I WANT a welder

Maximum Carnage · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:07 pm

Like the subject line says I WANT one I don't need one (yet). So I'll be taking my time and doing some research.
I would prefer a MIG, nothing too pricey but I don’t want a POS either. I know how to weld but I don’t know what to look for in a welder, what do you guys use/suggest? Any particular brand to stay away from?
Currently looking at the Hobart 187.

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:03 pm

I would suggest atleast a 220 welder. That Hobart 187, along with the 170-190 series Lincolns and Millers are all entry level 220 welders. I have never used the Hobart, but have heard good reviews. My first welder was a Lincoln 170 from Lowes. I have pushed that thing hard, put over 1000 lbs of wire through it and god knows how many bottles of gas, and it is still going strong today (four years old now). I have never popped the breaker and have pushed the duty cycle many times. Dang good little machine. With that Hobart, Miller or Lincoln, you can do a lot.

WoodysKJ · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:13 pm

I am in the same boat as Maximum. Only thing is I don't know how to weld, yet. Everybody I talk with has told me to learn how to torch weld first. Slower that mig welding.

Any theroies?

Jeger · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:18 pm

When I come up with some extra money (would take a miracle) the 187 is what I would buy. Its shares a lot of parts with Miller if I remember correctly and I know a few people that love theirs.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:57 pm

I have a Lincoln 220, SP170T that I have beat up on for about 12 years now and still going strong. I originally bought it for my Mustang project, took a refresher welding course at the community college and went to work. I am by no means a pretty welder but I get good penetration and I can lay a bead that is strong for what I am working on. (I am an artist w/ a grinder though :lol:

) It is a good idea to hit up your community college and take a welding class. Most offer them in the evenings and they usually have a few different machines to work with, ours would even let you bring your machine in to learn how to fine tune it for the projects you wanted to work on. It is nice having a decent instructor around to tell you what you are doing right and wrong as you are learning.
I am looking to take the mig/tig class in the near future w/ my sons so I can learn tig and brush up on/perfect my Mig skills. I want to learn how to weld pretty and strong now.
I have also heard/read good things about the small Hobart machines and to always get a 220 machine.

Jeger · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:10 pm

Actually I might have to change my selection..I havnt looked in awhile and apparently the Lincolns have come down in price.

I have to say I would go with this one
http://www.toolsforless.com/product/105 ... ng_Package

The Continuous voltage control would be very nice indeed...once you have that you would never want to go back to a tapped output machine.

FastTRX · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:19 pm

My dad has owned lincolns forever...and they are still in our shop working as good as the day he bought them. Both are mig, but we just inherited my grandfathers old tig machine. My dad is quite the welder (he went to school for it), so he's been trying to teach me a bit (I learned a bit in high school too). I'm pretty much in the same boat as JJ, I can get alot of penetration and lay a good bead...it's just not as pretty as other's. But I'm also good with the grinder... :lol:

I welded a few joints on my sliders...but dad did the ones that are most visible... :oops:

WoodysKJ · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:28 pm

It's an art form all it's own. I wanna think I could do a decent weld but not near as good as Marty and Troy or others can do.

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:58 pm

I hate grinding, so I try to make the welds pretty, but that is not the primary goal. Strength first, appearance last.

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:00 pm

Oh, and here is another website to compare prices with, and they have free shipping. They have Hobart and Miller, but apparently not Lincoln:

Hobart: http://store.cyberweld.com/hobmigwel.html
Miller: http://store.cyberweld.com/milmigwel.html

dgeist · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:14 pm

Rock Lizard wrote:

I hate grinding, so I try to make the welds pretty, but that is not the primary goal. Strength first, appearance last.

Speaking of which, where would someone go to get a decent intro to welding. My buddy and I have both wanted to learn to weld for some time. We're both engineering grads and have full time jobs, so obviously enrolling for 2 years at one of the local tech schools that offers welding technology as a major would not be the best way to get exposure in the short term. What types of places are likely to have a 3-6 month course that would get our feet wet enough to venture off on our own?

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:24 pm

dgeist wrote:

Rock Lizard wrote:

I hate grinding, so I try to make the welds pretty, but that is not the primary goal. Strength first, appearance last.

Speaking of which, where would someone go to get a decent intro to welding. My buddy and I have both wanted to learn to weld for some time. We're both engineering grads and have full time jobs, so obviously enrolling for 2 years at one of the local tech schools that offers welding technology as a major would not be the best way to get exposure in the short term. What types of places are likely to have a 3-6 month course that would get our feet wet enough to venture off on our own?

