I'm looking to buy a welder that i can use off of 110v in my garage.

i'd rather use no gas just to be simple, but don't know of many good welders out there.

i haven't welded in like 3 or 4 years, but i can always practice again, just want to pick something up for some upcoming projects :)

 

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Inner shield 110's aren't bad. They get the job done but take awhile to get used to. Miller makes a great 110v inner shield (no gas).

 

Duty cycle is what is important with the little 110v welders. I have an old Century inner shield that in the real world sucks but it has it's place it is easy to carry around and you just plug it in and weld, it is great for tacking stuff together i.e exhaust but I wouldn't want to do any real welding with it
I just picked up a new gas mig 110V made in Italy that is pretty good but it is rated for 110V 20 amps and will weld circles around the century but it is heavy and cumbersome. So it sits on top of my Tig welder when I need to do a bunch of welding in a hurry.
I would stay with a name brand and get something that can be upgraded to a true mig later or get a gas mig and just run innershield through it for now and add a bottle of gas later.
One more point there are no good cheap welders!

 

yeah, i never said anything about cheap! just need something that isn't going to break the bank when it comes to purchasing a welder that won't get used all the time. maybe i'll ask around if some friends have one, i know my brother in law has a stick and so does a good friend, but i'm pretty sure they aren't that good at it, and mig is easy enough to practice and it will look fine ha.

 

Yesterday I bought the Lincoln Electric K2697-1 Easy-MIG 140 120 Volt AC Input Compact Wire welder and so far it works really nice.

 

I can't remember the name of it but there is a real good welders and fabricators forum on the net. Lot of good info and helpful people there and users rating on most all welders you can buy.
Here it is http://weldingweb.com/

 

I have one very similar to this one. Only thing that's different with mine is that it only came with inner shield and didn't come with that cheesy shield and mine came with a cart instead.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lincoln-SP140T-M...item3ef6c2b531

 

If you dont want to weld with gas I say find an old stick welder.

Otherwise If you mig weld id weld with gas ONLY

 

Flux core welds pretty damn well IMO, granted I've only done it on 220V machines. Yes gas makes things much better and smoother and cleaner looking, but it'll stay together with just flux. Personally, if you really want a nice machine that does 110V I'd go with a Millermatic 211 MVP. It can do both 110 and 220 with just a change of a plug. I tried it on 110 (with gas) and just normal .030 wire and it welded nice (a lot better on 220V but I won't start with that). Duty cycle isn't the best at only 20% on 110 but you were saying this is a light duty welder.

I'm sure if you threw some Flux-core wire on there, it would weld nice. And in the future if you ever want bigger welds you can wire up 220V and not get a new welder.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...p?model=M00245

 

Nothing like building something and the welds looking like crap though. Gas doesnt cost that much more and IMO its worth it.

 

Most 110v welders recommend not using gas when welding thicker metals(3/16in). They say use flux core wire (.030 or .035) for welding the thicker stuff. They recommended gas for the smaller gauge metals.

Ive had a 110v welder and they are good for small stuff like exhaust,brackets thing like that but I don't trust them past 1/8in metal. 220v is the way to go.

 

You can always run another pass or two. Id think no matter what you want to run gas, it cleans the weld up and keeps it from becoming all nasty.

 

Hey Andrew, did you ever find a welder that you liked?

I just picked up my Lincoln pro mig 140 out of storage. Im using flux core wire. It can weld 5/16 with multiple passes, and it runs great. Very smooth and strong welds. Just use a brush and something to chip the slag off with, and youll be fine. Plugs right into a wall socket (at least 20 amps)

If your ever in doubt about strength, just grind a bevel in your plates before you weld.