Is $100 a good deal for Lincoln AC/DC 225/125?

[easygo]

Get your hands on one of these, I guarantee you'll take your tractor, and run over that Hobart! Turn around dig a hole and bury it!

Invertec Multi-Process Welders | Lincoln Electric

If I bought one of those welders my wife would treat me just like that. I would rather keep my cheap welder and have peace in the house.

 

[slowzuki]

Oh what a steal on that ideal arc! We had one in the shop I worked at one summer. I've never seen one for less that 1000$ around here.

 

[Shield Arc]

If I bought one of those welders my wife would treat me just like that. I would rather keep my cheap welder and have peace in the house.

Guess I'm lucky, I have 11 welding machines, my wife never says a word. Or maybe she remembers all the money I've made with welding machines, and now a days all the money I save us, by building, and repairing things.

 

[Soundguy]

I think you and I have different requirements of a welding machine. A large % of my welding was done at 400 + amps. I ran them for a living, you are a hobbyist. I had to run welding machines 8, 10, 12, 14 + hours a day 5, 6, 7 days a week. Hobarts are fine for the weekend warrior, not so much for the professional.

And.. the bulk of the welders HERE are weekend warriors.. and your comment painted hobart as some kind of trash to be set out on the curb.

Most of us are in that 70-200 amp club for our welding needs.


soundguy

 

[CrashandBurn]

My roundtop Idealarc (tombstone) is 42 years old, I often wonder how many hundred pounds of 6010 & 7018 have been run with it.
When I attended welding class, in the mid 60's, that's all they used and they put many 1000's of hours on them.

 

[lilranch2001]

Thanks!

Is the 1st one a light, medium, or heavy duty? Will it be enough for a guy who will be doing basic maint and only VERY simple fabrication?

Here is a pic of the 2nd one... Just in case that helps... Personally it would have to be AMAZINLY better to justify three times the price...

Thanks again,
David

if I ever find a round top like this one, I will buy it in a heartbeat.
I have put many many pleasurable hours on 3-4 machines just like it back in my younger days as a construction welder

 

[5030]

That's why I mentioned it was a little light on the amps, at least by the numbers (someone mentioned they are similar, The Lincoln /125 and the Miller/150)

I went from a Miller thunderbolt ac only to the Thunderbolt ac/dc. For my projects using 1/4- 1/2" materials I seem to be right around 125 and up amps dc, at least that's what it says on the machine.
I would not be able to do what I want if limited to 125. and so far have not needed more than 150. So those 25 amps seem to be right in the critical sweet spot for the semi serious hillbilly welder like me. At least going by the numbers.



Can't imagine a hobby/ occasional welder needing 250 amps dc, unless his hobby was building small bridges on the side.
Serious farm maintenance yes, but not a tinkerer. No offense David

JB.

No offense taken. I agree. I probably should not mention I have welders in the shop from all the major players, Lincoln, Hobart and Miller. No ESAB here...yet....and Thermal Dynamics

After reading through the thread and some of the comments I must say that it's not the welding power source that makes the weld, it's the weldor's skill that makes the weld. The right machine as far as process is concerned but the bottom line is the skill of the operator is what makes (or breaks) a weldment.

I started out many years ago with a Lincoln buzzbox and a set of Harris OA torches. I still have them both, well, the buzz box is on loan to my BIL. I learned to gas weld early on. That helped me with TIG. Gas welding and TIG have a lot of similarities in application and coordination.

Contrary to some opinions on here, I've never had problem one with any Hobart and I use a Hobart MIG in a production enviroment to the point at which I have to lay the torch down and go do something else because it's too hot to hold onto and I'd exchange the a/c torch for a Binzel w/c torch but why bother. I need a break from time to time and I own the shop so I'm the boss....lol

I'm sure Chris (Soundguy) is very happy with his Hobart as are many owners. Sure, I'd like to see Hobart offer a pulsed MIG or a multi-process machine or a push-pull spool gun but guess what?? That would put them out of the realm of a homeowner/casual user type machine both in price and convenience.

I see nothing wrong with either the mechanics or the value received in a Hobart machine and there are certainly a lot of Hobart Brothers machines that are 40 or 50 years old, still being used everyday.

Hobart and Miller (ITW) have some overlap as far as machines and capabilities are concerned, but again, the color of the case don't make the weld, the weldor does.

Its like I can run hay with a JD or a Massey or a Kioti or a Kubota. The end product is all the same, the difference between quality hay and mulch is the skill and knowledge of the operator, not the machinery.

That applies to just about everything.

 

[Soundguy]

At home I have a small 30/70 ac only CH welder, and that hobart 235xl I purpose bought it a few years back as it was on sale, and a side wing 'fell off' my 15' batwing mower! I called a mobile welding service, and their service call alone would have been more than the hobart, not to mention t he repair itself.

