Welders?

[mjbskwim]

Now I'm not ,by any stretch,a great welder. But I can get it done.
Made a few bumper that folks said looked good.
They were all made with a little Lincoln 140 wire feed,120 volt. It was kinda toast after the fact,lol.
I have welded stick before and actually have more experience with that.
Anyway,at the local Murdoghckt? whatever, they have the home detpo Lincoln buzz box arc welder(220) the little 140,some 3600$ jobber and a line of Hobart wire feed welders.
Hobart has a 130a 140 a couple 190s and a 210? I believe.
One of the 190s has a aluminum spool and says it will weld up to 1/4"
So I'm looking to spend ,or hoping to spend about 6-700 MAX,but that buzz box at 300 is lookin good
Is Hobart a good welder? Remember I'm 2hrs from anything so a local purchase would be good. The fab/steel shop sells Miller and I know that's a good brand
Waddayathink?

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[jbett98]

Most welders are ruined by not paying attention to the duty cycle.
I would go visit a local welders supply store and see if they have any refurbished mig welders for sale, preferably in 220v. if your shop has that voltage available.
A buzz box is handy to lug around town, but a dedicated mig welder for your shop should be big enough to do any job you care to tackle without waiting forever to cool down.
Check the local estate sales, as that is how I got my my MillerMatic 30 for $200.00

 

[MarkAd]

a Hobart is a good a machine. 240v 4 phase is way better then 120v single phase. 600 willl get you a good machine, but a refrubed mchine will get you a lot better for the money. A MIG is nice but cost of operation is higher the stick.

 

[The Heretic]

When I used to do some welding (decades ago), Hobart made good stuff.

I can't speak for now. Corps buy corps and they change, some corps buy other's products and put their names on it, so I would recommend you maybe go to welder forum or something like that and find people who know what is going on in the industry today.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

In my experience no 120v welder will weld even 1/4" steel adequately. Not enough power and it's easy to exceed the duty cycle. I have a Clarke 180EN, which I love. It welds 1/4" steel easily and duty cycle is not an issue. All the Hobart accessories seem to work fine with it. I did a lot of research and snagged this great little MIG welder for about $350. It's on Amazon for that price right now.

https://www.amazon.com/Clarke-WE6524-230-Volt-Fluxcore-Welder/dp/B000K2571K

BTW, I did put a better ground cable on it. The stock one is small and tends to heat up under heavy use.

 

[IronMonster]

After my fire I bought a Miller 211 inverter and have been really impressed with it. Its more like $1000 but it will run 120V or 220V and on 120V it will have a lot better performance than a 120V transformer machine

Hobart is now Miller's econo brand. Its more home owner oriented than the blue branded machines and they come a little cheaper. I am not a fan of any of the small Lincolns, I have not used them all but the ones I have are not a match for the blue machines.

I would not bother with the spool gun, the limit even for a 220V machine is about .060 aluminum. About 1/16th of an inch. Just not enough juice.

One thing I will say is a good welder that is big enough for the job at hand is a joy to use. A poor welder is like using any other poor equipment, frustrating and irritating

 

[jbett98]

Don't forget to buy a good auto darkening helmet.
I have one of those Harbor Freight auto darkening that works fine for what little welding that I do.
It sure beats the old style ones where you have to nod your head so the helmet drops down and you always seem to start your weld in the wrong location.

 

[mjbskwim]

After my fire I bought a Miller 211 inverter and have been really impressed with it. Its more like $1000 but it will run 120V or 220V and on 120V it will have a lot better performance than a 120V transformer machine

Hobart is now Miller's econo brand. Its more home owner oriented than the blue branded machines and they come a little cheaper. I am not a fan of any of the small Lincolns, I have not used them all but the ones I have are not a match for the blue machines.

I would not bother with the spool gun, the limit even for a 220V machine is about .060 aluminum. About 1/16th of an inch. Just not enough juice.

