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mig welder...moderators please leave this...

twoslo4five0

twoslo4five0

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alright heres the deal ive done a small amount of welding and im ready to learn more but it looks like im gonna be self taught (which i dont have a problem with more rewarding in the end anyway)...i need to go out and purachase a good but cheap eletic mig...ive been told diffrent things but heard they are the easy to learn on...also been told if you have a cheap on and get good on it when you actually get a miller or something of that stature with gas you will be exelent...dont worry i will just be practiceing on small srap first till i learn...whats a good weleder to buy..seen some at harbor freight for like 100 to 200 bucks...any recomendations???
 
I wouldn't buy anything like that from Harbor Freight.

I'd look into Hobart, they are now Miller's econo line and are good quality.

If you can afford it and have a 220v plug, go with a 220v MIG, you'll be 10 times happier in the end.
 
rjfguitar said:
I wouldn't buy anything like that from Harbor Freight.

I'd look into Hobart, they are now Miller's econo line and are good quality.

If you can afford it and have a 220v plug, go with a 220v MIG, you'll be 10 times happier in the end.
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thoose names i deffinitley i cant afford...i checked them out already...i just want a simple 110 eletric welder to learn on...eventually im gonna get a miller gas for big bucks but i wanna start on a simple cheap on first...i buy plenty off stuff from habor just got to look at what you get...if i didnt buy tools from there i would never be able to work on my truck cause i wouldnt have money for it...
 
Your best bet is to go stick. You can get a 220 volt 10 amp stick welder for 250 at HD. You can do good, strong welds with it too. I WOULD NOT use anything lower than a 135 (or similar)with proper techniques for anything structural on our rigs.

Dont buy that crap though, you'll out grow it the first day.

Or if you dont wanna go stick, wait for a good deal on a used one to come up.
 
home depot. lincoln electric fluxcore wire feed welder.250 wire sheild hammer wire brush included good starter uses 110v NOT FOR STRUCTURAL WELDS WITH INEXPERIANCED WELDER

DSC00745.jpg
 
im afraid if i go stick all that will end up happening is me getting frusterated and giving up....i dont have the patience...
 
I'd look in the local sales mags for equipment, tools etc. to find a used Lincoln stick.....relatively cheap and last forever.....then save for a better unit. I bought a 175 mig, after puttering with an old Lincoln arc, and now its like cutting butter with a hot knife.
 
also, prep is the key to good welds also. Buy a beginners book on welding and read it, learn it, live it.
 
58 apache said:
home depot. lincoln electric fluxcore wire feed welder.250 wire sheild hammer wire brush included good starter uses 110v NOT FOR STRUCTURAL WELDS WITH INEXPERIANCED WELDER

DSC00745.jpg
Click to expand...
like i said its mostly for practice and for add on to my trailer...nothing structural weld i dont trust myself enough for that i have a guy who does pro weld for me who is a good family friend...it more like a hobby for me if you can understand that better...
 
I agree with going stick. I have learned the basics on both, and while it is a little hard to get started with a stick, nothign someone with minimial mechanical skills can't accomplish.

They say you could teach a monkey to MIG (if you could make him wear the goofy helmet ;) ), but if you have more intelligence than a monkey, and are willing to learn and practice, you could totally weld with a stick welder.

It didnt' take me long at all to lay some good beads, and as long as you post pics up on here for inspection, i wouldnt' think it would be long before you could start basic structural stuff.
 
Stick welders are fine and if you get one like that lincoln 225 you can turn it down pretty low and with some small rod to really light stuff but turn it up and it will go to town on almost anything:D . I learned to weld on a Lincoln stick machine and it is really alot easier than most think.

Striking an arc is the hard part but I would suggest sliding the rod upto the area where you wanna start the bead. It takes a while to learn how to just tap the rod where you wanna start and actually get an arc and not stick the rod:o .

Mig (to me) is way easier once you get the technique down (Thanks again Rene) but it is more costly to get started.

All that to say a stick machine should do really well for what you want out of it and also to learn on.

Ira
 
twoslo4five0 said:
i was thinking one like this...it 150 buck starter kit that includes everything to get started minus wire..http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=55250
Click to expand...

Here is my saying about tools. (I came up with this because I buy tools from my Snap-On dealer and my dad likes Harbor junk)

"A cheap tool that is cheap isn't worth the cheap price you paid for if it doesn't do it's job."

So applying that to your case, if the HF special is $150, and a decent econo Harbor is say $600, but the HF special doesn't even hardly work and you are always fighting the cheap liner, gun, and spool.... then you got ripped off for $150.

Gasless MIG welders use Fluxcore wire. It's nasty stuff and basically ruins the pluses of using a MIG machine. Plus, fluxcore wire costs about 4 times of what standard MIG wire costs.

If you can't afford a MIG from a reputable brand then I would buy a stick machine like others mentioned.

I prefer stick welding, I get better penetration with it and with the large 300 and 400 amp machines that we have that are super smooth, I can fly with them and really cover some material if I have a lot to weld. I really only use my MIG's if I am doing a shop project and want pretty welds.

I'd go with a stick to start out with, because once you can stick weld you can also MIG weld. In a year or two you'll be able to burn with one hand and hold your phone under your helmet with your other hand at the same time.;)
 
I suppose I am the flip side. I bought the HF 151 because i got it cheap from an auction. I learned to weld with it using fluxcore. It did a great job for the $$ and I was able to build a bunch of stuff for the shop/house my roof rack, lots of brackets and mounts and most of my sliders before it finally died.

I have now "graduated to a Lincoln, but I still use innershield for most things and have no problem at all with it. If you calculate the cost of wire plus gas, unless you buy large volumes, I don't really see much difference.
 
I was thinking that also but I get 50 CF of C25 for $24 and a 10# spool of solid for $21. The fluxcore is $54 for #10. For my situation it is cheaper to run solid.


Ira
 
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