Which Stick Welder for a New Welder?

[cowski]

dial arc a fine machine but 100 amp breaker.miller ac dc thunderbolt uses a 50 amp breaker.i always liked the finer adjustments on the thunderbolt over the tombstone .i just purchased an everlast 140 it works good now.i do not know about long term. thunderbolt's are used to train beginning welders ,so i would get a acdc thunderbolt.the higher amperage ac is useful occasionally .

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

And that all good stuff, Mark. But if you decide it isn't enough welder for you, you will have a heck of a time reselling it, as I noted. Even "solid" US brands are hard to resell if they aren't Lincoln/ Miller...The imports have a pretty small track record, so they will be very hard to resell. You can't deny that. A used Buzzbox is hard to beat for Newbs...

Actually,
I can deny it based off actual fact.
I just had a customer sell his MIG for the same price he paid us for it a year ago, and he kept his spoolgun, and came back and bought a larger unit.

I've also helped numerous customers sell used equipment for 80%+ of the cost of new units after they had them for more than two years. I get calls all the time wanting demos or "returned" units....which IF we get any, they are gone immediately. In fact I have several standing orders for used or demo product as soon as it becomes available.

Right now, Everlast units from 4 years ago, in good shape are bringing customers nearly what they paid for them.

And I think by what has been demonstrated here on this website, a 229.00 Stick/Tig unit is in demand. 229.00 isn't a lot of money to waste...with a warranty. If a person will pay for 100-200 dollars for a used unit, out of warranty, then, a little over 200 dollars for a smaller and better performing unit, with a warranty is USUALLY a no brainer.

 

[Haywire]

Just coming in late to say that I have a PA200 and like it a lot. It was my first welder and have no regrets so far. Just picked it up earlier this summer, so can't speak for longevity.

Ian

 

[2manyrocks]

I started with a HF 110v mig, and ran into the duty cycle frequently. Then I got a Lincoln 220v AC/DC tombstone and have never hit the duty cycle. And for all the talk about stick being harder to learn than MIG, I'm not so sure that it's not a bunch of sales talk for MIGs. MIGs are more convenient for thinner metal, but sticks do well for thicker metal, and you never have to worry about running out of shielding gas in the middle of a project.

Mark does bring up a dilemna--do you buy a used tombstone that everybody is familiar with or buy something like the Everlast that maybe isn't so well known. If resale isn't an issue and you prefer one over the other because of warranty, weight or ability to use 110v, it is your money to spend.

IMO, the reason so many tombstones are up for sale is people get these things, use them a bit, and then when the owners stop welding, they put them up for sale. Mine came from a guy who was moving and didn't want to move it or his 300 lb rockwell drill press which I also bought. If there are some sales statistics to show that people are dumping tombstones to buy newer technology units, let's see the numbers.

And I agreed with Soundguy. If we keep moving our production capacity overseas and become dependent on foreign production for key components, we're leaving ourselves open to disaster at some point down the road, sooner or later. Anybody remember WWII when the US had scrap metal drives? If you don't have it when you need it.....

 

[Welshman]

k0ua, Shield Arc, or Haywire (or anyone else that has an Everlast PA) - have any of you used yours for TIG?

 

[Shield Arc]

I have, it has a really nice crisp arc. Here's a stainless Tig weld, and some pipe welds with the PowerArc 200.

 

[k0ua]

No, but I have though about it pretty hard, and priced the stuff. about 300 bucks, which is more than I paid for the welder.. hopefully some day..

James K0UA

 

[Shield Arc]

Not counting the bottle, or power lug which is about $15.00 from Air Gas.

TIG Torch - SR-17FV-25R (150amp Air Cooled, Flex head) - eBay (item 170330999732 end time Aug-29-11 06:25:52 PDT)

HTP Argon CO2 Mig Tig Flow meter Regulator Welding Weld - eBay (item 140514184508 end time Aug-17-11 20:13:16 PDT)

 

[digger2]

Just buy an ac/dc buzzbox and spend the savings on wiring your building for 220.You can only go so far without proper service regardless of the machine.Then later on if your not satisfied with a buzzbox,go ahead with an upgrade to a better machine,if you feel the need to spend the $$$.
OH.....just something to think about....i've been welding for a living for 36 years and do you know whats in my workshop?? An ac/dc Lincoln buzzbox and a 110v Lincoln mig.And i'm perfectly happy.

DIGGER2

 

[bearcreek paul]

Just read the thread if I were you I would buy the Miller Thunderbolt with the 100 ft cord.The cord is worth more than 100.00$.Use the Miller to learn sell it for what you paid and you still have the cord.The old ac machines will last forever.

 

[Welshman]

For what it's worth - I just ordered an Everlast PA 140ST today. Mark was very helpful and answered a lot of questions.

 

[bearcreek paul]

Good luck with you new welder.On the bright side you won't get a hernia moving it around!

 

[Haywire]

I wish there were such a thing as a stick/mig/plasma unit but Mark says it isn't technologically possible without the price being off the charts.

Ian

 

[deereman75]

I wish there were such a thing as a stick/mig/plasma unit but Mark says it isn't technologically possible without the price being off the charts.

Ian

what about getting a TIG/stick/plasma, and hooking up a voltage sensing wire feeder, like a LN-25 to the stick output, you would have mig/stick/tig/plasma.

 

[Shield Arc]

what about getting a TIG/stick/plasma, and hooking up a voltage sensing wire feeder, like a LN-25 to the stick output, you would have mig/stick/tig/plasma.

Well technically you wouldn't have Mig. You'd have a wire feed but not GMAW. Generally Mig runs on CV, not CC.
But I read an article years ago, where the author had good luck with 1/16-inch bare wire, with 75 / 25 gas running on CC. :confused2: :laughing:

 

[deereman75]

Well technically you wouldn't have Mig. You'd have a wire feed but not GMAW. Generally Mig runs on CV, not CC.
But I read an article years ago, where the author had good luck with 1/16-inch bare wire, with 75 / 25 gas running on CC. :confused2: :laughing:

So would you have to use flux core?

 

[Shield Arc]

You can use flux core self shielded, I've also read where there are flux core gas shielded wires that can run on CC.

Since about the mid 1990's for FEMA, and other seismic code work only CV machines are allowed. But you're a few years away from worrying about code work.

 

[Cacinok]

Friend of mine came over and looked at the wiring in my metal building. There's a 50 amp breaker in the main box that runs to the metal building. My friend said the wires coming in to the subpanel in the metal building were big enough to simply put in a circuit breaker (50amp iirc) and then run a dedicated welding circuit and mount the plug where I needed it.

Still haven't found a tombstone or comparable miller since my original post.

 

[Travelover]

..........Still haven't found a tombstone or comparable miller since my original post.

Did you try Search Tempest?

SearchTempest - The EASY way to search Craigslist

 

[Haywire]

Someone was advertizing a welder on the local radio station for $40. Of course you don't know what kind of condition it was in.

Ian