Welder buying question?

[Anonymous Poster]

I am thinking about finally buying a welder and learning to weld. I know nothing about welders but saw a pretty good deal on a Lincoln AC-225 stick welder. I plan to weld lightweight to thick 1"plus metal and make new implements of mass descruction for my backhoe /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Will the welder in the following website work well for me?

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.weldersmall.com/cgi-bin/weldersmall/details?workingProductID=13098&featuredCategoryID=4746&action=more>http://www.weldersmall.com/cgi-bin/weldersmall/details?workingProductID=13098&featuredCategoryID=4746&action=more</A>

Or is there one out there that would work better for me?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Yes, it is a good welder. Yes, it will probably serve your purposes well.
NO, do not buy it over the internet, or at Lowes, Home Depo or any box store.
First, go to your local adult ed or community college and LEARN to weld. While you're there, look at the machines and see who supplied them.
Second, go to welding suppliers in your area and establish a relationship with one, DON'T base the relationship on cost alone. As time goes on, you will need help, and the supplier will furninsh it. Of course, you can always try to describe your problem on welding sites, and get a shutload of answers from nitwits who read a book, or worked next to the welding department at the factory, and one of them might even have the right answer, but you still need a welding supplier.

 

[MDNick]

Luvmud,

Gotta agree with Franz on this one. I had a class on welding in college (with a physics degree, would you believe). The AC-225 has been around a long time. Literally millions have probably been sold. I bought the upgrade to it, an AC/DC box. DC is a vast improvement for only another $140. I found the best price for it on the web, then was told that the local welding shop had great prices. They did, $6 LESS than the web, $404. The web price did include shipping, and no tax, so the local sourced machine did cost me about $15 more, but when I walk in I casually mention how well I like the welder I bought from them and I get a discount on rod (though the discount varies from clerk to clerk). They also will have various rods, hoods, the gloves, and a torch set, because you'll want that next. I do.

Do a search on this site. You'll find MANY threads on learning to weld. Guidance on auto-darkening hoods, etc.

Nick

 

[rdbrumfield]

I have to agree with the fellows above.
I do all my welding for fabrication and repairs. Have the oxyacetelene and a miller 135 wire feed.
I too took a class at the local jr college. Did a lot of stick welding, verticls and overhead. Didn't get into wire until I bought one. Sounds like DC stick to me if your welding up to 1 inch.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Ok folks ya convinced me!! I signed up and plan to take a welding class at a local Voc Tech this spring to learn how to weld the right way before I jump into it without any knowledge.

If anyone knows any good deals on an AC/DC stick welder please let me know.

 

[Rch]

http://www.millerwelds.com/main/
http://www.centuryonline.net/catalogue/catalogue.asp?
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.usaweld.com/index.html>http://www.usaweld.com/index.html</A>
Luvmud, I just went through the process of buying a welder. I have a Lincoln 225A that I got at a farm auction for $35. It must be 25 yrs old but works just fine, bird poop and all. I used a neighbors MIG 110 V and was impressed on how forgiving it was. It was a wire feed with 25% CO2/ 75% Argon gas wash. I decided however to get a 220 Volt so I could attack 1/4" stuff. I went to Appleton where they make Miller with my heart set on a Miller MIG 210. That first link above, The Welding Mart is in Appleton and I needed to see several units side by side plus talk with someone and try for a package deal with a self-darkening helmet, extra wire and a few other 'consumables' like tips etc. Well, The Welding Mart is 3 people sitting in a little office working the internet. They order directly from the factory which ships it to you on a freight truck (200 lbs) so someone has got to be there when it arrives. Since I have a day job and my wife works that could be a hassle. The boss however really knew his stuff and thought Lincoln was more competitive on price, had a heavier wire feed mechanism and the consumables were interchangable with Tweeco, a big suppler of such stuff. I cruised several show rooms( this was 2 days before Xmas). At the Miller dealer a young guy was holding down the fort and kind of overwhelmed with the showroom traffic. At another showroom(Praxair) a Lincoln Power Mig 200 was next to a Miller 210 and ,yeah, the wire feed gizmo was heftier. The Miller however had 2 grooves, 0.30 & 0.35, for different size wire on the same wheel and you just had to flip it over. For thr Lincoln you would have to buy another wheel for the 0.30 size wire, a $50-60 item. The deciding factor was the boss was there and the Lincoln was $100 cheaper; he threw in a $185 self-darkening helmet for $125, 4 extra tips and a 20 lbs spool of wire. It was a $1322 deal, including 5% to the govenor. Later that day I spent $174 for a 5 yr lease on a 4 foot full tank of CO2/Argon (42 bucks a fill).
I decided to stick with Lincoln/Miller because of Made in USA, parts etc. I had an uncle on the farm who used a Lincoln 225A for 45 years with no repair on it. Hobart is a cheaper Miller brand with some plastic panels but supposedly the same guts as the Miller. Lincoln makes their own copper wire and the employees own part of the company. They also support a welding school in Cleveland OH and have manuels on welding that are the bible of the industry for $22. Anyway, I love it and cruise the local steel shop and junkyards with projects dancing in my head such as a people lifter a la Spencer for my FEL. I made a welding table, cord rack on the front of the welder already. It needs to warm-up a little tho to work out in the shop.

 

[jimgerken]

Regarding which TYPE of welder to buy: I am betting that, after your Vo-Tech welding class exposure to both stick and Mig, you will buy a mig. Start saving now, the price is twice. But you will not outgrow it and the quality of your projects will be higher. I own both and use the AC/DC stick welder only when I absolutely have to because of material thickness or old rusty metal. Other than those cases, I find the mig to produce a much nicer smoother weld with vitually no slag cleanup, about half the toxic fumes produced, can weld much thinner materials and a wider variety of materials than stick, and produces welds that seem much easier to grind and possibly drill through later. If you buy the right one the first time, you'll save money in the long run.

 

[OkieG]

Luvmud,

My comments are offered as a fellow inexperienced welder (speaking of Luvmud not Jim). My meager credentials are that I took a 9 week Vo-Tech welding class twice in a row. Twice because it really was fun and there is so much to learn. I am in awe of a nice looking stick weld and those who can make them. It is not the most exotic weld, but it is still the epitome of the art in my mind. Stick was what we started with in class, and I spent more time with it than most, because that's the way "real" weldors weld. I learned enough to know that I don't have a natural knack for stick and don't have the time to develop into a "real" weldor.

Ended up buying 2 welders, a 175A Mig and a 175A Tig (which also does stick). For me, the learning curve was easier for both Mig and Tig than stick. That is not to say I am really good with either, but I make more acceptable welds with those than I could with stick.

Jim is right on, in that stick is not the only way to go. Keep an open mind in class.

OkieG

 

[Hoeman00]

This is the same set up that I stated in earlier post that
u get a good power unit ( I use Lincoln idealarc 250)
then add wire feeder,spool gun or tig unit as u need
and not have to buy multiple machines.
A machine that has seperate wire feeder can be moved
onto large jobs because u can only push mig wire
so far before trouble.

 

[BWS]

i have a mm185 mig/spoolgun setup works great.like mig and would recomend a hobart handler 175[limited thickness to 1/4+/-]cheap,fast,easy.bws