Advise / Opinions to Sell and Buy Welder

[Spike56]

IF you are only going to use wire feed welder for thinner materials, maybe a simple top of the line 120 Volt welder that can do either FCAW or GMAW is in you future..... Limiting your self to flux core only is probably not a really good thing, I use solid wire and shield gas almost exclusively and I don't particular like having to chip slag and FCAW is not particularly good for really thin materials like automotive body panel repairs...

I have Hobart handler 140 and do not have any problems with penetration and joining metals up to about 1/4 inch (exception is no trailer work that is used on roads) ....

Most problem though in wire feed welding is not really the process of FCAW or GMAW, but the person not being proficient in handling MIG gun and understanding how to perform a weld....

Maybe visit to this site may help in you in mastering MIG welding..

Welding Tips and Tricks - TIG, MIG, Stick and a pantload of other info

Down and Dirty Welding tips and tricks , No PhD's allowed

weldingtipsandtricks.com

Or viewing this video...

I watched this previously ! Good video.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

If you still have your options open and want a superior performing machine, you might want to look at the Everlast Power i-MIG 200. It has MIG and stick capabilities, weighs much less, has higher duty cycle, more features and is on sale for about 720.00. Duty cycle is 35% at 200A versus the 190's of 30% at 130. And it has a true 5 year parts and labor warranty. Or if you don't need the stick, the Cyclone 200e which is on sale right now for 559. And it has a duty cycle of 25% at 180A. (The lower Amps you go, the duty cycle increases). Both Everlast exceed the very marginal duty cycle of the 190 and are much more suited to farm/sincere hobbyist duties. Digital LED screen with the power set function to make set up easy on the cyclone 200e. 5 year warranty. Both of these machines way out compete on performance and capability and when apples are compared to apples on price too. Both are dual voltage too so you can operate on 120V or 240V. Of course output is reduced on 120V, but puts out in real terms about the same as the 190 does on 240V.

 

[Spike56]

If you still have your options open and want a superior performing machine, you might want to look at the Everlast Power i-MIG 200. It has MIG and stick capabilities, weighs much less, has higher duty cycle, more features and is on sale for about 720.00. Duty cycle is 35% at 200A versus the 190's of 30% at 130. And it has a true 5 year parts and labor warranty. Or if you don't need the stick, the Cyclone 200e which is on sale right now for 559. And it has a duty cycle of 25% at 180A. (The lower Amps you go, the duty cycle increases). Both Everlast exceed the very marginal duty cycle of the 190 and are much more suited to farm/sincere hobbyist duties. Digital LED screen with the power set function to make set up easy on the cyclone 200e. 5 year warranty. Both of these machines way out compete on performance and capability and when apples are compared to apples on price too. Both are dual voltage too so you can operate on 120V or 240V. Of course output is reduced on 120V, but puts out in real terms about the same as the 190 does on 240V.

Interesting. It is difficult for ME to determine ? Why does the Everlast machine weigh 26.5 lbs vs. 68 lbs ?
I do not know anyone who has an Everlast machine. Is the 200E gas ready, as is ?
I put in my Zip code.... closest dealer said
380 Swift Ave STE 12,
South San Francisco CA
a tad far to drive to look at one from Texas.

 

[kthompson]

Been a few years but I worked as inspector for a heavy equipment company (we made Grove cranes) and major part of my work for over a year was inspecting the welding of all sorts of parts. Thin sheet metal which by many standards it still thick (thicker than any car body panel today) up to about 1 1/2 inch thick bearing plates onto frames. We used Mig on sheet metal and maybe up to 1/4 inch and maybe 3/8, been to long to remember totally. We used wire for at least 1/2 up with flux inside the wire which we called "inner shield". We also used a track welding that was solid wire with little beaded flux that poured around the wire melting as it was welding. It is very easy to say all of those methods of welding looked good, had to. No option. But those guys and one or two women while I was in that shop all were welding at least six hours a day with some time for setup and clean up on top. One thing I do well remember was the Mig was more likely to crack and run the full length than the other two types of welding.

 

[Silvic]

I can not speak to the unit that Mark suggested but I can speak about the quality of the machines.

