theres a bunch up at the pawn shop and ive been wanting to get one and learn for a long time now. i just done really know what is a good price and/or what brand/kind to look for. there was on up there, brand new tig (the regular wire feed right?) ( bc mig is like where you manually lay the wire?) anyways it was for $75 seemed like a good deal, i just didnt want to get screwed. so what price/brand/condition types of things should i look for?

 

i dont know much about tig welders but most migs are wire fed, arc welders are "stick welders". Arch welders are good to learn on but a 110v wire fed mig is the easiest to learn for me. i have a lincon 140 and it will weld almost anything i need. $75 is really cheap for a welder you should get the brand and model and look up reviews for it.

 

MIG is wire feed with a shielding gas (but also called with a flux core wire, no gas). TIG is where you hold a torch which makes teh arc with a tungsten electrode and you hand feed in filler metal.

Waht brand is it? You'll want a name brand because they'll last longer and will be set up right...don't want to be messing with the machine all the time while trying to get good welds...

 

You have the Tig and the Mig wrong. I like my mig welder and its a hobart. I bought it new for 1200 I think. Its a 210 though.

 

If you're brand new to welding you may also consider taking an adult education class (usually at a local high school of some kind). I took an "ROP" welding class in high school and took a welding class in college too (they called it "materials joining" in college lol).

 

The OP, Phil, is still in high school. I'm not sure if he has taken any courses such as ag or something that would teach welding.

MIG is by far the easiest type of welding. I know how to do MIG and Stick (Arc). Plus I can weld with a torch if I have to. Phil I can probably teach you, but I recommend taking a class that'll teach you instead.

 

High school's the best time to learn welding if your high school has a program for it. I had to drive about 10 miles to another high school that had a welding class. I think it was twice a week a few hours a day and I carpooled with a friend from my high school. The class counted for credit at my high school and I think it was free. Went through the same program for autoshop. None of these classes were offered at my school but through the ROP we could go to other nearby schools. Here's the website for the ROP program I was in...maybe there's something similar in Ohio? http://www.nocrop.tec.ca.us/

In the ROP welding class they first introduced us to Oxy-Acetylene (torch) welding, where we connected small metal plates, then we went to stick (arc) welding, then mig (wire feed with inert gas) and fcaw/flux core arc welding (wire feed with no gas), and then tig (holding the electrode in one hand/flux in the other; usually used for aluminum).

My buddy from the welding class wound up buying a flux core wire fed welder so he didn't have to worry about having the inert gas handy. The flux core is a bit more smoky/messy than mig but it always got the job done.

 

Hey phil I think Northwest Community College would offer something like that. I know for sure they have Welders in the college.

 

Another plus is the welding teacher would probably be able to give you some great advice on whether a specific machine would be good for you or not, and what a fair price for it would be.

 

You want a MIG machine capable of having a gas setup. Stick to Miller, Hobart and lincoln. Id start out with a 110 setup so you can plug it into any household outlet. I would then take a welding class.

 

okay i went and looked at a few today. the one at the pawn shop is a century 110v tig. im pretty sure i want to get a flux core that still has the ability to use gas though. TSC had a nice hobart on sale forr 299 it was flux and you can you gas with it, it also included the gauge. another thing about that hobart i liked is, the speed and the power/intensity ***** were combined into one. i think it was called the hobart ez. which makes sense. ill probably start out on flux and maybe after awhile switch to gas, but deff get a welder that can do both.

 

A single **** for wire speed and voltage?? I don't like the sound of that. I wouldn't buy it. Just start with shielding gas, lots better!

 

Yeah. I say use shielding gas first. I didn't do much with flux core, but I did a lot with the gas and it's pretty easy in relative terms.

I'll have to go over to TSC sometime and look at the one you are. Did you get a model number on either one?

EDIT: Hobart 125 EZ As far as I can tell it is not set up for use with gas, only flux core wire. The fact that you can't select wire speed and power separately sucks too.