yeah its that torch stuff !!! You will have a torch in one hand and a rod in the other.

 

oh ok , i think i know what your talking about . is thta same price wise as mig ?

 

Just about. You can buy a hell of an O/A setup for around $500. That could weld like 1" and cut like a foot of steel.

 

No, Its probably cheaper not to mention that its a torch so you can use it to cut metal and coke or aneal aluminum to make it more workable.