I am heading north to the San Antonio & Austin area on Saturday to help boost your sadly sagging economy. One of the items I intend to bring back with me is an electric welder. This is only going to be used for stuff around my house, maybe a few mods on the truck and other odd jobs. Can anybody recommend a decent machine that is easily available? For easy available I mean places like HD, Lowes, Sears and TSC. I want a machine with some decent reserve amps in case one day I do a bit of heavy welding. Maybe 300 amps? It can be either 120 or 220 volts, but prefer to be able to select as needed. A continuous use machine is prefered as I don't want to take coffee breaks while this thing cools off.

The next question is, what is best for odd jobs like this? A stick welder or wire? If I use wire it will have to be cored wire as I can't be lugging a big cylinder of gas around.

Next question. For this kind of welding, what is suggested? Straight AC, reversable DC or .....?

What rods and diameter?

What NOT to buy?

 

Wow, that's allot of coverage. My opinion would be a 220v mig. The big draw back is that gas wire is so much easier to clean up after compared to flux core wire. Another consideration is where you'll be doing most of your work. If you're inside, again, gas is a good choice. Outside work with gas can be frustrating. Some folks just turn the regulator up and that works for them. Personally, by need I bought a gas drive stick machine first. It allowed me to work on my stuff outside, away from a power source and gave me a generator, all for the same price. I purchased a 110v mig for the lighter stuff the stick machine wasn't so good for.

 

how hard is it to get 220 in mex. get a stick one you can get a longer duty cycle then mig for your money 6011 rod is an easy rod to use get 3 differ sizes for different welding projects. i weld a/c , try tractor supply or places that like that they have better selections

 

youre not going to find anything over 90 amps on a 120v source so 220v is your only answer. MIG welders are easy to self teach and you can use self sheilding wire for windy situations or MIG with gas if you want it to be prettier. When I was 16, after dealing with a Lowes 120v mig welder I bought a 260 amp Esab Multimaster (mig, tig, +stick) Now I wont have to buy another welder in my life and I wont ever have to wish i had more amps. Not to mention a quality 220v welder makes things alot easier because you dont have a noticeable phasing when youre trying to lay a smooth bead. IMO Lowes or HD do not have great quality welders, usually stuck to 4 or 5 power settings and less than 120 amps. Esab, Lincoln, and Miller make good quality stuff. Buy it once and be done with it.

Stick welders are powerful, fairly inexpensive and effective. You can run a long lead where a MIG welder is more limited.

 

Stan,

Try hitting a welding supply shop while in SA. You can get a Miller or lincoln machine which are by far better than anything you can get at the big box stores. Unless you are gonna be welding anything over 1/4" thick, stick to a wire machine. Like has been said, they are much easier to get the hang of and can pretty much cover most anything you are gonna tackle around the house.

Gary

 

Pretty much what every has said is what I'd recommend. I don't see where welding with A/C would be of any benefit to you unless you plan to do aluminum work. Personally, I wouldn't waste my time with stick welding either. Everything I do is with flux cored mig. With the setup I have, I can push 400 amps at 100% duty cycle, so I'm not very limited as to what I can do with it. As for the flux cored being messier and harder to clean up than mig, I just don't see it. Other than having to flake off the residual slag there isn't any more spatter with fluxed than with gas shielded if you're doing it correctly and the machine is set up right. I don't agree with having to use a stick welder for the heavy stuff either. I've been building heavy equipment trailers and truck bodies for about 15 years now using nothing but mig, and some of the components of the heavier trailers can get as thick as 3/4" to 1". I have yet to have a structural weld failure of any kind.

As for the machine, I have a gas driven welder which I use with a 'suitcase' voltage sensing wire feeder. Like T-spatter said, it allows you to work anywhere and gives you a sizeable generator at the same time.

I have all Miller equipment and have always used Miller since I started welding at 14 years old. Other manufacturers are just as good I believe, it's all in what you're used to. I don't think you'll find anything you'll be happy with at a 'big-box' store tho. And if you DO have trouble with a machine from one of those stores, they're just going to send you to a distributor, (welding supply store), that services that particular brand machine as well as sells them.

chaikwa.

 

buy a welder/gen and you can get rid of your noisy gen,you can even a china diesel cheap or check craigslist for a large motor driven one miller or lincoln,lots of good deals now

 

Thanks guys for the answers so far.

Rich, I have 220 in my house already, so it's no problem. Also have a NOISY 120/220 generator if I need to go out in the field.

I am familiar with and have used both Miller and Lincoln machines. Never used a ESAB and have zero idea about their quality. Did go to their web site to learn more, so see that this is now an option.

All my welding is going to be on mild steel. Can always use my axy-acetylene in the unlikelyhood I want to weld aluminum. Have not done this for a long time, but I used to be able to do it. 'Taint easy!

Will almost never weld anything over 1/4", but I suppose once in a blue moon that could happen.

A welder gen is a possibility, but is bulky and expensive. Could not justify that.

Almost all my welding is going to be outdoors.

So, now the question is, what machine is going to give me the best bang for my buck? Don't want to spend a small fortune on this machine, because if it gets too expensive it becomes more cost effictive to take my parts to a welding shop and have them do the welding -but a pain to do this. You guys are making me lean towards a small flux cored wire machine. As I normally buy very good quality tools, will take your advice and find a welding distributer in SA and not go to the big box stores where nobody knows nuttin' anyway. (here are our welders sir, do you want the red one or the blue one?)

 

I was in about the same situation as you except i did not have access to 220 at my house. I went with a hobart handler 140. Welds up to 1/4" but never had to yet. If i have something to heavy i got a buddy up the road that will do it. So far the it has worked good for what i needed it to. They can be had at TSC for under 500 bucks i think.

 

They ran them at Christmas for around that with an auto-darking hood and a couple other accessories.

 

I have a Miller 140 at the shop. it is a 120v machine and it has performed beyond what I ever though it could do. We bought it for the smaller jobs in the shop. If I were to buy a welder for my own use, the 140 is what I would buy.


Tim

 

300 AMPS is a lot of welder what tyep of work are you looking to do?

I have a 180 Amp continuous duty Engine drive Miller that has done a pile of fabricating and repairs and has been a great welder.

 

FWIW, we run 400 amp power supplies at work. 480 volt, 3 phase machines. these are 100% duty cycle machines (another variable you hadn't mentioned). We have a semi automatic, sub arc welder that will burn 3/16" wire.
300 amp systems will handle 1/4" rod altho most people dont like hunching over their work burning that much rod.

I honestly think you would be fine with a 200 amp 220 volt DC reverse polarity stick welder. that the most versitile system.
If your looking to spend some money, go with a good versitile power unit. from here you can add mig, tig, stick, or spot weld.
For outdoor use. stick is the only way to go. mig with flux core wire will require the same clean up as stick, plus you have the extra maintenance of mig.

 

is easier to get wire and or rods down there mite need to think about that plus import paperwork

 

You right, it IS a lot of welder. OK, will concede that is over kill. In reality, 180 amps will do 99% of any work I need.

Rich, no problem to get rods. Wire is a bit more of a problem, but is still obtainable. One reason I am thinking rods is the easy availability and also the outdoor use. No problem to bring it across the border as I don't need import paperwork.