Our local community college offers many different courses and they are pretty much go at your own pace. For example, the Mig class you can start with the Beginning class and learn the basics and then they have you run beads over and over and over until you get it down. You lay a flat bead, run another line next to it, and continue running them side by side, then when you run out of room, you go back over the beads filling the gaps between, then when you finish that, you go back and fill those gaps, until you pretty much make a house out of beads. The intermediate class gets a little more involved in learning the different types of joints and what not. The advanced gets into welding upside down and different angles and round pipe/tube welds, etc. The beginning and intermediate are the most common types that will ge tyou proficient enough to get certified. Here, you can take the school certification as many times as you want as it is included in the class and it makes good practice for the state certification, which is pretty expensive and you get one shot to pass or fail, then you have to wait to retest and spend the big money again. I believe here the classes are about $3-400 each, and take as long as it takes you to pass.

dog_party · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:26 pm

I'm shopping too, so this info is proving very helpful!

I'm looking into classes now. Hadn't thought about trying to take my own welder in there. That's a really good idea!

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:46 pm

dgeist wrote:

]

Speaking of which, where would someone go to get a decent intro to welding. My buddy and I have both wanted to learn to weld for some time. We're both engineering grads and have full time jobs, so obviously enrolling for 2 years at one of the local tech schools that offers welding technology as a major would not be the best way to get exposure in the short term. What types of places are likely to have a 3-6 month course that would get our feet wet enough to venture off on our own?

I would check out the local community college "Adult Education" classes that are non-credit night offerings. Sometimes local school districts offer them too. They cost a lot less. If you have a good, large, local welding supply store they often have their own classes too. The most important thing about welding is practice though.

andOrr · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:02 am

About 10 years ago, when I 15 or 16, I just HAD to learn to weld, I really wanted to. I read all the books I could about it, I volunteered at a farm museum where they restored tractors and such, even persuaded my parents to let me sign up for the 'adult' class at the high school (let's just say my school didn't have welding). But I never got a chance. The class was canceled due to lack of interest (ironically) and I never got a chance at the farm. After that, I got preoccupied by other things.

So...

Learning to weld is an unfinished chapter of my 'education'. Do I really need a better excuse?

I don't have any accessible 220 around my place, the dryer and stove plugs are out of the question. My brother just gave an idea that I'm looking into though: our house AC runs on 220, 30A, with a junction box outside. If I could break that out into a watertight enclosure, maybe through a switch, I could run a welder off the AC line (will have to check with some of my electrician friends first, you know, code stuff) :roll:

Glad to see I'm not the only wannabe welder!

Landy · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:39 am

I've been a welder for 25 years. I've used all different sizes of Miller's, Airco's, Lincoln's, Hobart's and a sweet purple Thermadyne. http://www.thermadyne.com/

I ran Aluminum MIG with a Cobra-matic and a Thermadyne powersource as a production welder for 3 years. Never ever had a problem with it and that machine was the smooooothest heat source I've ever used to this day.

I will add all the commercial machines I used were 480V 3-phase. Unless you're near a commercial zone, that won't available for you. Plus it would be a fortune to get it plumbed in.

For TIG welding, my favorite was a Lincoln Ideal-Arc, I used it for 12 years. For steel MIG, my favorite was a Miller...

Let me add this: I have a wee little Lincoln 110V SP-135 MIG welder for home garage use. I use .023 hardwire with a bottle of 75/25 gas. That'll max out with a nice weld on 1/8" steel. But, if you want to do body work on sheet metal, that little sucker will dial in real sweet and I'll bet you could weld around a pencil with it. You can't beat it for sheet metal work.

I also have a roll of .030 innershield wire that doesn't use any shielding gas. That'll max out on 3/16" steel. If you have a torch and can pre-heat your job, you can weld 1/4" with it but you're pushing it. (Never use them with a smaller extension cord.)

Little 110V machines are not for welding bumpers and heavier structural jobs and they can cost over $500.00 bucks.

Take Rock Lizards advice and buy at least a 220V MIG machine for versatitity. -Unless you are only going to weld thin sheet metal. Otherwise, you will never be happy with the money you've spent.

That's my .02 worth

Landy

Jeger · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:13 am

Be sure to check out your local career centers/joint vocational shool type places, many offer short courses especially this time of year. The Miami Valley Career Tech Center (MVCTC) in my area offers two levels of MIG And two of TIG as well, they are all evening classes, cost around $500 dollars, and run from sometime Nov to Mid January.

IMO Some people may be better of spending that money or a little more on a welder and teaching themselves, especially if you just want to MIG, and arent afraid to read, or have some place you can go watch and ask questions. It really isnt that hard and there are some good resources on the net to get you started. If you are still struggling after some practice....then spend the money on a course. Or if your school is like mine they will take experience as credit for the beginners course and let you jump right into the second level course which is where you will learn things that are more worth paying for.

Maximum Carnage · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:06 pm

Great info thanks guys. I'm looking at three brands being Hobart, Miller and Lincoln. I just want to narrow it down; in Hobart would for sure be the Hobart 187. I want to compare a Miller and Lincoln to that Hobart. For sure I don't want anything under 220V. I can always wire the garage for an additional 220 or 230 if needed, that is not a problem. I just did some hardwiring for a 220 compressor.
Trying to keep the budget under $700

I WANT a welder

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