since i am new to welding i would like to start off with something easy to use

i am looking at a craftsman 120V MIG that claims it can weld up to 1/4" thick (but i assume with a short duty cycle)

i dont want to spend alot since i am only using this at home

i'm not very familiar with welding so i would like to know what i can use this for

i assume its not strong enough to weld in subframe connectors?

what about putting together motorcycle frames?

roll cages?

i should prolly put my foot in my mouth, cuz all this stuff i want to do is prolly TIG territory

anyways, comments, suggestions?

 

theres a difference between mig and flux core. most of your smaller mig machines will be flux core, i would recomend getting one that has an attachment for argon so i can be used as a mig to. if you dont trust your welds to hold in sub frames that why would you trust them to hold a bike together? now i think with a little bit of practice and some time you will be able to weld you subframes in with no problem and a roll bar. as far as tig goes, its good for welds that you have lots of space and extrodinary clean metal and you have whent throught some weld traning. good luck

 

get a mig tig in one machine now those are nice. do u want stick or wire feed

 

 

come on man , just stop being a cheapskate . NO , Im just kidding with ya man hehe . I can relate to you on that . I want to get into some minor welding myself for school related sculpture projects and for car stuff . I never hear from you anymore Glenn , Shoot me an e-mail or Im me man , I know your not on aol anymore so I cant im ya .

 

if you plan on using it very much you'd be way ahead to look at a miller or lincoln. my supplier has the 110v millers for less than 400 now. you'd also need a flow meter and cyliner of gas. i'd use c25 over co2. the welders that use shielding gas are much better than flux core, maybe not better but much more versitale and you'll get more use and better results from it. a wire feed welder is more tha enough for anything you'd want to do on a car and most if not all you'd want to do around the garage.

 

save up and go buy a nice miller 135 amp 110v. unit. This is what ive been using for the past year now. Ive never come accross an application on any of my cars that i havent been able to use it with good results....aside from the obvious like aluminum and such that really needs a tig.

 

I started out with a Century mig welder that did the job for a newbie, bought a Miller 130 that is good for light duty garage piddling, but if your going to try a cage install you need at least a 145 so you get proper penetration. Used a 225 (220V) installing my cage and the welds are so fluid it almost looks TIG'd. Installed another cage with a Hobart 175 (220V) and that also worked great. A 110V will handle almost anything your gonna throw at it for small projects, but welders are one area where you never go wrong buying the biggest baddest thing you can get so if you do have something in the future that is special, you dont have to drag your buddies welder over! The gas is a must have, been using the CO mix for years and it's great. Used argon a few times welding some 1/2" thick stuff for deeper penetration, but like the CO mix for playing around. Keep some .023 wire around for light sheet metal welding and some .030 for more serious welding. I used some .035 when installing a few extra braces in another freinds cage and that seems to burn hotter yet than the .030

 

thanx so far guys

i wish i could get a 220V machine, but i dont have a 220 line in my garage

so a MIG can handle all the stuff i mentioned?

thats the most hardcore stuff i would use it for..........motorcycle frames and SFC's

next week, i will see if my Matco guy can get me a lincoln or other brand besides craftsmen

 

A MIG is going to work perfectly for your application. Your gonna have soo much fun now with the new toy your gonna wish you'd had 220V out to the garage so you can get a bigger toy!!

 

A real nice portible unit is all you need. This one www.readywelder.com/
This one is nice and welds 3/4" steel with 2 deep cycle batterys (24v).

 

That's a good portable unit, but it's also only a flux core welder. Good for concrete contractors or farmers but for a garage, a real mig is the only way.

 

Do you see that clear tube? Its gas as well

 

I thought that was an arm band for shootin crack, my mistake
I would, repeat, I would still prefer a regular plug in welder so if I'm doing a big project my batteries dont go dead, then i'd be up chit creek.

