What welder would be best??

[Arc weld]

I guess if you're a hobby maintenance welder, it's OK to exceed the rated capacity of a machine but if you have any knowledge at all about welding, it's a big no no. Sure wish the instructors in my apprenticeship would have told me that. The :muttering: askholes!

 

[newbury]

What I would like to know is what am gaining by getting a cheap gasless mig over a good quality inverter? I am planning on going and trying some Everlasts. And another thing is I DID NOT start this thread for two blokes who don't agree to argue with each other (if it continues I will complain). :thumbsdown:

And I doubt complaining will gain anything. They are being fairly polite, no real profanity and not insulting each others manhood.

I guess if you're a hobby maintenance welder, it's OK to exceed the rated capacity of a machine but if you have any knowledge at all about welding, it's a big no no. Sure wish the instructors in my apprenticeship would have told me that. The :muttering: askholes!

It seems similar to being a "hobby maintenance"
Electrician - who wires two extension cords from two 120v outlets together to get 240V, yup might work, ain't right
Electrician - who backfeeds his generator into his panel and uses a sharpie label saying "don't turn on" on the breaker to the mains for safety, yup might work, ain't right
Carpenter - who uses 2x4's for a deck that requires 2x6's - yup might work, ain't right
Tractor hauler - who pull's his 6K tractor onto a 5K trailer and sets the brake to haul it a slow short ways, yup might work, ain't right
Dozer hauler - Who put's a 12K dozer on a 10K trailer and hauls it, yup might work, ain't right
Dog food hauler (me) - who plops a 50lb bag of dog food ontop of my minivan and drives off, I've only got 1/4 mile to go at 25mph, yup might work, ain't right
Logger who chooses to work without chaps, yup might work, ain't right - see pic

There's a lot of time many of us choose to do what we know is not "right" but expedient. I rely heavily on the

welder pigs with 30 year old scar tissue

to point me in the direction of what is right in welding. I can't envision affording an Xray machine to examine my welds or developing Xray vision. And I'd rather not develop the scar tissue myself, it could be painful or fatal.

 

[Sodo]

And another thing is I DID NOT start this thread for two blokes who don't agree to argue with each other (if it continues I will complain). :thumbsdown:

I put my best info up, and hope you found it useful before the mud flew. I like to use the internet to get good info and it bugs me when threads go off-topic and should have been above it. I know you have questions to answer and apologize for bloating your thread.

Good luck finding a welder in your budget.

 

[Reyer Farms]

Dang, when I saw the carbon arc gouger I put in my ear plugs. Hope I didn't miss anything.
I would not trade in a operational welder period, especially a stick machine. Welders, guns, and land never need to be parted with here.
Getting a mig is great though! My best thought is weld with it. I try to get the best I can afford and do the best job with it. That old Linde is nice, Shield Arc!

 

[Happy Gilmore]

And I doubt complaining will gain anything. They are being fairly polite, no real profanity and not insulting each others manhood.


It seems similar to being a "hobby maintenance"
Electrician - who wires two extension cords from two 120v outlets together to get 240V, yup might work, ain't right
Electrician - who backfeeds his generator into his panel and uses a sharpie label saying "don't turn on" on the breaker to the mains for safety, yup might work, ain't right
Carpenter - who uses 2x4's for a deck that requires 2x6's - yup might work, ain't right
Tractor hauler - who pull's his 6K tractor onto a 5K trailer and sets the brake to haul it a slow short ways, yup might work, ain't right
Dozer hauler - Who put's a 12K dozer on a 10K trailer and hauls it, yup might work, ain't right
Dog food hauler (me) - who plops a 50lb bag of dog food ontop of my minivan and drives off, I've only got 1/4 mile to go at 25mph, yup might work, ain't right
Logger who chooses to work without chaps, yup might work, ain't right - see pic

There's a lot of time many of us choose to do what we know is not "right" but expedient. I rely heavily on the to point me in the direction of what is right in welding. I can't envision affording an Xray machine to examine my welds or developing Xray vision. And I'd rather not develop the scar tissue myself, it could be painful or fatal.

