Welder

[James_Douglas]

Anyone recently buy a new MIG or multipurpose welder?

 

I really need to go get one, but I am torn between spending $3K for a Lincoln or Miller or $999 for a Harbor Freight...

 

Thoughts?

 

James

[DJK]

From a buddies experience spend the $$$$$ for a name brand.

Another buddy bought a reconditioned one at a farm show and loves it(Lincoln).

Edited September 8, 2020 by DJK
update

[Dodgeb4ya]

Spend the money.

Blue or Red IMO.

Accessories, parts and service will always be available.

Welders from HF or Eastwood and the like are low tier machines.

Not much fine tuning for welding conditions. Narrow duty cycles too.

A good wide clear helmet lens is important as is shade adjustability.

Vision is #1.

 

[DJ194950]

Wow, why the high prices.

 

What are you looking to buy a gas powered?

 

Brand name 175-200 amps are going for $800+ - for migs + bottle rent or purchase. That amperange range of welder will get you up to 3/8 or 1/2" thickness steel.

 

Tigs- good models are AC and DC welders for almost any type of welding and are $700 and up. Plus bottle (pure argon and that gets somewhat expensive) rent or buy.

 

You do not need a tig for most auto work and may be cheaper to just have the aluminum or stainless welded by a shop.

[Los_Control]

I have recently purchased a welder, and still learning to weld.

I did do some research before buying one. My goal was a mig welder to do sheet metal, light welding for frames and brackets etc.

1. What I thought I learned from research. It had to be a 220v machine, not 110v

2. You need capabilities to run gas and mig wire.

 

A very short list ... because I am not a welder and have professional opinions. I also do not like/trust harbor freight tools.

I found when I moved to West Texas, Forney just seems to be the only welder in the state .... I would have to drive 2 hours 1 direction to find a lincoln or miller. But they are available.

I have to say the big blue gas powered miller seems to be standard on any shop truck running around the county.

 

Local Ace hardware that sells the Forney, they had a sale on them to clear out last year models. I bought the Forney 190mp for $699 ... my first welder.

The sales rep contacted me a month later and had some items I was missing since it was a floor model and came with no box. I did not expect this. I was pleased.

Later, I was having problems and called customer service. I was loading the wire wrong. Tech support could not believe I was that stupid. They sent me a ups ticket to return the machine and they were going to send me a new one.

I figured out my mistake, Forney kept contacting me to see the progress of returning it .... I finally had to eat crow and tell the tech support guy it was fine and my mistake. He laughed.

To get tech support like that, imho I am going to be a Forney user for a long time. And they have been family owned business for almost 100 years.

Just saying, I have a mp welder with customer support and track record of quality for under $1k and a little over kill for what I wanted.

 

 

 

https://www.forneyind.com/products/welding

Edited September 8, 2020 by Los_Control

[Brent B3B]

I went used, over the recent years I bought my Lincoln mig, Lincoln stick and gas set up for less than $600. For all three (bottles included ?)

 

[Sam Buchanan]

Just as a another datapoint, I bought my MIG at either Tractor Supply or one of the big box stores, can't recall which. It isn't a Lincoln or Miller and it is 110v because I wanted it to be able to use it outside the shop. It has an Argon tank and has delivered a lot of satisfactory welds over the years. The MIG is a great tool to have and you'll end up using it much more than you anticipate.

 

Do whatever you must in order to have excellent near vision with the helmet....good welds are impossible if you can't see what's going on. 

[Dodgeb4ya]

Most hobbiest's have no need for tig or mig welding of aluminum.

You need AC/ high frequency for tig..

A spool gun for use on your DC mig power supply for thicker aluminum.

Mucho dinero..

[kencombs]

I have a 20+ year old Century, now a Lincoln brand I think, that works fine for my use.  It is a 20amp input 120v, good for 135A output.  I only use it for <1/8" material.  My old AC/DC stick welder gets all the thicker work.  For sheet metal, I'm partial to an Oxy/Act torch and soft iron wire filler.  Much easier to planish, grind and finish than hard MIG wire.  Tack with Mig because it's so fast, the weld and hammer using OA.

 

For my use, one welder doesn't fit.   Changing from Mig to stick, or Tig if desired, is a nuisance.  Much better to turn on the unit that is ready to go and weld.   It's not a problem if you are doing big jobs and don't need to change often, but as a hobbyist I often weld for just a minute or few minutes then on to something different.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2020 by kencombs

[Dodgeb4ya]

Yes most...mig wire is very hard to grind.

Good proper gas welding can be done easily on body panels by a experienced body man.

Easy soft filler to flatten file grind etc.

I stick weld all heavy work for good penetration on outdoor work.

I like to gas weld most sheet metal too.

Anyone who reads/ learns as much as they can about the type of welding they prefer to do will have success welding.

With a $500.00 bottom of the barrel not so much.

Mig with gas...clean faster welding.

 

[Loren]

I have a Lincoln wire welder (a really nice one too) Miller used to be the one to get (I think 225 amps as I recall).

