MIG Welder for Beginner/Light Use

[YanmarFever]

I'm glad we got our information right finally. Unlike the last thread about wire!

OP: Cant go wrong with Miller,Hobart,Lincoln. There is a reason why they cost more. If anybody says those brands are the same as the HF or what you buy off amazon they are highly mistaken!

It's kind of like the gas truck guys bashing the Diesel guys. I think it's because they did not Pony up the money in the beginning for the better equipment and they try to justify their poor decisions!!

A old man once told me. It only costs a nickel more to go 1st class!

Goodpost stucknutz !

Just like most of you boys would not buy a chinese tractor or truck if your life depended on it.

The same thing applies to chinese welders, you get what you pay for...

 

[paulsharvey]

Goodpost stucknutz !

Just like most of you boys would not buy a chinese tractor or truck if your life depended on it.

The same thing applies to chinese welders, you get what you pay for...

So, your not 100% wrong; But; let's say our OP has a budget of $500-600. IMO, he's better dropping $250-300 on the welder; and spending the other $250-300 on wire, helmet, gloves. I really think a he's going to be better off with 25# of wire and a $250 machine, than a $600 machine, with the 2.2# of wire that comes with it, and using his safety squints.

Now, if he was a budget of $1200; yes, a $800 machine, and $400 of consumables/accessories is the way to go.

In the end, your going to want to Practice, and that takes wire. The more #s you run, the better your going to be; and no ammount of machine budget will make up for that. Inversely, no ammount of practice will change the base spec if the machine, so think about the end use, and what all yiu want to weld, and get something that can do a bit more.

 

[YanmarFever]

He could buy a used American machine for a lot cheaper than a new one off craigslist, face book, ect....

 

[5030]

I'm glad we got our information right finally. Unlike the last thread about wire!

OP: Cant go wrong with Miller,Hobart,Lincoln. There is a reason why they cost more. If anybody says those brands are the same as the HF or what you buy off amazon they are highly mistaken!

It's kind of like the gas truck guys bashing the Diesel guys. I think it's because they did not Pony up the money in the beginning for the better equipment and they try to justify their poor decisions!!

A old man once told me. It only costs a nickel more to go 1st class!

My final comment to that simply is, an older (over 10 year old machine and not a new one simply because new machines are almost all IGBT machines today and the IGBT semi conductors as well as many, many other electric and electronic parts in any of them including Miller, Lincoln, ESAB, Fronius and others, all come from across the pond. There are NO domestic producers of IGBT semi conductors here presently and the HF machines are using the same IGBT semi conductors that everyone else is using. How it works so get your head out of the sand and face reality.

In my case anything I buy is business related. All my equipment including my farm equipment is a deductible (tax) business expense. None of it is 'hobby' related, not al all, consequently, being a business owner, I always strive to buy the best (and often times) least expensive equipment that will augment my business with the minimum amount of capital expense and by the way, I'm tax exempt at HF. I have a exemption certificate on file with them in California.

Why would I pay a premium price for say a Lincoln TIG machine or say a Hyper Therm plasma cutter when I can buy very comparable models (with the same specifications) for less, in the case of the HF equipment, a lot less. To do that would be financially insane.

When I buy anything, from farm equipment to shop equipment, I always carefully research the equipment I'm about to purchase, always and how those purchases impact my bottom line.

Not a hobby deal with me at all. It's all business related and all about making money (and paying taxes) as well.

 

[old and tired]

IEastwood has one on sale right now, seems well received. Unsure what to look for… 110v is all my house has right now.

Is this the one you are looking at???

Eastwood 90 Amp MIG and Flux Welder - EASY Welding

Never Welded? No Problem! True 90 Amp MIG Welder is a Perfect First Welder Industry leading 3 Year Warranty Confidence backed 90 day trial period Weld up to 1/8

www.eastwood.com

 

[YanmarFever]

Are you SURE this is your final comment??

