What's a good welder for a novice?

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Nancy has decided that maybe we should allow me to buy my first-ever welder for our wedding anniversary.  Since I have never-ever welded anything (didn't even take a shop class when in school) I need the welder to be simple to learn and capable of doing minor repairs around the house and shop.  I will not be building a bike or car or anything - just patching this, sticking something to something else, and stuff like that.

Yes, of course -- money is important - since I don't really NEED a welder but rather want one.

So - I'll take suggestions and information.

PS  Yes, the garage does have 220 VAC available, whether or not the welder I get needs it.

[donpearsall]

Jon, you may be tempted to buy an el-cheapo wire (flux MIG) welder because you think you can always sell it and buy a better one. I think you should buy one that will increase your skills and grow with you. One that is very vertisile and has a lot of capability is the Century/Lincoln MIG 180 amp welder. Get the aluminum welding kit for it.
I bought this one because I outgrew my 120V wire welder and wanted to do some quick AL welding without having to set up my TIG welder. It really works well. You have to buy a tank of gas (Argon for Aluminum or Argon/CO2 for steel) so that is another expense.
But in the end, you will keep this one for years instead of having to replace a smaller one after you learn you like welding. Here is an eBay link:

[donpearsall]

Oops, here is the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Century-Wire-Feed-180-Lincoln-220-Volt-Mig-Welder-/370512767183?pt=BI_Welders&hash=item56444828cf

[johnneilson]

Jon,

There are several ways to go on this.
IMHO, the 120v MIG welders are a joke, marginal power at best with flux core wire.
If you want a Mig, look at the Miller 175 MIG. You already mentioned 220vac power available and this unit is small enough to be used as a portable. Also, you can use Co2 instead of Argon or mixed gas. Co2 is cheap and a #20 bottle is very small. I am sure that Lincoln and Hobart sell comparable models.

What I have noticed are the newer inverter TIG machines. Small compact and portable. I am not sure how much power is available or the duty cycle, but look interesting.

The real issue is what you think you are going to weld. Personally, I buy the biggest machine I can afford at the time. You just never know what you will be fixing in the future. I have my 175 set up for transportation in the trailer and the generator is rigged for 220vac, it has been used at the 25hr enduro races more than I can count. As for the TIG, Lincoln 375 Precision machine. This I bought for a job with .030 SS parts to be welded. The new controls are amazing.

John

[doug odom]

Jon, First thing you should get is a O/A gas welding setup. You can cut and weld and learn the things you will need to know how to do. TIG welding is really the same thing as gas welding and what you will learn from gas welding will help you if you ever get a TIG. Then a 220V Lincoln buzz box to learn how to stick weld. I built many race cars with just those before I got my MIG and TIG. For $500 to $600 you can have both of them and be welding,cutting and burning your skin. I've got over 50 years of scars to prove it.

[rambler jack]

Jon check out the Millermatic 211 autoset. It is 120 or 230 vac. Set wire size & material thickness & the machine will set wire speed & power. Works best on 230 but does well when only 120 is available.It is portable.
                                                                                                Jack

[Jonny Hotnuts]

John, I own about 10 welders of different types.



This unit does 110 AND 220 with no mods. It just plugs right in.
This is very helpful if you need to do any welding on the run and 9 times out of 10 220 plugs will be different then the welders plug if you take it anywhere. Some dont like 110 welders but it can be a lifesaver and I have had very good results. I feel welding with 110 is a learned technique for thicker metals and welds >1/8" as good as any 220.

It has an on board gas cylinder!
Super easy to use.
Bullet proof (*not really but...) case and place for all the cords.
The ladies think this is a super sexy welder.

Not cheap however.....

~JH

[dr j]

Jon, I was in your boat 3 1/2 yrs ago when I was trying to insert my Honda 250cc 4 stroke engine in the 125cc 2 stroke chassis.  I needed custom motor mounts but they needed to be made 1 weld at a time as I played with the design.  A local welder took 2 weeks to do 1 weld since it was such a small job.  After researching the types available I bought a Lincoln Electric MIG180.  It has worked out great.  I had never welded anything before.  I learned from a book and DVD and practice, practice, and more practice.  As John and Don mentioned already a smaller 120v unit will not be adequate for most jobs.  The 180 will easily do steel to 3/16" thick and I also used it to make custom exhaust pipes from mandrel bends and straights.  You will also appreciate an autodarkening welding mask.  But remember to adjust the darkening to MIG specs.  
I have also used the welder to repair my lawn tractor seat hinge bracket and other farm things.  Very useful.  I have not tried to master the aluminum welding with it yet though I also got the aluminum kit for it now.  A TIG welder would be nice but is much more money.  A plasma cutter would be nice but much more money.  Oh well.  Just jump in and get the MIG180 from Lincoln or Miller.  It will make you happy after you get the hang of it.