I have an Everlast Powerarc 300 stick unit, an Everlast TIG 325 Ext and an Everlast PowerPlasma 80. I am very satisfied with the brand. I would suspect that the i-Mig 200 is also very good as I have seen many folks speak well of it on the both here and the WW site. Yes there are always detractors but if you are not going to spend $3500 plus on a unit take a look at the Everlast brand. Mark has helped so many folks on this site over the years and he is quite honest in what he says and recommends from my experience.

Go into search mode and look at a member "Shield Arc" and his posts about the Everlast brand. Shield Arc was an amazing welder and used every high level unit there was at some point in his welding career and owned many of those same units and see what he posted about the Everlast brand. He really admired the quality of the brand. If he was still with us I am certain he would jump in and comment but sadly he passed.
It is well worth the look before you buy.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

How remote you are limits, your selection of welders. From my place big towns are about 3-hours way. So, I stayed with a Hobart Handler 140. Two of the locals have pieces and parts for them.

And, I know I am not a welder. For anything critical, I get things cleaned ground, and fitting well then tack them into place. Then they go to a real welder to get finished. Since I do all the grunt prep work and the welder just has to weld, it is reasonably priced.

The pins on the bottom of my SSQA attachment plate popped a couple of welds, and needed repaired. I got everything ground down to bare metal, cleaned off the broken welds, and figured out how to make a stronger system. I tacked everything together, and went to talk to the welder. He wanted to know how soon I needed it back, and I asked how long it would take him to finish up the welds. When he said half an hour to 45-minutes, I told him anytime in the next couple of weeks. He called me five days later, and said he had a project the took less time than he thought, so he slipped it in to finish the day. $35 out the door. It had given him something to do and finish out the day, so he didn’t charge full rate.

Since you have a freind who can do the critical stuff I’d stick with something that will do upto 1/4 or 5/16 steel, and has the ability to go with the gas feed if you decide you want to. One of my freinds had a small Hobart, wire feed without the provision to run gas, he was constantly borrowing mine.

I saw a really interesting video on YouTube, about brazing dissimilar metals with silicon/bronze wire. Low power in a wire feed. I need to do a bit more reading, but it looks like it might be a good procedure for thin metals. I know that when I was a kid pounding tin in body shops, we replaced damaged panels by drilling out the robot welds, and then brazing them back full, and hitting them with a hammer and dolly, flatten them out.

 

[WranglerX]

Interesting. It is difficult for ME to determine ? Why does the Everlast machine weigh 26.5 lbs vs. 68 lbs ?
I do not know anyone who has an Everlast machine. Is the 200E gas ready, as is ?
I put in my Zip code.... closest dealer said
380 Swift Ave STE 12,
South San Francisco CA
a tad far to drive to look at one from Texas.

Weigh difference is between old skool full transformer machines and new inverter machines, my understanding is new type inverter machine they up voltage and frequency of input so it can be used with a greatly reduced transformer size (weight) and them brought back down to tradition (industry standards) voltage and amperages...

https://www.weldingmania.com/stick/what-are-inverter-welders/

 

[etpm]

Weigh difference is between old skool full transformer machines and new inverter machines, my understanding is new type inverter machine they up voltage and frequency of input so it can be used with a greatly reduced transformer size (weight) and them brought back down to tradition (industry standards) voltage and amperages...

