Which welder to buy, for a beginner ?

massacre

massacre

#21
#21
Duty cycle is really important if you're going to be doing decent sized jobs. The cheapest welders usually have a very low, almost unusable duty cycle.
If you're going to be doing mostly 1 type of welding, a dedicated 1 purpose machine is going to usually be better than an "all in 1" type of machine.
A machine like a Miller or Lincoln while they cost more, often perform better but more importantly can be serviced/repaired. And getting parts is usually pretty easy.
Amazon/HF/cheap chinese welders are pretty much throwaways if they break and/or have problems.
The first AC/DC TIG machine i ever owned was an Eastwood. Not water cooled but it was a decent machine. The foot pedal was crap but they offer better foot pedals now. It was pretty cheap but also decent quality.
I would recommend staying away from the absolute bottom of the barrel cheap welders. They usually suck.
Another thing is features- many welders offer tons of features but if you'll never use them, why pay for them?
Will you need the welder to be portable? Will you be welding outside? How thick of material will you be using? Will you be welding strictly steel, or will you be welding aluminum or stainless as well?
All of these are important considerations, quality and prices vary wildly so proper research is paramount.
 
sparkwizard

sparkwizard

#22
#22
Here's a tip: go to your favorite hardware store or supply house. I like Tractor Supply because...well...tractors, but look at the welders they sell and look around at all of the spools of wire, tips, nozzles, and other accessories. Note the name brand. Some are NOT interchangeable. @Mark G mentioned 'consumables'. If you are in the middle of a project and you fry a contact tip, you are done until you find another tip. Trust me on this, learning to weld is a task that is hard on the welder and the consumables are consumed at a high rate. I keep a dozen Hobart tips on hand, plus I can get them at my Tractor Supply 7 days a week. I doubt the Amazon welder takes Hobart tips, but it might.
 
Ginz61

Ginz61

#23
#23
Probably going to get myself in trouble here but here goes it. I’ve been around welders my whole life from mechanics to pipe liners. A lot of these guys could weld damn near anything. That said I didn’t need to know how and was always fascinated by what they could do and fix. I’m retired now and wanted to try mig welding. I bought an HF titanium 125 to learn.
(Nobody saw me in the parking lot) . I started with the HF wire with very poor results. Got quality wire and I improved my beads. I made a clutch cover out of some light gauge steel and some expanded metal. I was pleasantly surprised how good it came out. I’ve fixed a few things with it and it works surprisingly well. If I was a frequent user or welded for a living I would get a Miller or Lincoln no doubt but for what I paid and what I learned for such a small price I really can’t complain. Also if you’re wondering I don’t purchase HF cordless or sockets etc. I have Mac,Snap-on,
Proto, Dewalt, some Craftsman ……
 
ZR9B

ZR9B

#24
#24
My shop has an older lincoln mig welder 120v ...with in 1 year it blew a board.....the board controls the wire feed and I think the voltage. I spent the money for a new board as lincoln said we did something wrong. so we did a handful of projects and another board went out. I went to the forums and it turns out its a thing. The thing sits in the corner for the last 10 years. In the mean time our titanium 170 green HF mig has been performing well. it is only about a year old but has done 2 times the work. It is a 240 volt though. Im sure we got "the" one bad one, but the way we were treated....never again. We also have a miller thunderbolt AC/DC welder that is been nothing short of amazing.

the lincoln is probably 20 years old...the only reason I put the second board in it, the maintenance guy told me I was full of sh*t.
for all I know the green one will fail next time...now that I said something.
 
willyb

willyb

Member
#25
#25
Ginz61 said:
Probably going to get myself in trouble here but here goes it. I’ve been around welders my whole life from mechanics to pipe liners. A lot of these guys could weld damn near anything. That said I didn’t need to know how and was always fascinated by what they could do and fix. I’m retired now and wanted to try mig welding. I bought an HF titanium 125 to learn.
(Nobody saw me in the parking lot) . I started with the HF wire with very poor results. Got quality wire and I improved my beads. I made a clutch cover out of some light gauge steel and some expanded metal. I was pleasantly surprised how good it came out. I’ve fixed a few things with it and it works surprisingly well. If I was a frequent user or welded for a living I would get a Miller or Lincoln no doubt but for what I paid and what I learned for such a small price I really can’t complain. Also if you’re wondering I don’t purchase HF cordless or sockets etc. I have Mac,Snap-on,
Proto, Dewalt, some Craftsman ……
Click to expand...
i am not a welder by no means but i have the old harbor freezy chicago electric mig 100 flux core welder that i acquired for free brand new because i wanted to learn to weld my own crap. one of my two buds that weld for a living said dont waste your time and the other said hell yeah figure it out and gave me a few pointers to set the wire feed and use a better wire and nozzle lube and such... i can now weld my own steel projects now with the same machine with decent results (it feels good not to rely on people for stuff they dont care about)... when this welder does die il go get the newer hf model welder and keep gettin it done... if i was a "WELDER" then yeah i would fork out the dough and buy the tools of the trade but theres nothing wrong with starting affordable and getting your feet wet before diving in...
 
pomfish

pomfish

Well-Known Member
#26
#26
Word to this.

