Welders!

[phantom dually]

I would stay away from it. You get what you pay for.

[earl87gta]

Eventually I would like to get something better but I figured for that price if it can weld in my new rockers and the little bit of work on the ¼ I have to do to my blazer it would be worth it. I’m not a body man so I do the old spot weld over and over again until it’s all welded up approach.

[emmett]

Hi Earl
A friend of mine just bought a http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=55247 He is very happy with it, but like he said these welders are for the weekend welder it is not made for heavy duty or everyday work.
Good Luck EMMETT

[earl87gta]

Ya I was looking at that one to I dont have the cash right now for a good welder so I was looking for some thing cheap to weld in rickers and floors with. would the one in the link be better i see it needs gas. Im not a body man so it wont get used that often and I have a good ark welder that I use for big stuff.

[earl87gta]

how about this one its on sale for $200
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=6271

[Steelawork'n]

I got a Lincoln 3200HD from a local pawn shop. It's the same thing as the T135. It's really neat. I can plug it into a GFI outlet (must be on a 20amp breaker though) and it doesn't mind extension cords (I only have 12g cords). Just picked up the accessory cart today. For what I do, this does just fine.

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by earl87gta

how about this one its on sale for $200
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=6271

I have the campbell husfield version of that one and I put it under the bench and bought a Lincoln SP 175 plus.

[revn67]

i was gonna go with the 175 miller.......will that be fine to use for notching frames and welding on 4 links, and different things like that? i just don't wanna buy it and waste 900 bucks!!

[dwcsr]

It will do the job just fine. It wil do what ever you need to on a pickup.

[tcoop68]

Your welder should do a good job,it takes alot of practice but you will get the hang of it soon.we have one like that at my job and use it constantly everyday and cant ware it out.I have 3 lincolns myself,my local welding supply house told me hobarts are made by lincoln.Anyway you should be fine.Goodluck

[tcoop68]

Originally Posted by shifty

I installed a new double pole breaker and 220 outlet in the garage this past weekend, so working @ 115 is not a problem anymore. I'm now looking at the Lincoln or Millermatic 175 now. Torn on which to get, trying to find one used. I want something that will do framework in one pass, wire feed, ability to do stitch and ???

It's such a big investment. It's gonna take me forever.

I've just started hearing about the Snap-On welders. Can anyone elaborate more on that product? Everyone has been pushing me to get a Lincoln or Miller. I know they're well known brands, but I'm a little ignorant and I know others have much more experience.

I bought a lincoln from mac tools 15 years ago and I still use it today and never spent a penny on her,I also have 3 other lincolns,miller is also a good welder.But I am a true believer in reliability.You get what you pay for.

[NewKid]

This is a very complecated topic. Of course with more money you will get a better welder. The welder I use for everything is the millermatic 175 with the 220 volt and you can switch the wires for negative welding with flux type wire. I use mostly argon CO2 mix. However this welder will also do Stanless steel and I think that is a bonus.

[timcos]

How about a Mac Tools welder...like the MAC 135?

https://www.mactools.com/portal/site...extfmt=default

[dwcsr]

thats expensive. I didn't pay that for my Lincoln SP175 Plus that had a 3 year warranty

[timcos]

Sure it is...but who buys news. I saw one at a pawn shop.

Is it any good?

Thanks

[dwcsr]

Depends on what your going to do with it and what type of wire you want to use. Its a 110v so your electric meter will spin like crazy. its probaly going to weld 1/4" in a single pass using flux core wire, no gas. if your idea is body panels and no more that 1/4" thick mild steel it should be ok. using gas it should be good for spot welding panels. The nice thing abot 110v is that you can drag it to a buddies house or anywhere there is 110. 220v is a little harder to find but it is cheaper to run.

[timcos]

Well dwcsr...that is a mouthful.

Not sure I understand the ramification but if I can pick it for less than 300 bucks...sounds like agood deal.