[Gwillard]

Lincoln Power Mig 180 is the best machine in its class.
Of course, I may be just a wee bit biased.

[Rex Schimmer]

John,
I agree with Doug O, go with the oxy/acet gas welder for a start. Take a class at the local jr. college and have at it. The O/A set up can weld anything up to 1/4 inch pretty well and you can cut up to 1/2 inch thick with most set ups, and as Doug says it really helps you with MIG or TIG welding if you want to move up. I personally think TIG welders are for racing cars (and bikes) and MIG welders are for making trailers, but lots of good cars have been built with "mud guns" I mean MIG welders . As I have said before I built several motocross/desert racing motor cycles using a O/A gas rig which I still have 40 years later! They also are great for getting rid of gophers!

Rex

[grumm441]

I would go with a mig of some description welder for it's versatility
If you were in Australia, I could do you a deal on welder that's taking up space here
G

[old chevy truck]

Which ever welding welding system you choose check out this site. A lot of good instructions and tips, especially the close up videos of the tig process. Regards, OCT

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

[Tman]

Jon, we bought a Hobart 185, now it is called a 187. Baseline 220 machine. Small by folks thoughts today but still more powerfull than the 175s we were using a few years back. I have welded 19g sheet on up to 1/2" thick worktop material. Very happy with the price vs capabilities. They are owned by Miller, mine even has a Miller gun.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I haven't counted carefully, but as of today (11.30 AM Wednesday) it's many votes for MIG, two or three for Oxy/Acety, and one or two for stick.

Thanks so far.  I went to the library yesterday to find and take out a couple of beginning welder's books.  I'll let you all know when we decide to buy.  In the meantime, keep the suggestions coming.  It'll no doubt help not only me, but others, too.

[hotrod]

I also have a Hobart but it is the 140 115V wire feed. I intentionally got the 115v model to ensure it was usable anywhere.
You can weld heavy material, but it simply requires you make a multipass weld. I have used it to build an entire exhaust system (20 gage material), lots of miscellaneous brackets, and jigs in the shop, and repair garage doors and other around the home issues.

I have used oxy-acetylene and stick welders but had not welded for 20 some years when I got this small wire welder.
My first project with it was to build a small welding table with some angle iron and some 1/8 x 1 and 1/8 x 2 inch flat bar stock.

I built the frame of the weld table out of the angle iron than created a top by welding the flat bar stock edge to edge. That required me to weld several 10's of feet of butt welds to build the top. By the time I had finished the welding table,  I was back in the groove and had a good feel for the machine and what amperage and wire feeds to use, and had gotten my touch back. I also re-learned how to fill holes you will inevitably blow in the work as you learn to weld. The weld table does not need to be pretty so you can just burn some wire and try things. By the time you burn up a spool of weld wire you will be able to weld better than most home welders. You will also end up with a small "rough duty" table that will hold several hundred pounds and you can beat on all day without breaking it.

As mentioned above the Hobart is the "consumer" grade version of the Miller welders. They use the same design and components except some elements of the feed system are lighter duty components than used in the commercial machines (plastic rollers vs metal).

I use only the flux core wire, so I don't need to screw with gas bottles, and for typical around the shop applications like tack welding a jig together or fixing a cracked frame of a log splitter or something like that it works just fine. Also you can use the flux core wire outdoors when it is a bit breezy which you cannot do with gas welding because the wind will blow the gas shield away.

Welds are not as clean looking as gas welded mig, but they can be just as strong if you use good technique (translation take the time to get good fit-up on your materials so you are not trying to fill large gaps).

I have welded material up to 1/4 inch thick with it using multi pass welding ( the same as the ship yards that used to weld 6" thick steel with stick welders) You just make a root pass at the bottom of a V'eed  out joint and then make multiple passes to fill the V.

It takes some time and you have to learn to control (anticipate) weld shrinkage, but it works quite well for home shop type repairs and simple non-critical fabrication.

Larry