It depends on your welding supply shop as to which they recommend. My guys sell both but recommended the Lincoln for a good price at the time I was ready to buy.

I've used both and they are superb.

Harbor Freight continues to move up market (and up price too). They certainly have the best toolboxes for the money and a new credit deal but for a welder I'd rather have good 'ole American made stuff.

That said, the resale prices of used welders is pretty low for some reason. So... take your choice, I always buy new however.

One thing I would recommend is to buy the best Professional self darkening helmet you can buy.

My weld jobs suddenly got much better and the work got easier, so much so I was glad to spend the $300+ for the Jackson helmet.

 

One thing I've found about TIG welders is you have to use them everyday to get the hang of all the new whistles and bells. Most are just way too complex for the hobbyist.

I have an old Airco (circa 1984) which has very few adjustments and settings and serves my purposes just fine. On the used welder market it might be worth $200.

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

I have always snickered at the suggestion to buy X brand high price helmet over that of X brand lower price WHEN it was a known fact that each had the very same lens within the helmet itself...yes....this I proved long ago buy visiting, comparing and writing down model number of the electronic lens....the best thing to do here and I have not looked for years is to find one that may have external batteries that can be changed when found discharged....compared to having to charge in the sun or battery change via an invasive technique or buy yet another helmet.  I have three helmets here and one is at minimum 15 years old and is yet the better of the three...still original batteries and yet works yet this day.  

[Tooljunkie]

I bought an esab multiprocess. 
mig is nice,stick is good. 
tig, is dc so not reccomended for aluminum. 
scratch start tig is not the best, but works. But at near 3 grand, its not a cheap welder by any means. If i ever decide to change, it will be blue. I used a miller at work, and it was heads above the other welders.  
hypertherm for plasma cutter. 

[DJ194950]

About 6 months ago I bought a new weld helmet off the web.

 

My 20+ year old small lense auto-darkening that cost $200+. It  was very getting very slow on darkening (new batteries) and I was getting flash burn on the eyes. No fun. I quit very early as I have past experience with more severe flash burn. NO fun. Eyes  hurt for days. Have also heard that it is easier the 2nd. time around and beyond for the eyes to get a burn. Do Not want to go there!

 

Anyway the new is a YESWELDER brand (Chinese)  auto darkening, adjustable settings with True color and is the larger lense. ( about 4" by 3-3/4"). Solar with battery. 6 months and still going on original battery.  Came with spare battery. On line the batteries run 3 - 7 bucks free ship. So price no big deal for that.

$35 delivered in about 4 days.

 

I love it compared to the old even when it worked good. Color Is more true but most likely not up True Color that the $500 range  Miller Welding helmet sells, but I do not weld regularly or every days as more pros might. So fine for me.

 

My 5 cents for what that buys?

 

DJ

[kencombs]

3 hours ago, DJ194950 said:

About 6 months ago I bought a new weld helmet off the web.

 

My 20+ year old small lense auto-darkening that cost $200+. It  was very getting very slow on darkening (new batteries) and I was getting flash burn on the eyes. No fun. I quit very early as I have past experience with more severe flash burn. NO fun. Eyes  hurt for days. Have also heard that it is easier the 2nd. time around and beyond for the eyes to get a burn. Do Not want to go there!

 

Anyway the new is a YESWELDER brand (Chinese)  auto darkening, adjustable settings with True color and is the larger lense. ( about 4" by 3-3/4"). Solar with battery. 6 months and still going on original battery.  Came with spare battery. On line the batteries run 3 - 7 bucks free ship. So price no big deal for that.

$35 delivered in about 4 days.

 

I love it compared to the old even when it worked good. Color Is more true but most likely not up True Color that the $500 range  Miller Welding helmet sells, but I do not weld regularly or every days as more pros might. So fine for me.

 

My 5 cents for what that buys?

 

DJ

Similar experience here.  I have a helmet bought from eBay.  Just an experiment 'cause I just couldn't believe one could be bought for $23, delivered.  And, fit and work well.

 

It does have decent headgear and works as well as any.  Not the big lens, but fine for me.

[Hamilton]

I have a rather well-heeled friend who owns five welders (I guess if I had 30+ special interest cars stored in three locations I might, too) and who speaks very highly of one he bought just to see if it could possibly be decent for the price.  He says the Titanium 200 from HF would be a great choice for any hobbyist who doesn't need to run it for several hours every day.

 

Mig, stick and Tig capabilities for under $800 almost sounds too good to be true but I trust this very knowledgeable guy.

 

_

[50mech]

I have a 20 yr old lincoln sp100, I use it mostly as mig with c25. One of the shops I work with has a HF titanium mig 140 which sells at about $400. I use it there mostly with .030 flux.

 

I can't speak to durability but the HF vastly outperforms the lincoln even comparing flux to mig. Inverter welders are smoooooooth and nowhere near as sensitive to adjustments. So easy a caveman can do it.

Edited September 9, 2020 by 50mech