welding

[fredneck]

hi
i am lokking to learn how to weld sick of having to have things done for
me i an looking at the hobart 140 mig welder does anyone have any advise
thanks in advance

 

[MrE_Powers]

Great machine. i have a hobart 187 and love the thing

welding is like learning to play music, the more practice the better you get.

I would do 1 of 3 things to kick this off. 1. i would see if you can pay an experienced welder show you how to weld in his shop,
2 my local welding supply store has classes for like 300$ for any process and what ever you need help with. but i live in MO. you may not have a cee Kay around but you may have a similar store.

3 get a bunch of scrap and teach your self.

i also suggest you go to a welding forum.

 

[warrior24]

take a class and burn lots of rod.

 

[Iron Ranger]

Hobart 140 is the best 110V at a good price that I have ever used. My parents bought me one for a graduation gift 6 years ago. $480 with a free welding cart, also includes the gas regulator hookup. Nice and smooth, portable, very useful.

Just make sure to get your polarity right when switching between flux core and solid MIG wire.

 

[crawlin91]

Ive got the 140. Its awesome. First welder ive owned, very easy to learn on and use. Go with a 220 machine if you have access to the correct power source. Youll be able to weld much thicker material.

 

[Will]

I have both and I kind of think the 240V stick welder was easier to figure out and get stronger welds for a beginner. No moving parts. Below an 1/8" it's harder, so I would let that dictate what I got. 90% of the stuff I weld is easily done with a stick. Bike frames and things aren't possible with it though.

With a stick welder you can weld through rust and paint. You can weld outside in the wind. You can vary the distance of the rod to spray filler metal in. You don't have the stiff cable that you have to keep straight or the wire stops feeding. You don't have the tip to worry about burning. On the other hand, it's tougher sometimes in tight places because you have a big old stick arcing off things that you don't want to weld.

The MIG is like gluing things together almost. You just press the trigger and it starts making sparks. You have to go slower with a 120V machine like I have. And it's easy to have a very pretty weld sitting right on top of what you wanted to melt together. But it's very nice to have a machine that will plug in anywhere, can be run off a portable generator even.

But if I could keep only one, I would keep the 240V stick over the 120V MIG.

 

[B&G_Automotive]

Lincoln AC225 arc welder all the way, cheap and indestrucable. If your looking for mig get on ebay or craigslist find a used machine, stick with a name brand (miller, esab, hobart, lincoln, etc) as replacement parts are easy to get a hold of.