lookn to buy a welder

[beaummiler]

Im looking to buy a welder and thought i might be able to find a few things out here i have been looking at mig with flux wire i think it might be 90amp will this work on 1/4" 3/8" i will be using it mainly on my smoker build and am worried about the welds holding it to the trailer and firebox i dnt want to buy to small of a welder but wont be maken critical welds either any help would be most welcome

 

[daveomak]

beau, evening....   Find your local welding shop and see what they have to offer....  You will need parts etc. and having them local is good...  Buy something that will use compressed gasses so you can weld aluminum later....  

I have the spool hand held gun that hold 2# steel and 1# aluminum wire spools..  My welder is engine driven for a back up generator for power outages and I load it on my tractor to weld stuff in the field, and my neighbors stuff...

Ratings on welders are strange.... they say 1/4" or 5/16" capable.....  Preheat the steel with a weed burner... no problems....  

I have welded 1 1/2" thick steel using pre heating techniques..

Basically, if you can plan ahead and afford it, go for it.....  welding is really fun.... building your own stuff and helping out friends is cool....

Mortgage the house and buy the best...  NOT...... buy a good machine and you won't be sorry....  There you go... I'm no help at all...  

 

[05sprcrw]

Dave hit the nail on the head.

I will say that most of those small 110 units with proper technique can do a lot in an experienced welders hand, but can also get people into trouble. Those ratings on 1/4" in a single past in my experience the 110 welders can handle about 1/8" comfortably and past that you need to start preheating and beveling your metal before welding so you can get enough penetration. The other thing about a small 110 unit is that it can not weld for very long before needing to take a break. Most 110 welders have around a 30% duty cycle, without getting into all the specifics it bascially means for every 3 minutes of welding you have to wait 7 minutes for the unit to cool. The duty cycle is something that is very important when looking at welders. 

If you can swing it I would look at a 220 welder with at least 200 amps and that can be adapted for shielding gas, or flux core wire later on (most on the market already do this). I would think a Hobart 190 or 210 would be a good starting place that would probably do most everything you could throw at it.

I have the Hobart Ironman 230 and it is a very good machine very similar to the miller 252 but saved me about a grand when I bought it. I use miller at work and the Ironman welds every bit as good as the 252 miller.  I will say that the 252 is the smallest welder we have at work though so I don't use that one very often.

Another option is a good stick welder will be much cheaper and let you do a lot more for a lot less. The down side to stick welding is it is a slower process, and takes a bit more practice to get the hang of it. But the up side is if you get a good looking bead 90% of the time the weld is good, unlike gas metal arc welding (mig) where you can have a great looking weld that is structurally unsound.

I could keep going on and on but like Dave said the best thing to do is go to a local welding supply place. They may be a bit higher, but their knowledge is worth it, plus you can generally get them to throw in some extras for you when you get the welder so it ends up about the same.

One last side note, a auto darkening welding helmet will make life much much easier.

 

[beaummiler]

Thank you Dave and sprcrw for your insite part of my problem is i dont have 220 in my garage dad says he has it in one of his out buildings but he isnt sure how much is in each leg my other prob is i need to be very careful with my $ you guys helpd me i was worried that the mig probly wasnt what i needd got to love this forum and its great people

 

[05sprcrw]

No problem and a stick welder is great and one of my favorite ways to weld its just takes a bit more practice but if you snatch up some scrap and some welding rods after some practice it will be much easier. Once you get comfortable with it and are confident its time to start that cooker.

 

[daveomak]

The MIG will make you a good welder....  You will be able to weld out of position... meaning upside down, overhead etc...  I never could weld overhead with stick.... splatter.... hair on fire.... clothes on fire.... burns on my neck....    I keep rod around for flat welding some stuff but wire is so forgiving it is stupid....  

 

[05sprcrw]

I am definitely a fan of mig it has its place, but stick can do all positions as well, its a little messier since its flux based shielding. But if he is using flux core wire he will have just as much splatter.  Definitely not arguing but if money is a factor for him stick is a pretty inexpensive way to get started. 

I use mig for 90% of what I do, it is just plain faster and it does make out of position welding easier that is for sure. My only concern is that starting out and going out of position generally doesn't make for the best welds with MIG.

 

[beaummiler]

Ok a rod will do about all of it but a mig can do good too most everything i would be welding will be less than 1/4" thick would i be better off with a mig and if i need a lil stronger weld maybe haul it out to the farm and stick weld the heavy stuff i just dnt want to bother my uncle this close to planting he has a lot to get ready for

 

[05sprcrw]

Honestly a 120 mig welder can be very good. I keep a small hobart hanlder 140 around for small jobs and  sucker rod fencing repair in our cattle lots, since I don't have an engine driven welder yet.

A 1/4" is a little much for even the 140 (largest 120v welder, similar to miller 140 and lincoln 135) I would say 3/16" would be what it could handle max in a single pass with out preheat or beveling. If you preheat the area your going to weld or bevel the joint down so you can get in there deeper and then do a 3 pass weld on it you can weld pretty much anything with it. I have fixed farm machinery with a 120 welder and it works great you just have to do a little extra prep but easily done.  If it were me I would definitely get the Hobart 140 its a very very good welder for the money and will last a very long time for you. 

If you have access to stick that has extra amps for the real heavy spots I say the smart buy would be the biggest 120v mig/flux core wire feed welder you can afford it will make a big difference in how long you can weld before having to let the machine take a break. The handler and most of them will have a 30% duty cycle so out of a 10 min period you can weld 3 min and rest 7 min.

That really isn't too bad though unless your on long runs but most of the time you won't ever hit the duty cycle.  I usually just tack some areas up weld for a bit, then tack a few more areas up and weld some more this way I don't hit the duty cycle and I am still getting a lot done.

You can get flux core wire for them which won't require you to buy a shielding gas bottle or shielding gas. It will make some slag and splatter that you will have to clean up but its nice on a windy day or welding outside where the wind can blow your shielding gas away.

If your welds look like they have worm tunnels in them then they weren't shielded enough and are not good grind them out and re-weld them.

 

[beaummiler]

Thanks a lot i was talkn to dad and he was of the same mind set ill get a mig i can afford and call in a favor or beer for the heavy welds glad you and dave could take some time out for me on this subject