Re: Welders!
 

I too just purchased a welder. New- in box - Lincoln Pro Mig 180. Guy got it as a gift and it seems his wife decided it wasn't something he should have :(

Anyway, I put in a 240 volt outlet in the garage bought a HF auto-darkening helmet (came highly recommended) and started laying beads yesterday (flux only, don't have a bottle yet).

I'm going to look into a community college welding class (my county doesn't offer one, but we have reciprocity with dallas county!)

Wish me luck (and about the time of retirement, I'll be 10% the welder that Lou is).

Re: Welders!
 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94164
I got this from Harbor Freight a few months ago and have been very happy with it, even taught myself how to weld with it. Been using flux cored wire as I have not got around to getting the bottles and regulators but I think I will keep this one set up for flux as I got another welder from free that will be set up for gas. Ive used the harbor freight welded many times, mostly using it to weld up and smooth out all the holes on my firewall. I have not had a problem yet and even got a 2 year warrenty that begins in about 2 more months after the manufacture warrenty. If anything breaks I bring it back to the store and exchange it for a new one. Also picked up a auto darkening helmet from there too.

My other welder I got for free from my boss. (i think the following links work, I will check when I get home)
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1208388414
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1208388564
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1208388574
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1208388590
Anyway its made by solar, manufactured in 1982 in the USA. My boss bought it new and bearly used it and it sat in his basement for a while and gave it to me for free when I bought my 52 off of him. All I had to do was put a new cord and plug on it, and I still need to get the bottles for it but its ready to go. Once I get the bottles then I will be able to try it out for the first time. I believe its either a side company of snap-on or lincoln, im not sure. Boss said it was snap-on but when googled I get lincoln. Anyone know?

Re: Welders!
 

I would say start with,taking a course in welding form your local comunity collage, then trying out a few different welders, I've worked in a number of shops and depending on how they are maintained, they were all different. it just took time to get use to how each welder works and which settings work best for me.
check local pawn shops see whats in there,
Then find your local welding equipment repair shop and see what they have in there shop for sale and ask what went wrong and see what it costs to repair and how often they have to do it
most 110-120 mig lincn, miller etc are very reliable for the home use. and use gas, co2 or argon mix, argon is about 3 times as expensive but you get what you pay for.

Re: Welders!
 

found this welder for sale for 225.00 thought i would ask to see what you guys thought about it for body work and sheet metal.

SP-100T Lincoln Mig

i will be learning to weld and hopefully using something liek this to do my patches and my metalwork. if anyone has used it and liked it or not liked it, it would be appreciated. thanks

Re: Welders!
 

For home, use once in a while Good unit Get a cart an argon mix or co2 to go with it I used one a while back low duty cycle but over all at worked well. should be a good unit.
Things to look for;
good working regulator
good gun head.
no kinks in feed line to gun
wire tension, take up wheel, spindle area operational.
I bought one 20yrs ago, mig welder, and it cost more to referbish after then to buy a new good linc, or miller. learned the hard way.
lincoln makes a great series of mig welders for this price its hard to go wrong but check it out first before you buy it

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well i guess my question is more how does it work on body work on lets say a blazer?

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Should work fine

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Looking for a welder & have narrowed it down to a Miller 175, 180, 185 or 210.
There is a 210 on craigslist locally. What is a good price for a used 210?

Thanks

Re: Welders!
 

My advice would be Check with Pawn Shops First.
Then local ads.
Then find a welding repair center.
be aware most mig welders need parts ie. tips some times the gun and or sleeve
best price well depend on area
in my area I've seen any where from $100 to $600 used small duty or portable 110v or 220v
heavy duty or industrial $600 two $2000
Areas will differ depending on demand
Good luck

Re: Welders!
 

Mark P. here from Southern MD. I've been an US. Naval Aircraft certifyied MIG,TIG,SMAW, OXYFUEL welder for 16 or so years now.I've used many diffrent welders over the years. i own a couple lincolns and a thermal arc gts 300 tig. IMHO they're all good. for auto applications my personal favorite is my lincoln sp 100. its a 110v welder with 25%75% argon co2 mix 10lb spool of .023 solid core wire. the reason for the small wire size is as follows. the sp100 has enough for auto apps. power settings are as follows A,B,C,D and wire feed is 1-10 For body panels i use B,3-4 wire speed. i spot weld all body panels. tacking the panels aprox 4" apart then 2,1",.5,.25, etc until the entire seam has been welded. PATIENCE WILL PAY OFF!!! take your time and not put a lot of heat in the welded area. this will keep any warping down to an absolute minium. As for the frame D,5-6 and overhead D,6-7. i almost always weave my beads in an overlapping c motion. The .023 wire and the weaving will put more than enough heat/ penetration in the weld than you need. I have built many racecar chasis that have been NHRA/IHRA certifyied to 7.50 sec with this welder. PM or email me @ m.phippen@hotmail .com if i can be of any help to my fellow bowtie brothers and sisters. V/R Mark Phippen

Re: Welders!
 

