Need a welder...help me decide!

[Heavyfire14]

It absolutely does. You can also get cutting sticks and use you batteries to cut shit too.

thats awsome.

 

[CHKNFKR]

Rural king is like walmart for farmers and country folk.

 

[Heavyfire14]

i think im gonna look into the hobart welders... either the handler 190 or the handler 210 for me. they look better and are priced better than miller.

 

[4.0B2]

agreed.. miller is GREAT stuff, no doubt. that's what we have at the shop. a nice 220 mig, i don't know the model tho....

but for the average person Hobart is awesome. more reasonably priced for the home user..

 

[Hagan]

I was also thinking Hobart. I'm dead set on the Handler 190/210. They are priced competitively and supposedly Miller makes them.

 

[Heavyfire14]

I was also thinking Hobart. I'm dead set on the Handler 190/210. They are priced competitively and supposedly Miller makes them.

where are you planning on getting yours from?

 

[Capt Jay]

The Hobart 140 is a good welder. It's the largest you can get and still use 110v.

You can weld thicker if you preheat the metal.

I have one and augement it with a 220v ac/dc stick welder for thicker stock.

An just so people know.....unless your gas welding.....it's ALL arc welding.

Stick welding uses flux on a electrode that creates a micro atmosphere
Mig (metal inert gas) uses a shielding gas to create a non-oxygen environment.
Tig (tungsten inert gas) is a tungsten electrode and uses a shielding gas.
All welding using electricity is arc welding.

 

[Capt Jay]

All said, get the Hobart 140. It will handle most everything you'll do. If you need thicker, you can either preheat or do a multipass weld.

 

[Heavyfire14]

i like the 210 best cause its 115/230 volts.

 

[NMB2]

run Co2 on your 140 welder to get a little more oomph from it.

 

[Hagan]

Ok PERFECT! I'm getting the 140 tomorrow from Northern Tool! Thanks guys!

 

[88_Eddie]

i've got a lincoln 125. it'll do 1/4" plate all the way down to 22 gauge (i think, it's somewhere around there). i love it, works great. it plugs in to a regular wall outlet and i've even used it on a 25 foot extension cord. anything larger would be way overkill for what i plan on doing.

got it for $420 at lowes and then spent $60 on a auto darkening helmet.

i get my gloves from harbor frieght, they're 5 bucks, i've eventually get some better ones though.

i'm doing the same thing with mine that you're doing. i braced my drop brackets with them, built extended RA's and i plan on doing sliders/bumpers this fall.

 

[shane96ranger]

i've got a lincoln 125

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I haven't got a MIG yet because I've been holding out for when I can afford a decent 220v rig. I've seen lots of people using 110v MIGs and I'm not impressed with their abilities for sticking anything more than a couple tin cans together.

I picked up an older Lincoln AC-225 stick welder awhile back. $100 got me the welder and a bucket full of assorted rods. Another $100 got me an oxy-propane cutting outfit (100 lb propane cyl and tall oxy bottle, oxy was full and the propane was around 2/3 full), guy was getting rid of all his dad's stuff. I can stick metal together with the welder and I can cut it apart with the torch, but I could use a lot more practice.

I'm far better at welding using the old school oxy-acet torch set my dad gave me. First time I played around with it I learned to do a good weld. My first weld was crappy with poor penetration but I went around and re-heated the weld and tried again. Then I realized that when it got heated to a point, you could see what everyone said about being able to watch the metal flow together. From then on, I was golden. (but lots of people are deathly afraid of welding using a torch and claim that it's extremely difficult).

 

[Ctryby26]

Are you talking about Brazing? That is what i was always told it was.