One thing I will say is a good welder that is big enough for the job at hand is a joy to use. A poor welder is like using any other poor equipment, frustrating and irritating

The little 140 I had I was running thru my rv electric probably at about 15 amps? and it was a 20amp machine,lol
So I'd start out making these beautiful welds... then they would turn to chicken scratch
WTF? Then the breaker would go off....WHY???
Then my buddies came over and taught me about duty cycles and shyt.
Heck my dad had the big Lincoln gas powered welders on his trucks and there was know worries.
And my electrician buddy,who came hunting and did probably $3k worth of electrical (over here) for me ran 220 to my shop,told me 220 works better on most everything you can use it for.
And there's no refurbished anything welders here but maybe something at an auction.
But I don't know enough about them to do anything but weld a little with them to test them. And these folks like to mess with each other at the auctions. Especially with tools.
I will have plenty to use it on,now and in the future but I will shop for used
Thanks guys

 

[Ura-Ki]

I have found that most good welders for home and auto shop grade use need to be a min 140 amp to be able to weld those kind of needs on 120v to 220v! I have found both Miller Blue AND Lincolin to be very good for Heavy home and auto shop type work, HOW EVER, I recommend stepping up to at least a 200 amp two phase for any work that goes beyond standard automotive work! Personally, I run a Lincoln Ranger 240/600 genset welder that does MIG/TIG and will do heli arc as well as stick! For that I have the two bottles for the gas mixes and I run flow meters instead of gauges! For a good home set up a Lincoln 140 Digital, set up to run .025 to .031 wire should be about perfect for just about any home and automotive needs! If you want to weld Aluminum, I would invest in a separate TIG machine and forget all about a spool gun. You can do it with a 140 but you will not be happy!!!

 

[jbett98]

If you run across one of these older MillerMatic 35 welders, snap it up.
It's a great welder for a home shop and the spot welder function is an added plus when working on thin sheet metal.

 

[mjbskwim]

Those little 140 Lincolns are good for yard art but I wouldn't buy one for another bumper project.
I'm thinking this will end up like buying my quad
How far and long do I want to travel to look at junk on CL?(2hr min) I'll probably buy new unless a great used one comes up locally.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I have found that most good welders for home and auto shop grade use need to be a min 140 amp to be able to weld those kind of needs on 120v to 220v! I have found both Miller Blue AND Lincolin to be very good for Heavy home and auto shop type work, HOW EVER, I recommend stepping up to at least a 200 amp two phase for any work that goes beyond standard automotive work! Personally, I run a Lincoln Ranger 240/600 genset welder that does MIG/TIG and will do heli arc as well as stick! For that I have the two bottles for the gas mixes and I run flow meters instead of gauges! For a good home set up a Lincoln 140 Digital, set up to run .025 to .031 wire should be about perfect for just about any home and automotive needs! If you want to weld Aluminum, I would invest in a separate TIG machine and forget all about a spool gun. You can do it with a 140 but you will not be happy!!!

My Clarke 180en runs .35 wire with no problem. I put a 12,000 lb hitch on my car hauler trailer with it and it was a breeze. I run a flow meter and have gasses for mild steel and stainless. I'd like to try welding aluminum one of these days, but I'd need to buy a spool gun to do it.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

Those little 140 Lincolns are good for yard art but I wouldn't buy one for another bumper project.
I'm thinking this will end up like buying my quad
How far and long do I want to travel to look at junk on CL?(2hr min) I'll probably buy new unless a great used one comes up locally.

Like I said elsewhere that Clarke 180en is on Amazon brand new for $350, and it does everything I've needed including building some debris forks for my tractor out of 1/4" wall square tubing.

 

[mjbskwim]

Like I said elsewhere that Clarke 180en is on Amazon brand new for $350, and it does everything I've needed including building some debris forks for my tractor out of 1/4" wall square tubing.
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That's exactly what I'm putting on the front bumper!
We can keep road kill here

 

[Oregonhunter5]

After my fire I bought a Miller 211 inverter and have been really impressed with it. Its more like $1000 but it will run 120V or 220V and on 120V it will have a lot better performance than a 120V transformer machine

Hobart is now Miller's econo brand. Its more home owner oriented than the blue branded machines and they come a little cheaper. I am not a fan of any of the small Lincolns, I have not used them all but the ones I have are not a match for the blue machines.

I would not bother with the spool gun, the limit even for a 220V machine is about .060 aluminum. About 1/16th of an inch. Just not enough juice.

One thing I will say is a good welder that is big enough for the job at hand is a joy to use. A poor welder is like using any other poor equipment, frustrating and irritating

This is the master
So learn from him!

 

[Caveman Jim]

This caveman welds WOOD!!!!

 

[mjbskwim]

This is the master
So learn from him!

I have no problem there as long as he keeps it my price bracket and miniscule skill level

 

[IronMonster]

Master? No, Monster...