Which welder to buy?
 

I'm lookin to get a welder to make myself some bumpers, skid plates, etc. But I don't have that much money to play with. So easy question. Which one would suit me best.

Mastercraft Arc Stick Welder | Canadian Tire

Lincoln Electric AC-225 Stick Welder | Canadian Tire

230v mig welder | Welders | Welding Products | Welding | Princess Auto

powerfist 120v mig welder | Welders | Welding Products | Welding | Princess Auto

powerfist 70 amp arc welder | Welders | Welding Products | Welding | Princess Auto

powerfist flux core welder | Welders | Welding Products | Welding | Princess Auto

All input is GREATLY appreciated!

I'd prefer a mig welder for that kind of stuff, but I wouldn't trust any of those brands you posted except for the lincoln.

yea dont screw yourself on a cheap rig go with lincoln or miller the cheap one will over heat and shut off till it cools down whitch is pretty frustrating. i know home depot and lowes has some good lincoln poss miller wire and stick welders under 500$

I don't know about you guys but I really like my hobart handler 187, i haven't hooked it up to shielding gas but the flux core works great. I've never had a problem w/ it and it lays a really nice bead.

hobart is made by miller. i just found a basically brand new miller welder on craigslist. i prefer miller, but lincoln makes some good equipment as well. i would really lean towards a mig welder over a stick, as the welds will look better, etc.

1st one is garbage, dont even think of it.

Look at the duty cycles. The 120v one form P auto is only 20% duty cycle. AND its only at 105 amps. that means it will only run at the maximum (105 amps) for 2 out of every 10 mins. Again garbage. Thats not even enough to run a 7018 stick electrode on 1/8 plate. Too cold, and your going to be constantly pushing it to its limits, and going through them alot faster.

I take it your budget is around 200 bones? Save up till you have 4-500, then look at a used Miller/Hobart/Lincon. Something with around 40-60 duty cycle.

Although the Lincon is easily the best out of those. At 225 amps it would be more than enough to get proper penetration.

It does run on 220V power though, so make sure you have that before buying it lol


I dissagree, it takes more skill for stick to look good, but you can get just as good if not better welds with stick. And its cheaper because all you have to worry about are rods, not wire and gas + consumables like tips, gas nozzles ect.

Miller all the way.
Lincoln is good too.
Either way get a mid to high ranger unit, if you can, it will last a long time and you will get your money back from it; these units will allow longer weld times and deeper penetration and it is all about penetration… LoL !

Save a little longer and get one of the above.

Thanks guys I appreciate all the responses!

Do you know how to arc weld, or mig weld for that matter? If you dont know either i would say stay away from arc because it's tougher to learn and a mig welder is a good all around machine for the type of stuff you mentioned you want to build.

not true everyone is different i found it easier to learn how to stick weld then when i learned to mig.

I like Miller the best, but I wouldn't turn away at a Lincoln. I've welded with Lincolns in school and they were just fine. Hobart, from what I've read is a pretty good welder too.

A stick welder is going to be the most versatile welder you can get, but you'll most likely be able to do anything you need to do with a MIG.. For sure a MIG will be better and easier to use for fabrication, easier to tack stuff, easier to fit in tight places etc and quicker if you're gonna sit down and weld a ton of stuff..

Some people don't trust that MIG welders penetrate as well, which they don't but if you know what you're doing the welds will hold.

Surprise! Mig and Tig are both Arc welding...

Its easy to learn stick and Mig, both have high and low points. If i had my choice I would have a MIG and TIG in my garage and a stick welder on my truck.

There's a lot of good info here and some bad. I always thought welding was easy and to be a good welder you only needed to be a little smarted then a wet rock.
Had to learn for a job and found out how much welding is 20% knowledge and 80 % practice.
I have several welders for different things, My go to welder for quick jobs is an old 120v century mig welder 90 amps shielded. I wouldn't want to earn a living with it but it does the job on 90% of what I need to do. If I want to trust my welds I use a Lincoln precision tig 185 on 220v.
It does tig stick and mig with a spool gun.
The Century was 99 bucks and does what a 99 dollar welder can do, the Lincoln was 1800.
Ask yourself what you want to do with it, do you have 220 volts or just 110v.
If you got the money buy a good name brand and for 500 dollars you should be able to get a decent one look at the machines amperage the higher the better you duty cycle will rise with amperage i.e 110v 15 amp will have less duty cycle then 110v 20 amp.
Check this forum out you should find all the answers to your questions about welding and welder, WeldingWeb™ - Welding forum for pros and enthusiasts - Powered by vBulletin

I use mig and stick depending on project--I've used Century,Lincoln, and Hobart, some 115 others 220 all have worked well for me! Size and Type of metal your working with, Type of project, Duty Cycle and Availiablity of Parts are 4 things one should look at when purchasing a welder.

My welders
Lincoln 125
Hobart 175
Lincoln 150 portable
Century AC/DC Stick welder
Work we use Lincoln 225