 

Lincloln ST-135 w/gas kit. Works off 120v power source. It's a really good mig machine for guys like us. It'll take care of everything you want to do to your car. Unless you're wanting to weld chromoly steel, then you really don't need a tig. You can weld mild/carbon steel, stainless, and aluminum with the mig. Anything you'd want that's chromoly steel....you'd probably buy it already made anyways.
A couple of union pipefitters that I'm working around say that you can get a high frequency box for these and you can even weld really small/thin stuff. They said you could weld two pop cans together with it.

 

do you have 220 service to your house? It's real easy to run a 220 line and it's cheap.

 

Most mig/flux welders will run between $300-$500 depending on what name you buy.
-Cambell Hausfeld makes a nice entry one for $300. I have just retired my flux 80 after almost 10 years of abusive service (not worth buying another new gun/liner assy.).
-Hobart makes good 120v welders though, usually pretty expensive compared to the others.
-Lincoln (obviously knows their stuff), some have to have a Mig kit added to make them able to use gas (about another $100). Eastwood and Lowe's caried a few different models.
-Clark has a nice welder that comes Mig ready with a regulator and a cart for $350-$400 (depending where you find it). Easwood also carried these. I just bought one of these myself.
-Miller.. great welders but, not as commercially available (around where I live anyways) as the above and, like lincoln, they like their name.

Generally, with a little higher priced 120v welder, they will be built closer to their larger industrial brothers, as far as wire feed rollers, liners, guns, etc., which makes getting replacement parts easier and fixing them a little easier as well.

In the end, they all do pretty much the same thing no matter what name is on them.

 

thats what i am looking to spend

i said not alot because somebody suggested a MIG/TIG in one and i can bet those are alot more than i would like to spend

thanx for all the help guys

 

The one I posted about does both but its $100 more then your budget allows. I really like the ready welder because I can use it anywhere and weld steel most units under $1500 cant penetrate. Only down side is tight spots are hard to get to. Battery drain is minimal, duty is 100% with a power source. Every one should have a battery charger handy and thats all you need time to time not need for 220.

 

i c

where can i purchase one of these welders?

and how much are the batteries?

like what do i need? 2 optimas run in series?

 

Readywelder - http://www.weldingmart.com/Qstore/p002031.htm

Clarke - http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/itemd...1.x=58&I1.y=84

Lincoln - MigPak 10 - http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/itemd...1.x=33&I1.y=30 & the more affordable Handy MIG - http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/itemd...9174&Dep_Key1=

Hobart Handler 135 - http://www.toolking.com/hobart/view.asp?id=5633

Cambell Hausfeld 105 - http://www.lapollostools.com/store/WG3000.html

Those are all basically the same machines with similar prices and will probably do most everything you'll need for learning/ hobby welding. I didn't look for cheapest prices.. just something with descriptions.

Optima batterys are anywhere from $109 to $180, depends on where you're shopping.

 

cool, that readywelder looks pretty impressive, i might just go for that when the time comes

it would be about 800 altogether

$500 for the readywelder and
$200 for 2 batteries
and $100 for a charger

thats a nice deal, especially since i can take it with me and SSC said it could do TIG as well (?) not that i want to learn TIG right away (dont want to run before i can walk) but the option will be there in the future

 

220 service is actually cheaper than 110 is here....

right now you can get a really nice 220v miller (i think its a 250, which is what i have in the shop, but if not its comparable) for like 800-1200 bucks depending on what you want on it.......really nice machines....our 250 works mint

i also have a millermatic 110v little guy with a gas setup, and it works the ***** for small portable stuff.

we also have a miller bobcat 225 with an 8000watt generator, also a very nice machine.

 

Why do you go ahead and get me that Miller 250- with the spool gun also,-I'll send you an invoice so you can write it off as your 2004 donation come tax time, tack on the shipping and you almost make the $2K quota!! I've been waiting for our dealer to have a blow out sale on them, but so far $1500 is the best he can do out the door. Just have to wait a little longer I guess. And yes, that welder is the same model we had in our truck shop, my neighbor has that used to install my cage, and it is the chit!!

