Welder question...

[coxhaus]

Nice having a welder running at 100% duty cycle. I just run smaller wire in my MIG welders welding lighter materials which gives me a long duty cycle in my welders. So I feel you can't buy a welder too big maybe too expensive. I have a Hobart 210 but I have never run it on 110v. I just bought it in case. My garage and shop is old wiring which is probably not the best for welding 110v. I ran a 6 gauge for my welding circuit.

 

[coxhaus]

In all my MIG welding with HH 140 (7 years now) I have never run up against duty cycle (overheat) shut down.... If you think about it 2 minutes (+/- ) is a long time... And you have to come up for air at some point....

Dale

It could be the circuit will give up before the welder. I was welding at a buddies house using his Lincoln 135. We were running it wide open with flux core trying to weld a trailer hitch. We kept tripping the breaker. I eventually brought it over to my house and melted all the beads together using 220v. There was just too much metal to do a good job.

 

[MF RED in MT]

Don't have one but, once in blue moon, have need of one.

Has casually crossed my mind to perhaps get one. (my blue moon is currently out)

Homeowner, ZERO welding experience, has 110v and/or 220 available

I currently have need to weld the (slightly less than 1/4") skirt on my rear rotary cutter. Caught a tree and bent part of the skirt back. (unit is probably 25 years old so not as solid as a new one)

Anyway.... if I decided to weld that myself, what type/size welder would I need to consider. Given that I'm homeowner and never welded before, would there be any merit in looking at a nicer unit to grow into?

Currently enamored with thought of getting one. Spoke with local trade school one day. I don't recall exactly what I was told but my memory is I could take a class and learn there......but, I'd first have to sign a waiver form that I'm learning to learn and NOT for a job afterwards (they don't want to damage their placement percentages which I fully understand) AND, the class would cost right around $5,000.

That is when I backed away.... I can make a lot of mistakes on my boxblade or mower with cash to spare for that kind of change.

Or, at least that's my thoughts.

Your thoughts?

My :2cents:

If you are going to be welding outside most of the time, use a mig welder with flux core wire, stick welding has a much longer learning curve.

If you are going to be welding inside of a shop/garage, and 1/4" material and less for the most part, then get a 110v mig and use a 80 cu. ft. bottle of gas 75/ Argon25% CO2, you will enjoy the results more and rusted/painted old material does not take that long to grind clean before welding. For thicker materials you can always pre-heat the material with a propane weed burner torch before welding.

Do yourself a favor and purchase a mig welder like a Miller/Lincoln/or other with an "AUTOSET" because it will make your welding life so much easier and faster to set the dials correctly and fast, my Miller 110v was about $700 10 years ago.

Purchase a decent welding hood with all/most of todays technologies, and maybe build the required welding table with accessories, etc...

I had almost purchased the Miller mig welder 110v/220v combo that was more money, but am very happy with the 110v model I have.

Like others have said, YouTube has a lot of good/bad videos to help speed up your learning curve to weld.

Good luck, KC

 

[RandyT]

In all my MIG welding with HH 140 (7 years now) I have never run up against duty cycle (overheat) shut down.... If you think about it 2 minutes (+/- ) is a long time... And you have to come up for air at some point....

Dale

I think I hit the duty cycle on mine once in like 15 years.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Go to Harbor Freight, purchase a cheap MIG Flux Core welder, a 4 or 10-pound spool of 0.30 FLUX Core wire (whatever the welder takes), a strong wire brush, a welders hammer, a pair of welding gloves with a good fit (I use Black Stallion gauntlet MIG gloves), and an inexpensive auto-dimming hood. Call around to any manufacturing companies in your area and ask if they have scrap metal you can have to practice on and go to town sticking metal together wearing a heavy cotton shirt.

Everything you have is cheap and you don't need to mess around with CO2/Argon gas.

You will get the hang of it because welding is about knowing a few different patterns and developing a feel for settings. Once you've tried welding, YouTube videos talking about welding WILL make much more sense.

Any other equipment you try will be better than what you started with, but you have the basic stuff needed to stick steel together for around $300. Not too expensive to tinker around with and you'll be an occasional hero to your neighbors as well when they find out you have a welder and have you sort out their minor welding needs.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

^^^^^^ what MinnesotaEric said :thumbsup:

 

[WranglerX]

HF fluxcore wire is about the poorest wire on market..... Yes the quality of wire is very important... Want better welds, get better brand name of wire....Also If you like really clean welds solid wire and shield gas (GMAW- Gas Metal Arc Weld ) is way to go... Not impressed with low end HF welder either.....

Dale

 

[MinnesotaEric]

HF fluxcore wire is about the poorest wire on market..... Yes the quality of wire is very important... Want better welds, get better brand name of wire....Also If you like really clean welds solid wire and shield gas (GMAW- Gas Metal Arc Weld ) is way to go... Not impressed with low end HF welder either.....

Dale

HF has a new welder. With coupons, these things shoot out the door for $179 and 526 reviews and counting claim it is a great little welder for the price. The idea here is to get the OP into welding on the cheap, and then once he has some experience, he can start making better-informed choices on whatever welding aspect he wishes to upgrade.

At any-rate, you can see a comparison with the old HF welder and the new one.

 

[ericm979]

I started with a Lincoln 110v wire feed welder. It didn't take long before I got the MIG kit for it. It's a lot easier for me to make good welds with MIG than with flux core wire. If you get a wire feed welder with the intent to use flux core, make sure it's upgradeable to MIG.

 

[Jim Nelson]

Lots of good advice here, the most important and easiest to overlook is that welding is just like learning to operate a tractor, time in the seat is the only it's going to happen.Welding,like operating equipment, is fun but takes time to become proficient and it has to be pretty consistent or you forget what you learned last time so once a week maybe ok but once a month...not so much.

Harbor Freight is fine to learn on if that's what your budget allows, then if you really get into it you can move up to the big boy stuff.