https://www.weldingmania.com/stick/what-are-inverter-welders/

Inverter machines have benefited greatly from computers. Every modern computer uses an inverter power supply because they are so much more efficient and flexible than linear power supplies. The old linear power supply relies on a transformer operating at line frequency, typically 50 or 60 hertz, to transform the line in voltage to the other voltages the computer needs to operate. This transformer has several windings that supply different voltages.
The newer inverter power supplies also use a transformer for the different voltages. But there is an interesting fact about transformers. They can be smaller if the frequency is higher. Which means less copper in the windings. That makes them cheaper. So inverter power supplies operating from AC take the incoming AC power and first turn it into DC using a rectifier circuit. Then the DC is fed into solid state circuitry that "chops" the DC into little pulses. These pulses are at a much higher frequency than the line frequency. They are fed into a transformer. But the magic happens because the DC is fed into the transformer first one way and then the next pulse goes the other way. This is how DC is "inverted" into AC. So the much higher frequency uses a much smaller transformer. From this first transformer the voltage is often increased. This increased voltage means fewer amps are needed for the same wattage. This is a big deal because more amps means more heat. The heat comes from resistive losses. And these loses rise and fall according to the square. So double the amps means 4 times the losses due to heat. This is the reason AC is used power transmission. Because it can be easily raised for transmission and then lowered again for use. Power lines have much higher voltages so that the losses due to heat are lower. The power lines running down my rural road are 17,000 volts. And that is low compared to the 500,000 volt and higher power lines that transmit power long distances.
So the new inverter welders are much more efficient than the old "transformer" type welders. Since they use much smaller transformers they are lighter and have a higher output for the same input compared to older technology. Plus, since the voltage and frequency and waveform are already being manipulated to make the inverter power supply work it is easy to add features that make welding easier.
For example, the old original way to weld aluminum with AC was to use a machine that had a fairly low voltage 60 Hz sine wave output. This way of welding put half of the current into the work and half into the tungsten electrode. This extra heat put into the tungsten would melt the end of the electrode into a ball. This made the arc hard to control. I learned how to TIG weld aluminum this way many moons ago. AC is used when welding aluminum in order to force contamination from the surface of the weld.
But the new inverter machines use a square wave instead of a sine wave. This makes a HUGE difference in ease of welding. A sine wave gradually changes from positive to negative. A square wave does this transition instantly. This makes the weld puddle behave better. Plus, the AC balance can be changed so that more heat goes into the weld and less into the tungsten. This makes it easier to keep a sharp tungsten electrode which makes it easier to control the arc which makes it easier to make good welds.
There are many other advantages to inverter machines and they all come from being able to manipulate voltages, frequencies, waveforms, and duty cycles.
I have 4 welders. 2 older transformer type machines and 2 inverter type machines. Though they are all good machines the inverter machines get the most use. Any welder I buy in the future will be an inverter machine.
Eric

 

[Spike56]

Thank-you for all who commented. Now I am totally confused. First, I admit, I HAVE NOT DONE MY RESEARCH. The reason I ask for opinions is so I do not have to read through all the mostly advertisements mumbo-jumbo and try to understand. Personally, when I read something such as a "feature" stated by a manufacturer I get a slight shiver up the backside of my neck. I do not recall the exact details, but just for one example, in research for a possible new Zero Turn mower, something like "X209Z10 hydraulic series 10 steering pumps ( I made this up). Ok, so what ? I have NO clue what these are or are they better... or ....? My brother had bought "fancy" outdoor garden hose then read NOT to leave the hose in the sunlight.... Really ? ==> Surprise !

So, back to basics.
Mark said "you might want to look at the Everlast Power i-MIG 200. It has MIG and stick capabilities". This would be great for me since I have rods already, and have done some limited stick welding. It is $800 (Amazon) which is price wise about the same as the Hobart 190.

If anyone knows, I'd like to understand the following: If I buy the Power i-MIG 200:

Q.) If I decide later for add gas, is there ANYTHING else I need to purchase ? Or, does the gas connectors / gauge (all) come with the machine.
Q.) The description says "Capable of SMAW (Stick) welding when MIG conditions aren't ideal / Flux core capable".
This uses the word "Capable" twice..... Is there ANYTHING else needed to purchase for Stick / Flux core or does everything come with the machine (except consumables of course)
Q.) The machine is claimed 100v / 220v. Great, how is this changed ? Is this straight forward, or is major surgery required ?
Q.) Wire ? The description says" Wire roll size and diameter .023”-.045” (with optional drive rolls and contact tips) Spools up to 8” in diameter (10-12 lbs)"
If I use .030/ .035 flux core, do I need to buy something else ?

If you are wondering why all the different questions, one review on Amazon stated "The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 was the 5 foot ground - really 5 foot? So I have ordered a 15 foot ground but why doesn't this come with a ground cable of at least 10 foot? I'd have paid the extra few dollars for the unit to come with a longer ground. What are we talking $30 or so"

So, to me, this is one of the little issues I call => "SUPRISE !". Again for ME, a 5' ground cable is NOT going to cut-it. I guess for some, it would depending on your setup. But,...

Sorry, so long here. I don't know what I don't know. I know I could dive head-long. But, requesting a little knowledge from you.

 

[sandman2234]

I was amazed at the welder you are contemplating selling, with it only having 8' leads. I have a minimum of 25' on any welder on this property and the grounds are usually shorter than the stinger, simply because if the ground is too short, I can always add a piece of 20' angle iron to carry the ground current. Can't do that with the positive side, so any extra lead I have usually goes onto the stinger side of the welder!
David from jax