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I'm debating a little, it wouldn't be one that pricey most likely,home use, and my skills are lacking, but I do want to improve them (we have six cars to practice on in the family). I would like to know who has one for home use? Will a mig earn back it's cost (as aposed to paying the muffler shop and others to do the work)?
So how many of ya'll have them? What kind, and would you by one again if you had it to do over?
im buyin one next week. welders always earn back thier money as long as you use it. you might even to make some money off your friends that need little stuff done.
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1991 nx2000:Black:Wrecked:Sold
1992 nx2000:White: Sold
1993 nx2000 :Electric blue:Sold
its not who you do in life, its who you leave behind. Jerry James Hays 9/1/1982-5/14/2006 Danielle Wilson 2/10/07
i have a little clarke 110 mig, it welds aluminum, stainless, and mild steel, its not to expensive but its nice, if you have the money get a hobart,or miller.
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95 SE-R-SOLD
93 SE-R-RIP(rusted into pieces)
93 SE-R-SOLD
92 SE-R-SOLD
i have a reman 230V hobart 140. you can get Hobarts remanufactured from some websites, its a lot cheaper that way.
welders rock. i played around with some scrap metal (CLEAN of course, the MOST important thing of welding) until i knew the machine well (every welder is different) then tackled things around the house. i am building about 200' worth of hand railing for my parents' new place right now.
i plan on making an aluminum intake manifold sometime soon, ill first have to practice aluminum mig.mig welding aluminum is alot different than tig welding it to me.
mig welding aluminum is super easy - I prefer it to steel. Just don't put too much bead down at the same time, as it will warp a lot quicker than steel or with a tig. Get a spool gun if you can, unless you like swapping out the rollers, liner, tip, etc. everytime you switch to Al
as for the initial ?, it alls depends on what you want to do. A 90 amp turd will work for ugly exhausts and minor body work, but it's always nice to have a bigger machine as you'll have more control and will be capable of tackling stuff thicker than 16ga. I've only used a 90amp Miller Sidekick and a Lincoln 255 w/ the expensive spool gun - I plan on getting a Miller 175 (Hobart sells the same machine, but it doesn't have infinitely variable voltage like the Miller - it's ~$100 cheaper, but more control is worth the $ to me). I would think either a Miller or Hobart 140 or 175 amp mig would be perfect for any auto related work you could do.
Lastly, steer away from entry level "bargains" - cheap sh*t have less features that make it harder for the novice to learn on. Beware of anyone who says, "well I've never had a problem with (generic 100amp flux core turd)"
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save the whales, harpoon fat chicks
flux welding suck stinky anus. never, ever, buy a "MIG" that you don't have the capability for gas welding (really, its just a flux wire-feed welder, not a MIG). Flux welders, IMO, are a waste of money and you get the added bonus of using your grinder/wire wheel a lot to clean up snotty welds and soot.
the large amperage units (like Geo's 250) aren't that necesary unless you're welding really thick metal (like 1/2" steel plate) or like to weld REALLY fast. most people would burn a fat hole right through just about anything with that thing at full blast. its like Spinal Tap's amp that "goes to 11."
in addition. do yourself the favor of buying a nice auto dimming mask. the flip downs, esp for the novice, can be extremely difficult, esp for welding Al (ZAP!).
for welding Al, i really like using a Miller with the Al kit. i think it gives you more amperage or something at first to get it started (welding Al is a battle of zapping it or just making sparks and getting burned) and then cuts it back, it takes the difficulty out of welding Al and anyone who can weld steel can do it.
i prefer a 7 inch lense flipdown over auto darkening, i donno why i just do, and my clarke welder is ok and it was free from my dad, and converting to al welding isnt TOO bad, you just need two tanks, one argon co2 and one argon for al.
mig welding aluminum is super easy - I prefer it to steel. Just don't put too much bead down at the same time, as it will warp a lot quicker than steel or with a tig.
Do you have to use shielding gas when welding aluminum with a MIG? <---big time noob question.
Thats one of the reason Ive steared clear of welding. I have no where to store the gas tanks.
Our MIG is a Miller 135 (110V, shielded). W/ the 120V, it's really portable, which was a huge plus. Never had a problem, and we use it a lot -- Hell, we made a steel fence/ wall for our front yard using it, have metal plant stands, light fixtures, made gates using it... and of course, the cars. Mig welding is pretty easy, and has tons of applications.
