Question for Welding Pros --

Burchtree

Burchtree

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I did some searches on "welders" and came up with very little information, which sort of surprised me.

Anyway -- I've got a mig welder that really pisses me off so I figured I'd see what was out there. I came across this http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...ID=ccecaddhiifhjedcgelceffdfgidgnj.0&MID=9876 and was wondering what everyone's thoughts were.

I know, 220 would be better, but I'm running low on the 220 outlets (only have one and had to run that out there) and I would just like to have something to weld together some billets for damascus. If I really want to do some "structural" welding, I have the use of my father's old Lincoln stick welder so I really don't need to buy an expensive one for my shop.

Thoughts, opinions?
 
lincoln has a welder that has a phase converter built in. it takes 115 volt outlet but can phase convert to 220 inside the welder. if not i would definately suggest that the one you get has an argon tank. why not just forge weld?
 
I've still got to weld a handle onto my billets. ;)

Thanks for the info -- I'll check out that lincoln welder. :)
 
Check out the miller 110 volt unit too. It's internal parts are metal whereas
alot of the Lincoln inerds are plastic. That said our local voc tech welding professor uses a 110 lincoln for his work at home.
 
Michael, that link didn't go to a welder for me. Do you have an item number from HD? What is it that pisses you off about your current MIG?

I have the Millermatic 135 110V unit, with the gas, and it works excellent up through 3/16". Expensive, though....
 
The one in the link is a Campbell Hausfeld -- WF2050

The Craftsman that I use doesn't feed for nothing. It is missing parts, though I have no idea what they are as I don't remember them being there before. When I try to feed the wire, it pushes the cable assembly outward, then stops coming out. I've tried keeping it in place (duct-tape, wire :) ), but the poor old machine just has problems.
 
That welder will do what you want as far as tacking billets together and welding on handles with gorilla welds. The question I would investigate is where does one get parts? I think you tend to get what you pay for in welders; but in this case your needs are minimal and intermittent, so the cheapo should be fine.
 
I have used 120V wire feed welders for years off and on. I have welded 1/4 plate to 8" 23#/ft casing by making angled cuts and layering the welds into them. You just have to chip and clean the surface before each new application. It works well for welding up the end of steel cable before hammering on it.

My original one was a Hobart 125, but now that I am poorer I have settled for a Chicago Electric (Harbor Freight) M100.
 
Burchtree said:
Which one is the M100?
Click to expand...

It's 120V, 24 A input that puts out 80 A on the High setting. There are a couple of features I like about it. The wire spool sits flat up on top instead of vertical on the side where it was easy to snarl up on the Hobart. The feed has a tensioner that seems to work really well. I just bought this one recently and haven't tried to get hard core with it yet. It is flux core only, but that is the only way I ran the Hobart anyway.
 
I have a Power Kraft 230 that my dad got for a graduation gift in 1957. It still runs as good as the day he first used it. If you watch the garage sales and such you find one very cheap that will still have many years left on it. What brand of welder could you buy today that will still be working 49 years from now?
 
A proper set of torches with the corresponding filler and tip.
Maybe an asbetos blanket to isolate the heat :eek: :jerkit: :mad:
 
Michael,
I bought an el cheapo from HF about 3 years ago. It is a 110v Mig welder and it has all of the hoses for a Shielding gas. I just dont have the tanks. I use Flux Cored wire in it and it works perfectly. The only downside is the duty cycle. At 100% load it is rated with a 2% duty cycle. The "professionals" can correct me if I am wrong. But the duty cycle is the amount of time that you can weld during a 10 minute period. <-- This time may depend on manufacturer. Any way, with a 2% duty cycle running the welder at 100% you can weld for 2 minutes and cool for 8min. I have noticed that I can actuall weld for much longer before the welder shuts itself off. The only thing that I dislike about my welder is the duty cycle. I am looking at getting a bigger welder; however, I am in the boat that you are in. I have no 220v power in my garage yet.

BTW, I have the chicago electric. It is cheap but affective. I hope this helps.
 