 

you could go with the millermatic 210 thats very similar to the 251 its the lower model but, for most of us a single pass on 3/8 is all you will ever need. the 251 is rated for 1/2" you should have no problem getting a 210 millermatic for 1000.00 or 1100.00 range from most dealers. (tank will be slighly more)

 

I bought a Lincoln ST-135 from Lowes. With a 10# roll of wire, a couple wire brushes, total was $520. It works great. 100 times better than the 8 yr. old Craftsman I was using.

 

i have a spool gun too lol

the dealer out here is a very large company, and that might have something to do with the price difference.

 

Our welding shop here kinda has the market for he area and surrounding so it only makes sense to charge a little more. I just got too used to using the M250 at the shop and when they closed down all I was left with was my M130 and that just aint no fun!! This summer I think I might check into the M210 for pricecs and to see if it's able to do double duty with the spool gun/ extra tank for aluminum, that's the thing that's got me sold on the 250 is the double duty and all you have to do is open the right tank for gas!!

 

I just picked up my millermatic 251 sat. I was going to get the 210 model ( it does offer the spoolgun as well not sure about the double duty though?) but, they did not have any 210 units in stock and after alot of deciding the guy gave me one heck of a deal on the 251 he included the 30# wire and a few other small things that made the deal worth the extra money the only real differance I could see is the digital readout, infinant wire and volt adjustments and the slighly larger internal transformer. there may be a few other small things but, nothing that I was able to catch. for the money the 210 is a very close opt. vs the 251

 

if your looking for adeal on a welder, check out Ebay. there are a few guys (dealers) selling brand new welders with free delivery. the prices are excellent!!

Just my 2 cents:

I have used the 110 welders. my first was a craftsman (junk). the second i borrowd from a friend (lincoln 135) nice but not powerful enough. I recently bought a Millermatic 175. I absolutely love it! It is portable, about 650 bucks, 220v with all the nice features that make using it a better experience. Better drive roller, quick release gun, 10lb spool spindle, quick release rollers etc. Well worth an extra 200 bucks on a credit card.

I would suggest you look into running a 220 line to your gararge. How close is the breaker panel to the gararge? You could run the wiring and have an electrician or experienced friend make the connections for you. Its not very expensive.

 

i mentioned the 110 welders before.....we have one, and use it quite often.......like you said, its not very powerful, but for small jobs and things in tight places its a great tool to have.....but its definitely not for welding structural steel

 

the craftsman unit i had was a joke, it had 30 amp and 70 amp settings. Also the gun was always hot. The lincoln 135 i used, had trouble welding 14 gauge steel tubing. It kept shutting down on me. I suppose its possible that the welder might have been defective, but it was very frustrating.

 

that sucks....my little miller is great for sheet metal and tubing repair.....i use it to repair some railings, and stainless steel fixtures in supermarkets that we do work for.

 

As long as we got some Miller guys here, my 130 has this problem of not feeding the wire at a constent rate. It will go fine for awhile, then start the stutter feeding. The drive wheel inside is in the correct position for the .030 wire and I've tried more and less tension across the entire range with literally no improvement. Sometimes though there is no problem-like when I'm welding something that nobody will see and it does'nt matter there must be some "internal pressure" switch that senses when there is a crowd watching just waiting to see the final product and it's then, and just about only then, does it start doing the stutter feed. I've tried different wire sizes, brand of wire and the same problem. Just have'nt got enough ambition to take it in yet. Grandfather has the exact same welder and I also noticed-we're using the same diameter wire and same co2 mix gas, his gets deeper penetration, I can easily burn through 1/4" flat mild steel when I got the heat cranked and wire about 40-50. Mine has a terrible time penetrating 1/8-3/16" mild steel most of the time. Any ideas, throw'em up!! oh, it used to work flawless when I first got it too, but it does get used consistently in the summer racing/fabbing months.

 

try pulling the liner out of the gun and check the ends of it for burs, and either clean it or replace it entirely.......after you pull it out, just blow it out with an air gun on the compressor......soemtimes little pieces of crap get stuck in there and bind things up or even steel dust from the wire dragging through for a long time......im sure you probably checked your tip and what not as well.........also make sure the gun is snuggly secured into the machine that happens sometimes when it gets loose