I'd get another Miller any day, and even running only 110V, although it's slower than a 220, this one can create a damn strong weld.
One bit of advice-- (we own an older house, I don't know if codes have changed to where this is no longer an issue, but judging from the outlets you can by at homedespot, I don't think so)-- If you do go 110, learn the amperage of your outlets (you really need a 20 amp outlet to make a weld worth trusting w/ your life) and get a really good quality high amperage extension cord for it.
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1991 SE-r Aztec Red "Quiet, She's sleeping"
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1992 SE-r Black Beauty... "It's not his anymore"
Do you have to use shielding gas when welding aluminum with a MIG? <---big time noob question.
Thats one of the reason Ive steared clear of welding. I have no where to store the gas tanks.
yes, it has to be 100% argon. Storage-wise I can imagine it'd be an issue as long as you have a cart and it's chained to it - it's not going to be anymore dangerous than a propane tank, plus it is inflammable.
"you might be able to flux weld Al, but its going to look ultra snotty, blow holes or be really thick Al."
I don't think anyone makes Al FCAW wire. I've actually forgot to turn on the gas one time - you just get little shrunken metallic turds with alot of MgO ash from the Mg in the alloy. Also FCAW gets a bad rap from being using on inadequate sh*tty little machines. I've used FC on a 300amp inverter MIG with the remote spool and I couldn't see anymore fumes than from a normal MIG (then again there was a hood at the station I used). It can be as clean and is better penetrating than MIG - my instructor welds for Ziegler/CAT and uses FC almost exclusively.
lastly, duty cycle is the amount of weld time vs. down time, eg. 60% duty cycle means you can weld for 6 min. but then you have to let it cool down for 4 min. As Geo pointed out, bigger machines can do alot more work than little ones, plus you never know when you're going to need weld some thick stuff - when that time comes, the few hundred bucks you saved by getting a cheap welder will not have been worth it
i don't know many private use people that weld for more than 6 minutes straight. i might weld a couple of welds at 20 seconds each, with anywhere from 5 seconds to 10 minutes or more between welds. unless you're doing production, i just dont see where anyone would weld so much that they needed to let their welder cool down.
i hate FC welding. even on more powerful machines, you still leave a nice char path behind that you need to wire wheel off. FC is also a little harder to use for beginners, as it likes to punch holes more easily. of course you could just TIG it...
I'm w/ Rockwood. I've never welded more than a few minutes strait, and even then it's short bursts for a couple of minutes then setting something else up & FC sucks.
Our TIG is a hulking hobart 240 that I can't even move by myself, that has a special 50A outlet all it's own. It gets a lot less use because of its heft and the fact that you can only plug it in in one location anyway. As an "only welder", I'd keep the little mini-mig over it any time, although the tig's a much "better" machine.
As others have said, do not even consider a flux-core welder. Buy a MIG and a bottle. Buy the most powerful welder you can afford. Get a 220v if possible. You may not think you need it now, but you will quickly find a lot of things to use it for. I say buy a more powerful welder because even though you may be working within a welder's listed capacity, it will perform better with some headroom. If, for example you were welding some thick cage tubing with a smaller welder turned all the way up, it will work, and be hot enough. However, if you are using a better welder, at say 50% power, it will be hot enough also, but the arc will probably be more stable and it will be easier to make nice welds. To start out, I'd probably want something around 175 amp. A nice, all around, powerful welder that you can use for years and not need to upgrade would be a 250 amp MIG. Miller and Lincoln are great; I hear good things about the more economical Hobarts as well. I have even heard that the more powerful Harbor Freight welders are decent for the occasional user. Most recently, I've been using a Lincoln Power MIG 255 and it is superb. The digital controls make it very easy to repeat settings. If you look on ebay, you can find 175 amp Lincolns and Millers for around $7-800 and 250amp ones for around $1800.
Being a "professional", I may be recommending more than the average home user needs, but I really think you get what you pay for when buying a welder. You will only buy it once, and they hold their value pretty well.
I just looked at a 175 miller on ebay, and it is listed at being capable of 1/4" steel. That seems like the minimum you'd want to invest in.. Buying a new welder for myself? Miller 250 or Lincoln 255. Looks like a Miller 210 is around $1200 which might be a nice improvement over a 175.
Jerry James Hays 9/1/1982-5/14/2006