I have owned expensive welders and cheap ones.
But think the important things are, Good Wire, Proper speed/heat and most of all Prep of material before you start laying the splatter to the platter.
And of course, Practice, Practice.

Now, as to the OP, he says he needs to weld an old Broncco frame.
That minibike is not going to jump 20 ft berms and be subject to motocross so use what ever tool you feel comfortable paying.
If you are a pro shop, you buy pro tools. For light home use, don't see the benefit of big money welder.
YMMV
 
Ginz61

Ginz61

#27
#27
I’m no welder either willyb and when I first tried I thought there was no way I’d figure it out. When I changed to a quality wire and my practice beads improved it gave me a little confidence. I kept dragging some practice beads and making some adjustments. They started looking much better so I fabricated some mounts for a clutch cover for my
Rupp Continental. Not bad, so I tried to break the weld. Nope. Fabbed up the clutch cover, welded it up and it’s solid. I only work with light stuff, shelf brackets stuff like that. This HF unit is all I need and it works really well. It’s a good feeling to make or fix something yourself! Keep up the good work my friend!
 
sparkwizard

sparkwizard

#31
#31
I use 100% CO2 in a 20 pound tank. I always ask for an aluminum tank when I swap them out. Cast iron tanks are heavy.
With my glasses, I need a big window in my auto darkening helmet. The little, narrow lens/window would leave me blind when the lights go out.
Don't be surprised if you spend more on a couple of helmets than you spend on the welder. Good points, @JimN !
 
nightgrider

nightgrider

Well-Known Member
#33
#33
Hopping in a bit late, but I'll toss out my two cents. I've heard good things about the yes welding machines and helmets. Been looking at the helmets to replace my current helmet. For the reasons like @sparkwizard mentioned. Larger viewing window. Also my current helmet is a fixed shade, been wanting one with an adjustable shade.

I pulled the trigger on one of the Chinese Amazon welding machines a little over a year ago. I did not buy a yes welder brand, but was heavily considering it. I bought a femerol brand, but most machines seem like rebrands of similar magcines. Honestly I love it as a hobbiest. Though as you guys know, I'm not a professional welder or expert by any means. But moving from the old Chicago Electric flux 125, was like night an day. But as @willyb said that flux 125 is a good machine and you can do a lot with it. Was great for me to cut my teeth on welding, but I felt I had outgrown it. Been wanting to get more in to mig welding, though I still do like the ease of flux. My brother-in-law has been wanting to do a lot of rust repair on his '82 F100. So I needed a machine that had more adjustablility and can run gas. Watched reviews and compared prices, hemmed and hawed around about it for about a year and then pulled the trigger on the femerol. I bought a little bigger machine than I actually needed but then I have a little room to expand if needed.

Now this being said I'm not advocating specifically for the femerol brand. More using it as an average example of a Chinese amazon machine. I did have a few complaints, not with the machine, but the quality of the consumables that came with the machine. The 0.030 contact tip that came with my fermerol was out of spec and wouldn't feed 0.030 wire, causing several birds nest at the feed rollers. I swapped it out for a contact tip on my old flux 125 and the issue was resolved. From my research most of the Chinese machines use tweco style guns. So consumables are readily accessible. Something to consider like @Mark G and @sparkwizard said. I have easy access to multiple Harbor Frieghts in my area.

So to wrap up a long winded post. Depending on use they are good machines and worth the money. Great for a beginner or hobbiest. Now if I was welding for a living I would buy a Lincoln, Miller, Hobart. Something more main stream for parts and other support. Like other have said practice is key when it comes to welding. My biggest limitation is my own lack of practice. Haha
 
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Bird Brain

Bird Brain

Active Member
#37
#37
My 2cents is, learn to weld on the highest quality wire welder "with gas" you have access too, then the budget friendly economy flux core welders you can make do with because your skill level is improved enough to push through a machines short comings. Flux core machines bead appearance isn't always the greatest even for a seasoned welder, but they are able to recognize that, and dont get frustrated beating there self up for a less than perfect result for a perfect try. I think many a would be welder has shelved there machine and gave up do to trying to learn a very useful skill on a lower end machine and figured it just wasn't for them to do. I highly reccomend using a true gas mig unit for that reason to learn on. However i do understand everybody doesn't have that buddy with a CP300 next door.
 
nightgrider

nightgrider

Well-Known Member
#39
#39
That is one other thing I forgot to mention in my previous post. Most Chinese machines use IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor). Especially for flux core it really seems to smooth out the delivery of current and produce less spatter in my experience. And the minimal spatter that is produced usually comes off with a wire brush. Some times I do get stubborn BB and I drag my metal chisel over by hand. Was surprised how nice it cleaned up in comparison to my Chicago Electric flux125. For me anyway that alone was worth the purchase. Below is the picture of when I first got my Femerol and compared it to my flux 125. Same wire, same scrap metal used for the comparison. Again I'm not a professional by any means. Obvious from the welds. But still I was impressed.
 

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