Welders?

[dart64gt]

I got this miller S35 from a friend a few years back for 300.00 and it is one of the best I have ever used

 

[mopar410]

I've been using flux since I bought my hobart from TSC a year ago.Main reseason I haven't put a tank on it is the cost and the fact that my welder 220v hobart 210 doesn't leave any slag as others have stated.I've been a welder for 20 years so I know a few tricks about welding but seems like maybe the flux wire is made with different qualities,the wire at TSC.030 flux does have spatter but not outrageous and no slag to speak of.So the harbor frieght flux wire might be cheaper made and less pure.Just a thought I came up with reading these posts.

 

[Bad Sport]

I tried that crappy blue harbor freight welder and couldnt get a good bead out of it.

Hmmmmm, works fine for me I have used mine on everything from sheet metal to 5/16" angle iron. I built head light brackets for my plow rig using that welder and they never broke or fell off.

 

[Sweet5ltr]

+1 on the Harbor Freight 110v 90amp. I like it. It has enough bite for pretty much any car project. I got the new black one thats made by a new manufacturer. It a little bit better built and seems to have more bite, than the previous blue one and it feeds smoother, and has a kill switch wired into the trigger that keeps it from accidentally sparking on you. Its far from frustrating to use. You will need to get a grinder because you will have to grind any weld you do.

My advice is get a auto-dimming helmet, it will help you a whoooooole lot.

Oh if you do any body work on the exterior, be sure to cool your welds down with air. Flux core runs a bit hotter than the gas/tig process.

Nearly spot on, and our problem was I invested $15,000 in parts during the restoration within a six month time frame; so we really didn't have any extra funding (with me being the only supplier) to purchase a decent auto-dimming helmet. My father had the air hose in one hand, and the welder in the other To be honest, it really fed well when the flux core wire roll was new and it operated very well for our application. Probably saved ten thousand dollars worth of body work, with an eighty dollar welder.. IMO, I don't think we could have done much better with an expensive welder, or came out enough ahead to justify the price and complexity for a beginner.

 

[gdrill]

A little humor for the thread. Spent some time in Zambia. We welded with a home made welder! It was fed by two open leads stuffed into the 240 volt plug in the house. Did the job!

 

[twofosho]

The user manual for my Miller 211 should be called Welding for Dummies. Plug it in, turn it on, turn on the gas, dial in the thickness of the metal you want to weld, dial in the diameter of the wire you're running, and pull the trigger. You really have to work hard to screw up a weld with this thing. Swap plugs and run 110 if you have to. Yeah, I had to save up for while and catch it on sale before I could get it, but it was worth every penny.

Heads up for anyone just starting out;

You can scrimp on the welder itself if you must, you can even get away with blowing off buying decent leather welding gloves, but the MOST important thing you should do for yourself when starting out is to get absolutely the best welding helmet you can afford, even if you have to wait to start welding until you've saved the money up for one.

Lots of cheapies out there, but you owe it to yourself to go to a professional welding shop for this one. Take the time to try on a bunch of different ones. In this day and age auto darkening is a must. Getting the one that feels the most comfortable and allows you to see the best will not only save your eyes, but allow you to make to the best welds possible with any given skill and equipment level.

Oh, if you don't think saving your eyes is one of the most important things you can do for yourself when you're young, wait until you get old and didn't do it.

 

[Badart]

Buy what you can afford, but you are better off buying a name brand that you can actually get parts for rather than throwing it away if something breaks. For anything under 3/16" I use a Lincoln 135 and works fine, but I mostly use it for sheet metal and tacking. I prefer to use my water cooled 200A tig when possible, because you can control the heat, amount of penetration and filler rod. I run both from the same bottle of argon and just switch back and forth.

MadDart is right, you can weld thicker than 3/16" with a 110 welder, but you should use flux core, because it is a hotter weld.

 

[68GTconvert]

Thanks for all the advise. i went with the hobart for 300(made in america) and I think it will be fine for my application. I don't need a $600 welder to do the little projects I have.