Alright, I've never really welded anything major, and have very basic welding skills, just enough to be tough, but not pretty.

I'm looking to spend under or around $300. I've only used MIG, I like it, so I'm thinking of sticking with it.

The most welding I'd do with it would be welding up the perches and stuff on my 8.8. I don't plan on going straight to that though, I need practice. lol

I was looking at this one, small, cheap, easy to move around. All pluses, but I'm unsure about the price, it seems to cheap.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...&blockType=G10

If it can hold up welding the perches and such then I'll be happy for now. I'm patient too, so I can wait between welds.

I prefer a complete kit, helmet and all. Something I can go out to sears or what have you and pickup. Don't really want to deal with shipping on someting like this.

 

not a fan of them. i have a cheap Harbor Freight 110 and it just sucks, crappy welds and you cant constantly go you gotta stop. At my girls house her dad has a Miller 180 TIG (out of your budget) but i can do super super clean welds and be uber strong. Tig takes some skill to master

 

From what I have read they say the 120V ones aren't the best. On here you will most likely get the response "spend more money and get a good quality welder"

I would look on craigslist. You can find a lot of good deals on there for a good welder.

 

You need to buddy up with friends that have different welders , both stick and wire feed , that will let you practice with both doing small projects.
Getting a feel for it will allow you to make a better purchase decision.

 

Yeah, I figured no one would like the 110. :-P I don't really like it either. I just wanted to have one just in case I get a mild fabrication bug, which happens often.

I'll probably just wait until I can spend more money. I feel like for $500 I should get a pretty nice welder.

I'll check CL I never though about looking on there, I look for everything else on there though. haha

Thanks for the input guys, if anyone has any suggestions for a little more money, I'm open to see.

 

If you have to get a 110/120V welder, get at least a Hobart Handler 140... and be sure to replace the shitty ground clamp that they give you with a Tweco 400 amp style replacement. You will use two hands to clamp that thing onto your welding project...

Be damn sure to get good welds. Only way to do that is practice, practice, and practice.

I have been doing some welding for a couple of years (including classes at community college) and still am not that great. I do make solid welds, but they don't really look all that great, lol.

You do not want to make shitty welds on those axle perches, that will easily result in your own problems like them breaking off, and causing you to crash. Also, if someone can figure out that you are the one that welded it, and somehow you hurt or killed someone else when you crashed, you're gonna be knee deep in ****.

Skip over those HF welders... that's one of the things you simply should never buy from them... however, I do know their floor jacks and their engine hoists are good.

You're not going to be able to get a complete set up for 300 bucks. Unless its a welder that can't hardly penetrate the steel on most axles...

I spent 650 bucks on my HH 140 set up... and that's without the cart and without a fancy auto darkening hood...

You will quickly go through that sample spool of .030" flux core... be sure to pick up at least one 10 lb spool of flux core .030" wire...

There is lot to welding... so I strongly recommend you find welding classes and take a few...

 

Found a few, looks like $400 can get me a used 220. Now just to sort through all teh crap people are selling to find a good one.

As for classes, I've looked into it, but none fall in for my degree and at teh moment I can't spend money on a class like that.

I have people who I've been working with that weld amazing, and they are probably the ones who will end up welding the perches.

 

From everything I hear, 220V is the way to go.

I know what you mean on the fabrication... it's nice to be able to fix/build stuff yourself.

I use my 140 more than I expected to...

Did the exhaust on a car, made brackets for stuff, even a CIS (mechanical) fuel injector puller for my VW.

Very handy to have a welder around.

Good luck!!

 

Awesome, I love building things, metal fabrication is my next hobby. :-P

I guess I'll be looking at a 220, I found a nice Lincoln 220 for $400 with all the acessories used.

I think she might be the winner.

Thanks for all the info.

 

FWIW.
I've got a Snap-On (its a Lincoln) (http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog) welder thats 120v. and its done some stuff thats really surprised me.

 

the question is whats the housing thickness, as that is the determining factor. That first welder will do sheet metal and not much more. FLUX wire sucks you really need gas, sadly the tank is another 175.

 

If your ultimate goal is to weld perches and tubes on an 8.8, you have to go with 220v.

110 just can't get hot enough to make a good weld with that much metal going on.

Buy a used Hobart, Lincoln or Miller 220V wire feed MIG welder. You will be able to weld just about anything, and if you get good you can do side jobs with it too since it has the ability to weld some thick stuff.

 

If you can't find one on CL, watch tractor Supply over Black Friday/Holidays.

I think they sell the Hobart Handler 210 for close to that 500 range during sale time.
If you can find a Hobart 175 (one of my welders), 187, or 210, that is the welder you want. You will not be paying for the Miller name (though Miller is the Snap On of wleders) and it will do ALL that you will eer ask of it. you can even run a spoolgun with the 210.

i know Hobart has gone dual voltage with the new 210s, might score an older 210 from a place clearing them out for the new models.

 

jsut got an email right, now northern tool has a sale going on. free shipping on all welders plus if you buy a hobart welder then you can get a welding cart for free. Saw one for like $390

 

Get one like this
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...6073_200306073

 

This would be an excellent deal with cart. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...8799_200328799

DO NOT waste your time with 110v, for 180 extra bucks you will want 220 to do any sort of decent fabbing!

IIRC Northern has free shipping on a lot of their welders all the time, but it's still a good deal.

 

Alright, I'vebeen all over Northen, luckily I have a store close by.

Now, If I wanted to run down there tomorrow and buy one, would this be a good choice?

I know it's a stick welder, and it's super cheap, almost too cheap it seems.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...1950_200381950

I figure I can't go wrong at that price. I'm starting to understand the technical part of welding, other than doing it, like brands, mig, tig, stick etc. But how hard is it to weld stick?

I'm down to learn if this is a good machine, the reviews seem pretty good on it. I'd have to buy a helmet and stuff, but i can handle all that. I've seen people stick weld and it seems like it wouldn't be too hard.

 

I've got a Lincoln 150 MIG welder at my house that I got for like $400 after shipping. It does everything I need it to.

 

Well, looking at it, most of my welding will be done outside, sometimes in the garage, and I see stick is good for outdoor welding.

I just don't have $600+ at the moment, I will here come January, but if I can go pick it up this weekend, I'll buy this and use it until I get a new one.

It seems like a decent machine, I just know a lot of people complain about the hf and nt brands.

@Alex that's alot of money for a 115. Well compared to the ones I've been looking at.

 

Yea, that Snap-On cost me a F*ckin fortune. I got it as a Demo machine, but i still paid $1500 for it. But its a 110 that will do 1/4 inch plate. so its a damn good welder in my book.

 

I bought a Lincoln pro-mig 140 (120v) for home use.

I underestimated this thing. The duty cycle is a lot better than expected. Ive been using flux core wire, and havnt invested in a gas set-up yet.

 

Do it, Flux core SUCKS.

 

Agreed. My dad bought a cheep flux core welder and we never could get it to keep a good bead always loses the arc. He bought a mig/ flux core welder used that didnt come with any of the mig stuff but it did come with flux core wire and its a little better but not a lot.

 

Only if used incorrectly. I can run a flux core bead that is slicker than a pickled......well you get the idea. lol.

If welding outside (most of the time for me, unless im tigging) then I am either using stick (99% of the time) or flux core. This way if the wind blows, I wont get a gob of porosity.

Oh, forgot to add: Stick welding wins.

 

That it does. But i'll see your Stick welding and raise you TIG.