Welder for body metal

dgc333 said
My neighbor has a 120v Clarke Mig Welder which I have used a few times and compared to my Lincoln it's not very good, the wire feed is inconsistent and jams up regularly where the Lincoln never does.

Recently it wasn't working and he brought it over for me to look at. None of the local welding supply houses had any parts and the only parts I could find on line were tips hoods and the gun. Anything inside was not available.

You can get a Lincoln Power Mig 140 for about $400 new if you shop around and 1/2 that if you buy used. It has 100% duty cycle up to 140 amps. The older 135 won't go as high but a 40% duty cycle mentioned for the Clarke sucks.

Then sumthin was wrong with it. Also you can make any mig jam up gettin the torch too close to the work, but from the sound of it, you know not to do that. The Clarkes consistasntly get good reviews. It's not like they are Chinese junk. They are actually made in the UK and Italy. One thing to keep in mind on this. I kinda compare stuff like this to chain saws. Remember when McCullough was the bad ***** of chain saws? I mean they used to be the best money could buy. then they started poppin up in KMart and WalMart. Same with Poulan. Well......you can find some of the small Lincolns in KMart and WalMart right now, but you won't find a Clarke there....not yet anyway. That's because those smaller Lincolns are made......you guessed it....in CHINA. You can even find some of the bigger Lincoln units in Sams Clubs.....and they are made in China as well. Do your homework is all I can say. And buy one with as high a duty cycle as you can find.

Oh, and lastly, I got news. Do you know what duty cycle is? Evidently not. It's how long you can weld continuously in a 10 minute period. So, a 40% equals 4 minutes of straight welding out of ten. There ain't a welder made that'll weld on a 100% duty cycle. That's nonstop. No way no how. Even if the welder could swing it, you'd melt the torch, and end up trippin the breaker. But WTF do I know? I was only certified 16 years. Maybe that wasn't long enough. Yeah, some advertise 100%, but you just try it. LMAO.