I've got a refurbished hobart handler 175 that I have to give in and admit is a pretty good machine. It broke right after I got it, and getting the replacement parts was a huge pain in the ass, expensive, and took a long time. Consumables for it are also hard to find (mig tips etc.), most local stores carry lincoln.
So I do regret not paying the money for a lincoln (possibly a miller,although their service didn't impress me any on getting parts, and I've really liked every lincoln welder I ever ran) because I use the hell out of this little welder, I've gone through about 20 lbs of wire since january and almost 2-5ft tanks of argon/co2. That said, its a solid machine and does a real nice job on anything 1/4" or less. For somebody not wanting to do alot of serious welding I guess it would be a good choice after all (might even get the 120v model I suppose, but I would want 220V).With fluxcore, you can run it fairly cheaply and shouldn't have any trouble tacking billets together. Must have just been bad luck on the rough start I had.

If you're planning on doing a lot of fabricating I would say to go with a better machine, if for no other reason than you will be ahead on consumables and service in the long run. Also, like I said mine was refurbished (check amazon.com) and was about 2/3 the cost of a new one. Its a good machine for that price. Brand new, I'd have gone for the lincoln.
 
I'm not much on buying welders but i know some tidbits.Basicly the cheaper machines have the lower duty cycle (class 1 ?) Like axeldoomeyer said with the 2 % thing,it sounds livable on paper but when your busy and you have to wait for the machine to cool it's a pain in the butt.
On the home depot machines,I've heard alot of mumbo jumbo about them but none of it's confirmed.The internals are cheaper made/hard to get, less amperage than advertised,but this is through the grapevine.
I would have a nice bowl of chili then wait a while....get a couple catalogs and do some research :)
just think of your work habits i know i've been known to buy smaller stuff and try to use it like bigger stuff and it just ends up taking a beating. But i'm pretty brutal on things.
 
If you are going to do a lot of welding you might want to look into leasing some equipment. You can get more welder for less $$$ Some welding suppliers will lease for as short as 3 months. You can try out the lease for a few months and see if leasing works out for you.


Miller makes a self powered unit which avoids the low power problem of 110v welders.


Ray
 
it sounds like you are missing the contact tip to your craftsman. I would look online and see if is some as simple as that before I bought a new welder. or go with the lincoln. But i was told by a Lincoln rep that the welders sold to the "box" stores are not the same as the welders sold in a welding supply store. I.E. they have alot of plastic and lighter transformers in them.
 
just went through the same problem with another welder... the feed line kept slipping out of the housing ... and then the wire started balling up....
here's how we fixed it... firstly... we took the copper tip off... made sure there was no line left in there....... then hand balmed some wire through... just to make sure that the feed tube was in working shape.....( there maybe a crimp in there stopping the wire or some wire balled up.. )
-the feed tube on this one was plastic...
-- make sure when you feed the wire that the tip is rounded and not sharp....or it'll dig in
-when this worked.... we then cleaned up the feed wheels.... (they get greasy over time )
- then roughed up the end of the plastic line... (with a file) and epoxied a large sleeve onto the end... then fit this into the house..... and tightened the clamp bolts onto this new and larger end piece...
- make sure no epoxy plugs the end..
-start feeding the wire through....by hand.......... then tension the wheel..

it worked..... but we still had a gear skipping sound.. so... had to take appart the drive motor... apparently the drive gear on the motor wasn't biting deep enough.......so i put a couple of washers on one side to change the alignment... and got the gear to bite deeper and drive the assembly better...

fixed...... and still working very well and smooth..

Greg
 
I dont know what you are trying to weld but my vote is for Miller welders. Id go with the 135 if I wanted 11ov and the 210 for the 220v. They have a new dual voltage welder that looks interesting.

I use a Miller 210 quite a bit..the thing is a beast ..has a very high duty cycle and can weld 1/2 inch plate in a single pass. Its a very good welder for the money...
 
You guys are killing me -- giving me fixing tips and all. I was eyeballing the Lincoln 100 at Home Depot, but now I've resorted to fixing my old POS. :D At the moment, it is feeding line, but not welding.
 
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