I got jacks and stands and a loader and got the wing true, prepped my new hinge parts and buzzd her back on. can't have been too bad a weld as it's lasted for years. every time I come back in from mowing I clean off the deck, check the tires and hubs, check gearbox oil, check for leaks at the input and output shafts, check blades and bolts, hitch and drawbar parts and wing hiinges for cracks... no 'warranty' work yet.

at work we have a miller mig 250a job, a lincoln 225ac/180dc buzzbox ( i think ) as well as a hobart 10kw welder/genny on our service truck now. have oa torches at home and at work / on work truck. I don't do much gas welding, but I do alot of brazing and soldering, been doing that 25ys.. the first thing I ever welded was making a '3rd' ramp for a trailer so wecould load trikes on it.. I used the lincoln at work. I still have that ramp it's never broke or been repaired. it's one heavy SOB.. weighs 2x what the other 2 ramps for the trailer weighs. and that was the very first time i stick welded, if you don't count high school shop class, where i actually got 5 minutes of welding time and about 5 minutes making a nasty wide cut using a chamfer/gouging rod ... that ramp is now.. oh.18ys old.. made it in 93.. i know it's had 4-5000 pound trikes roll up it. obviously not the entire weight was on it, but they weren't lightweight tractors for sure..

if there is some pandemic problem with hobart I'd be interested in finding out about it? so far, I like mine a lil better than the lincoln box just due to t he variable amp settings. otherwise.. both make fumes and bright light and glue metal together?


we have a TD plasma cutter at work i'm envious of.. would love one at home.. just can't swallow the price tag for a tool that i wouldn't use alot... so far my oa torches do near all my cutting.. almost put the chop saw out of work when i got the torches.. a bottle refill of o/a every few months is just eassier to justify than the $ of a plasma cutter that will cut 1/2 and sever 3/4 or better.... my o/a torches already do that.. and heat stuck bolts, cut bolts and nuts off ( OUCH!! ) and start greasefires cutting races out of wheel hubs..

soundguy

 

[cowski]

i would get a thunderbolt acdc .the infinite adjustment and 150 amp dc makes it better. 1/8 7018 sometime needs more juice than 125.it can be run on a 50 amp breaker.bigger transformer welders use more power at the same amp settings.if you have a 100 amp breaker i have used a dial arc,ideal arc and esab 252 and they are superior machines.for a farm welder not necessary.i have a 140 amp everlast inverter and have used several miller inverters,i like the way they weld but if i had only one welder for farm use {50 amp breaker } it would be a acdc thunderbolt .

 

[5030]

At home I have a small 30/70 ac only CH welder, and that hobart 235xl I purpose bought it a few years back as it was on sale, and a side wing 'fell off' my 15' batwing mower! I called a mobile welding service, and their service call alone would have been more than the hobart, not to mention t he repair itself.

I got jacks and stands and a loader and got the wing true, prepped my new hinge parts and buzzd her back on. can't have been too bad a weld as it's lasted for years. every time I come back in from mowing I clean off the deck, check the tires and hubs, check gearbox oil, check for leaks at the input and output shafts, check blades and bolts, hitch and drawbar parts and wing hiinges for cracks... no 'warranty' work yet.

at work we have a miller mig 250a job, a lincoln 225ac/180dc buzzbox ( i think ) as well as a hobart 10kw welder/genny on our service truck now. have oa torches at home and at work / on work truck. I don't do much gas welding, but I do alot of brazing and soldering, been doing that 25ys.. the first thing I ever welded was making a '3rd' ramp for a trailer so wecould load trikes on it.. I used the lincoln at work. I still have that ramp it's never broke or been repaired. it's one heavy SOB.. weighs 2x what the other 2 ramps for the trailer weighs. and that was the very first time i stick welded, if you don't count high school shop class, where i actually got 5 minutes of welding time and about 5 minutes making a nasty wide cut using a chamfer/gouging rod ... that ramp is now.. oh.18ys old.. made it in 93.. i know it's had 4-5000 pound trikes roll up it. obviously not the entire weight was on it, but they weren't lightweight tractors for sure..

if there is some pandemic problem with hobart I'd be interested in finding out about it? so far, I like mine a lil better than the lincoln box just due to t he variable amp settings. otherwise.. both make fumes and bright light and glue metal together?


we have a TD plasma cutter at work i'm envious of.. would love one at home.. just can't swallow the price tag for a tool that i wouldn't use alot... so far my oa torches do near all my cutting.. almost put the chop saw out of work when i got the torches.. a bottle refill of o/a every few months is just eassier to justify than the $ of a plasma cutter that will cut 1/2 and sever 3/4 or better.... my o/a torches already do that.. and heat stuck bolts, cut bolts and nuts off ( OUCH!! ) and start greasefires cutting races out of wheel hubs.. soundguy

I also have a Hobart AF400 plasma cutter in addition to the TD Plasma. The TD usually stays mounted to the CNC plasma table because the Torch Mate table 'likes' the shape of it better than the Hobart ICE torch. Consumables seem to last longer with the Hobart than the TD unit in a continuous (CNC) controlled cutting situation as well. I do sub contract cutting for the company that does my laser cutting. You can't mix plasma and laser in the same facility without serious air handling capabilities. The plasma generated swarf contaminates the laser operation.

I'd love to own a Trumpf Laser but there is no way I can justify the price of admission, or at least my wife can't. Plasma on the other hand isn't adversely affected by airborne contamination, something I certainly have with my mist cooling nozzles and grinding and shaping metal.

I have quite a few bottles of various gasses chained up outside for various operations. I've ran the plasma on bottled O2 before. My Lincoln gas driven field welder has all the capability of enough auxilliary power to run the Hobart or the TD.

Far as opinions, I have no issue with SA voicing his opinion, but opinions are just that. Real world use and opinions are entirely two different animals. However, making a blanket statement that all Hobart products suck is untrue.

Just because they (Hobart) don't suit someone's fancy don't make them all bad. On the contrary.

When I purchase a machine, it's for an intended end use. The first thing I look at is specification and country of manufacture, the second is warranty and thirdly is price and after the sale service, one reason I shy away from machines made (in their entirety) off shore. I'm all about made and/or manufactured in the United States and while some machines can't be obtained with 100% domestic manufactured parts, I try to purchase under my guidelines.

Gotta fire up the plasma table today, I have a job to run.