There is a great book out by Monster Garage with alot of great info and pics from the Jesse James series called How to damm weld near anything. It goes through the different types of welding,welders,and techniques. It's a great book for the shop. There is a whole series of these books on customizing, you can find them at borders,or barnes a nobles.

Re: Welders!
 

I just Built a Snow plow for a ATV using a 110v Matco mig welder and I must say you can do a lot if you just Practice have fun. I my way out of practice so don't kick your self to much if your welds aren't perfect like I do, I also own a 4.5 inch hand grinder which helps on the frackin bad welds I do but I don't weld every day any more (reinovator@Gmail.com pics)

Re: Welders!
 

Hello Guys ..

My name is Richard from www.everlastwelders.com , if you need any welders or plasma cutters please let me know. We offer 30 days money back and 5 year warranty on all units. We have MIG's ,Tig's , Combo units and cutters.
Members of this forum will get a better price.





Richard
www.everlastwelders.com
sales@everlastwelders.com

Re: Welders!
 

okay gotta ? for yall, ive gota lil mig welder (still learnin how to weld..)

but the wire kinked, had to cut it on the inside of the welder, but cant pull it thru the rest of the cord....am i missin something???!! i need to get it going again but its been holdin me up..wat do i do thanks

Re: Welders!
 

Cut at the roll of wire, don't let it get away from you. Stick it back in a hole on the wire spool and bend it over. Next re-cut the wire just before the sleave and pull it out from the torch end. Recut the spool end of the wire and re-feed into the sleeve. OK....If you are properly set-up put your torch to any object (less ground) and your wire should slip without kinking when you pull the trigger. Adjust more tension on the rollers as you need should it start to be slugish on the feed.

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What if your wire is stuck inside the sleeve.. and both ends of the wire have broken off so you have nothing to grab to and pull?

Re: Welders!
 

You should be able to remove the tip by screwing it out counter clockwise. what type of handle is it? there are a few different manufactures.
the 'TIP' is where the wire comes out and should be removable, they do wear out.
It is in side the nozzle or gas shield which also unscrews in most cases. check this sit out for more detail.
http://www.stylefeeder.com/i/dhkcwqf...acement-Nozzle

Re: Welders!
 

after you remove the tip you should be able to pull the wire through and feed more wire through and be able to continue your work. if this continues try adjusting your wire speed up just a little faster. or turning your heat down.
This usually happens when the wire try's burn back to the tip.

Re: Welders!
 

Thanks for your help... After taking a min. and thinking about what I did...
I was welding just fine, my spool ran out I changed it and welded a few seconds and teh machine jammbed up... I did eveything you had suggested ...Thats why i was stumped... After really examining my feed sleeve it had two kinks in it... So i just assume the old spool slid threw cause it was already thread... and the new
one woldnt get past the kink...

I ordered a new feeed sleeve today $17 plus shipping..... $23 to the door..

THANKS
Mike

Re: Welders!
 

I'm Glad you figured it out. I've had to fight with unfamiliar mig's before and they are no fun at all. Enjoy your project and learn to though wrenches where you can find them again.

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So i bought a Lincoln 140HD for $500 brand new from home depot. Is that a good price? All i am going to be doing is body panels and very very rarely frame work. Did i get it too big?

Re: Welders!
 

I prefer Lincoln, others my differ.
all around you did great you may want to go with gas and not flux core it gets very expencive CO-2 or argon mix
remember to practice. get some anti-splatter gel.
above all have fun and be safe.
Great welder.:metal::metal::metal:

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ya i am def going with gas. wouldnt do it any other way. :metal:

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much cleaner welds unless I'm doing it, then nothing but a grinder will help

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Yeah! I just picked up an almost new Lincoln SP-135T with a cart and full bottle for $450! :four:

I'm stoked and ready to start my '71 Blazer rust repairs. Found it on Craigs and the guy selling said he did one small project and decided to sell his truck. (a 57 Chevy...) I believe it, the welder shows 0 wear. Came with the extra tips in a bag. Can't wait to get started. I was a fair stick welder a bunch of years ago, but haven't ever messed with a mig. Been reading everything here and watching some stuff on YouTube. Now I just need to get some hours under my belt. Now I need to find an old body panel to play with...