New to welding time to start shopping

[faribran]

don't waste time or money on flux core.. go with gas

[_Ogre]

:d

[bulldog2513]

i bought a 135a welder from northern tools (their brand, it looks like a lincoln painted yellow) for like 369.00 it is flux core or gas and is 115v. i use flux cored wire and i have welded everything from lightweight sheet metal to frame material with mine and have had NO problems. all the welding on my build thread has been done with this one. check it out. i recommend it to anyone. doing frames it will get a lil hot, if u stay at it for extended periods of time, and cut off. let it cool down a few minutes and get back at it. it has an internal fan to assist with cooling. with auto darkening helmet, mig pliers, gloves, wire brush, chipping hammer and a few other things i spent a lil bit over 500. its worth researching. here is the link............ http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...2691_200332691 read all the reviews. i think you will be VERY happy with this welder. i LOVE mine. also, this is the first welder i ever bought. i have no plans on upgrading. its perfect for home/shop use.

[Mr-Jack]

Welder, and 2 hoods...one auto dimming and one with a gold lense for welding for long periods of time. the gold lense will make your welding experience easy on the eyes. easy to see the puddle move. a set of gloves isn't a bad investment either. I normally just weld with a ball cap on backwards.

Also...on the safety side...a buddy of mine told me once that a piece of slag popped off while welding and went in his ear canal and damaged his ear drum...so now i wear ear plugs too LOL.

I've welded in shorts, flip flops and wife beaters with torch goggles, but wouldn't recommend it. Unless you are thick skinned like me. if you are welding around a gas tank, a welding blanket would be a good investment...but it's up to you.

I love the snap-on muscle migs...but they are pricey!

[cableguy0]

Originally Posted by Mr-Jack

Also...on the safety side...a buddy of mine told me once that a piece of slag popped off while welding and went in his ear canal and damaged his ear drum...so now i wear ear plugs too LOL.

A buddy of mine had the same thing happen. Hes actually deaf in that ear. You cant protect against everything. When welding while laying on the ground under something I generally get a bit nervous because it seems the slag and sparks end up everywhere you dont want it.

[mongoose]

ive had that happen as well but not with slag just some sparks... man does it ever wake you up...

not to often you see a fat guy move at the speed of light... and for a welder to throw his 400 buck helmet to the ground lol

[VA72C10]

Good thread....only thing I'll add was touched on before...I now have three HF grinders...9.99 each so for under 30 I don't have to change from cutting wheel to wire wheel to flap disc. Might get another one or two soon for my other paint stripper disc and sandpaper options....

A few reasons for the multiple grinders

1) ease of use- switching them is a pain (finding the tool, holding the wire wheel, etc)
2) time savings not having to switch
3) less extended run-time on the grinder so they seem to last longer (I've had one of the 9.99 harbor freight one for 3 years with ZERO issues....
4) less chance of ruining the tool (had a buddy ruin his $90 dewalt grinder trying to tighten down a new wire wheel...about the third time he'd changed accessories on it that day...the button you hold down to stop the grinder from turning stripped out.)

At $10/pop it's worth it on many levels

[MrBeast]

If that welder you bought is the one I think it is, you will not be happy or making good welds with it.

I am a professional welder so this kind of is my department. You need a good machine to make good welds, I am not saying you need to go out and throw down 3500.00 for a machine like I have with digital gauges and all that jazz, but you need to have a machine that is up to the job.

THIS IS PARAMOUNT WHEN YOU ARE LEARNING!!!

I am going to strongly recommend you take a look at the Millermatic 180 You can find them for about 875 from Cyberweld. They are a good machine, and IMHO they are the smallest machine you will want to buy as a hobbyist. It will weld up to 1/4" thick material reliably.

Yes it is a healthy investment on the front end, but it is a machine you can keep for the rest of your life. It will also produce a mighty fine welding bead, and when you are learning having a good machine is very important because getting the body movements required to weld down are going to be hard enough with out trying to fight a machine that does not run right.

For doing body work you will want .025 wire. You will have to get the right feed rollers for this as well.

When you get a bottle, get a good sized bottle, don't skimp, there is nothing more frustrating than getting shut down on a saturday afternoon because you ran out of gas.

As well for gas, I recommend 75/25 it is 75% Argon 25% CO2, It works great and it is less likely to bubble on you if you are outdoors or have a fan going in the shop than with straight CO2 It also gives you much better control of the weld puddle.

Before you start cutting and hacking on your truck, get an old hood or fender from someone and practice welding on it, practice cutting it into strips and welding those strips back together. It would be much better to make your mistakes and learn on that than it will be to mess up your truck.

Good luck and if you have any welding related questions feel free to drop me a line.

[Gobbles]

The Miller 211 does not dissappoint and has more power then I expect to ever need, one welder for life!

[Mr. 250r]

I never had a problem with the mig welding sparks when i was in fab but when i went to pipe welding i can't recall how many times the sparks went down my ear drum and it is so painful so i started using ear plugs the only problem with that is welding off of sound becomes a lot harder but i recommend it because those sparks on the ear drums are almost like a new kind of pain lol

[GASoline71]

I have the Lincoln Power Mig 140C. Awesome welder with gas/no gas capability. I weld a lot with it and it has yet to dissapoint me. I like that the dials are totally adjustable and doesn't have presets on the dials. So I can fine tune the wire speed and heat, rather than rely on the presets on the dials.

I have a Miller Pro Hobby auto-darkening helmet. It doesn't have the grinding feature. But I'm okay with that.

I have a lot of swap meet C-clamps and "oddballs" that I have got from swap meets and garage sales for holding metal together. Plus the magnetic thingies from HF for holding angles true.

I started welding with a $200 offshore flux core mig. Then I welded with my BIL's Miller 180. Holy crap... I was hooked. I sold the china made junk about a month later and dropped the coin on the 140C. Once you weld with a nice welder... you'll never look back on the cheap flux only migs.

Gary

[1972K20]

Good info here!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Artikgrau325is]

Originally Posted by Rochlow

I bought a Hobart 140 and a 250i plasma.. I really like them and they helped me learn alot already (only two months). When I was younger I tried to learn on an old Linde machine. It was bought by my grandfather when portable mig welder first came out. Let's just say it wasn't the best machine to learn on.

This is good to hear, I'm also lookng into getting the Hobart 140.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Racer2172]

I a have lincoln 140 only set up for flux core its get the job done, but will be soon going with gas, to make it easier for cleaner welds. here is a link for a basic starter welder with good reviews and its not hf junk, used those they suck.
http://www.eastwood.com/mig-welder-1...5a-output.html

[poorboiz]

I would recommend the lincoln digital 255 mig. It has not disappointed me one bit and will weld pretty much anything including aluminum and has plenty of power also has 110 outlets on the machine so you don't need to run extension cords for your grinders and such.

[Tom Vogel]

Go to your local community college and take a welding course at night. You will thank me.