 

[WranglerX]

One condition nobody really seems to be discussing, is "fluxcore only" (FCAW) or "solid wire/shield gas" (GMAW).... Over the years I have gravitated to GMAW process almost exclusively, only forced to use FCAW when conditions demand, such as dirty materials and breeze conditions..... IF you are going to consider any welder anything that is one system only (FCAW) should not even be considered.... IF you get dual use system it does not mean you have to add gas, but later you may want to, if you system is FCAW you will need to replace complete welder to get gas capabilities......I been using my HH 140 for 10-12 years and still have half the roll of fluxcore demo wire that can with it.... My only regret is that I didn't get something that was 120/240 volt like the HH 210MVP....

 

[YanmarFever]

The Hobart 210mvp with the aluminum spool gun is the one I purchased a year ago, after I sold all my equipment before I moved.
I couldn't take the welding table it was to large, so I had to weld up another one at the new place.

 

[stucknutz]

My final comment to that simply is, an older (over 10 year old machine and not a new one simply because new machines are almost all IGBT machines today and the IGBT semi conductors as well as many, many other electric and electronic parts in any of them including Miller, Lincoln, ESAB, Fronius and others, all come from across the pond. There are NO domestic producers of IGBT semi conductors here presently and the HF machines are using the same IGBT semi conductors that everyone else is using. How it works so get your head out of the sand and face reality.

In my case anything I buy is business related. All my equipment including my farm equipment is a deductible (tax) business expense. None of it is 'hobby' related, not al all, consequently, being a business owner, I always strive to buy the best (and often times) least expensive equipment that will augment my business with the minimum amount of capital expense and by the way, I'm tax exempt at HF. I have a exemption certificate on file with them in California.

Why would I pay a premium price for say a Lincoln TIG machine or say a Hyper Therm plasma cutter when I can buy very comparable models (with the same specifications) for less, in the case of the HF equipment, a lot less. To do that would be financially insane.

When I buy anything, from farm equipment to shop equipment, I always carefully research the equipment I'm about to purchase, always and how those purchases impact my bottom line.

Not a hobby deal with me at all. It's all business related and all about making money (and paying taxes) as well.

I believe everyone get's your point about Inverter based machines. I certainly am not doubting that however, there still is real differences between inverter machine vs inverter machine regardless of where the parts come from. Here are some examples:

1. Wave Forms
2. Pulse frequency's
3. AC Frequency's
4. timer's and delay's
5. Arc Stability.
And the list keeps going and going.

Now one might say well my HF welder has all of those "Features"

Well sure they do but how good is that HF welder performing those said features. Let me answer it for you Poorly. This is truly where the rubber meets the road between "knock off" vs Miller,Lincoln,Esab,Fronius

There is a reason why the Lincoln and Miller's of the world have proprietary wave forms and frequency's and guard that with a heavy council.

So to say they are basically the same is the furthest from the truth.

Since everything you point to is related to your "business" and not hobby I wish you the best. Because in the fabrication world technology = Less cycle time = lower cost per part = Happy customers = More money in my pocket. I'm just glad my hobby welders are better then some business's welders out there!

 

[5030]

Hands on experience welding stainless, aluminum and even titanium with excellent results tells me their machine perform as advertised. Far as waveform is concerned, I had an sold a Lincoln Square Wave Weldpack TIG machine with a water cooler on it and the Vulcan I now have and use can run rings around the Lincoln. Only plus side to the Lincoln was it was a transformer machine and I prefer a transformer machine over an IGBT machine and always have. IGBT machines while cutting edge will never be as robust as a transformer machine, why I keep the pair of Hobart Handlers I own as well.

Far as plasma cutters are concerned, I don't see or feel any difference between the Hyper Therm I had and the Titanium's I own now except the HT consumables were at least 4 times the price of the Titanium consumables and I use a lot of consumables with the CNC Plasma table. It was a matter of running costs that made me sell the HT and switch to the Titanium plasma machines. One thing to note and that is, I kept the HT interface cable as it mates right up to the Titanium 65 amp machine and the 65 amp already has the multi pin voltage splitter connector on the front of it as well and my THC works just fine as well.

If I had not had an astounding offer to buy both the Square Wave Lincoln as well as the HT Plasma cutter, I'd still be using them. Only reason why I purchased the Vulcan and the Titanium machines actually.

I basically sold both machines and gave the new owner one of my 125 cubic foot gas bottles and walked away after purchasing 3 machines and I put over 2500 bucks in my savings account. He was happy, I was more than happy and we get to live ever after....