That picture brings up memories for me, same leg, but across the knee. My fault, being lazy, not wearing my chaps, yup wasn't right and unfortunately I have the scar to prove it.

 

[ferrari99]

I watched some welding videos and got some tips from them. Went out and tried to put them into practice and I guess it worked because I got what I would call some pretty good welds, but not all of them turned out great. I am still undecided but if I do get one I think I will get an everlast 140st. What are some tips that you blokes would suggest for improving my stick welding? Another thing is do you think automatic welding helmets are 'essential'?
I got a angle grinder stand for my 9in angle grinder, there is a slight bit of movement in pivot and so you can't get exactly square cuts but it is a lot better than cutting in from 4 sides with a 4.5in grinder. I am in the process of building a compost tumbler so that's what I experimenting on.

 

[ferrari99]

I watched some welding videos and got some tips from them. Went out and tried to put them into practice and I guess it worked because I got what I would call some pretty good welds, but not all of them turned out great. I am still undecided but if I do get one I think I will get an everlast 140st. What are some tips that you blokes would suggest for improving my stick welding? Another thing is do you think automatic welding helmets are 'essential'?
I got a angle grinder stand for my 9in angle grinder, there is a slight bit of movement in pivot and so you can't get exactly square cuts but it is a lot better than cutting in from 4 sides with a 4.5in grinder. I am in the process of building a compost tumbler so that's what I experimenting on.

 

[k0ua]

I watched some welding videos and got some tips from them. Went out and tried to put them into practice and I guess it worked because I got what I would call some pretty good welds, but not all of them turned out great. I am still undecided but if I do get one I think I will get an everlast 140st. What are some tips that you blokes would suggest for improving my stick welding? Another thing is do you think automatic welding helmets are 'essential'?
I got a angle grinder stand for my 9in angle grinder, there is a slight bit of movement in pivot and so you can't get exactly square cuts but it is a lot better than cutting in from 4 sides with a 4.5in grinder. I am in the process of building a compost tumbler so that's what I experimenting on.

For a pro, no. For a beginner, yes. They will definitely improve your welding. At least improve your striking an arc!

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

There's a loaded question. The truth is that most welding helmets these days are designed for use with auto darkening lens. But they always offer a standard fixed shade. These helmets perform poorly typically for flipping up and down and don't have the balance that helmets used to for a quick flip down. Now if you want to spend just a little money there are companies that produce a better fixed shade helmet that will work better like Fibre Metal. They don't look sleek and cool though, unless you are a fan of 50's b horror flicks. There are also other types of helmets designed for particular uses like pancakes which are designed for the pipeliner in mind. An auto dark is good...and can ease the 'stress' of arc striking that so many people struggle with that turn them off to welding. But then again maybe, people should need to struggle with things to get better...and weed out the people who don't have enough "sticktoitiveness" when it comes to a little difficulty. In a lot of welder's minds, using a flip down hood first is a rite of passage to earn any respect.

 

[Furu]

I am no expert. When I started I got an auto lens helmet. Helmet was not so good as it was too wide and lots of reflected light came back in from behind me. I really liked the lenses' electronics however just not the helmet. I tried a couple of Shield Arcs's old helmets and they were narrower and much better.
Then it came time to replace the front and later the rear protective lens covers. What a shock. They were proprietary sizes and you were locked into the manufacturer for replacements and they wanted about $20 for a piece of plastic. I bought Hobart plastic protective lenses covers and cut them to size. Problem solved I thought. Then the headgear broke. Manufacturer did not have replacement headgear but would sell me a "new improved helmet." Purpose of story is don't just buy a helmet without verifying that you can get replacement headgear, and replacement lenses for reasonable costs.

I now have and have used for about 10 hours a new auto dark helmet that I got spare protective covers for at time of sale for a very reasonable price and the clarity of the view of the puddle is unbelievable. Even new the other helmet could not even come close. What I can see of the puddle is so much better, purely due to the optics of the new auto lens. Not acting as a shill but the new helmet is a Striker Stealth CSV and so far I really like the electronics and lens in this helmet. Had to wait for 5 months backorder as they had some problems with a redesign and stopped production but worth the wait for me. Don't know if you can get them in your part of the world.