Thanks

[krazymonkeys24]

I uess I like to be complicated lol. I have a Miller maxstar 200 for stick/tig welding. Usually stick for chassis and other heavy gauge materials and tig for aluminum. Then i use a millermatic 135 for sheet metal.

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by timcos

Well dwcsr...that is a mouthful.

Not sure I understand the ramification but if I can pick it for less than 300 bucks...sounds like agood deal.

Thanks

for 300 I''d do it. it would be a great start machine

[Daks]

My brother in law is selling a Lincoln AC/DC 225/125 welder (to me) for $100... Its about 2 years old or so I believe... Being absolutely ignorant about welders, is this a good deal? And is it useful for bodywork / framework?

From what I could find on the net, it says that you can tone down things on it to do thinner metals. Does that mean I can use it for sheet metal? Also, I believe since it is a ARC stick type welder, does this mean I can not use gas, or have no need to use gas? I really only have to replace rockers on my truck, and mebbe do a couple other things with sheet metal replacement in the box... Anyhow, I am going to buy it regardless, just was wondering if it will suffice for the things I am looking for.

Daks

[cdowns]

its not at all suited for sheetmetal repair but it's a good welder for frame and suspension engine mounts etc// try it on sheetmetal and you'll ruin alot more than you fix

[Bender]

Hey all, just wanted to add my 2 cents here.

First of all, the only welding I do now is TIG welding, and I am by no means a “professional”.

If I were welding any amounts of body panels, I would buy a MIG tomorrow.

I would never buy a stick welder.

Stick welding does have some very useful applications, but I’m pretty sure any TIG can be set up to stick weld with much more control than any ‘stand alone’ stick welder.

If I were just starting out and just wanted to do “general” welding repairs, I would buy a MIG welder. MIG welding is the “easiest” to learn and a person with some mechanical ability can run a half decent weld with a little bit or practice.

From what I have heard, the “flux-core” welding wire for a MIG isn’t very good. If you want to mess around a little bit or make simple repairs, it might be fine, otherwise, you really need a tank or argon, which is fairly expensive.

Keep in mind, you need a tank of argon for TIG welding also, but you do not need it for stick welding.

If you want to do complicated repairs, I strongly suggest taking a welding class, it will save you time and money.

As I said previously, all I do now is TIG welding. The rule of thumb I use for metal is 1 amp for every thousandth of an inch of material (0.001”). In other words, I would use 125 amps for 1/8” metal (0.125”), 250 amps for ¼” (0.250”).

Keep this in mind because if you want to weld ¼” metal or thicker, you will need a good bit of power.

About a dozen years ago at IMTS, I found this unique welding helmet at a small booth:

www.accustrike.com



I absolutely LOVE this helmet, but would NEVER recommend it to a beginner.

Well, I hope this helps and someone finds it useful.

[cdowns]

interesting helmet wouldn't recomend it to anybody that chews gum

[TwinTurbo]

Originally Posted by Bender

If I were just starting out and just wanted to do “general” welding repairs, I would buy a MIG welder. MIG welding is the “easiest” to learn and a person with some mechanical ability can run a half decent weld with a little bit or practice.

I have to sort of disagree, even though the actual mechanics of mig welding, handling the torch and pulling the trigger is much easier than TIG doing MIG good is harder to do than TIG. With MIG you are comitted to weld with the selected settings, there's no way to alter those apart from stopping with welding and adjsuting, TIG gives you real time adjustability of your weld pool (if you have a remote control on your machine) Furthermore with the torch setup on the mig and the weld pool colors it's much harder to see the weld pool and if the weld flows into the surrounding parent material. With TIG you can easily see wha't you're doing. Just pulling the trigger on a MIG gun and splattering some filler onto a piece of steel isn't welding IMO. A half decent weld is a bad weld, only a good weld is a weld good enough for any project.

[SanitysBane]

Whats a good tig welder to get for welding up body panels?