Ready to Buy a Welder

[StretchNM]

I'm new here and I sure would like your advice.

I'm ready to buy a welder but I'm stuck between a 210A MIG or a 180-185 TIG/Stick machine. I think I like the LIncoln machine better, but I haven't ruled Miller out.

I learned oxy-acetylene welding about 10 years ago. I can weld pretty nice on any steel below about 3/16". I can braze too... I mean, fairly efficiently. I've used a MM 175 MIG for a couple of projects, but I sure didn;t do anything pretty. So now I'm thinking I should get a TIG.

I want to make some projects like I've seen some of you guys make: a carry-all, a 3-point hitch receiver for trailering, a boom pole, thinks like that. I'll also be welding 1/4" angle iron and 1" square tubing for firewood racks. Alot of my work (but not all) will be done outside of the shop.

Can you guys give me your recommendations? Also, for either process, what size amperage breaker will I need?

Thanks in advance. I'll consider any advice.

Stretch in NM

 

[kennyd]

I have a MillerMatic 210 welder, I use C25 shielding gas a .030 wire for all my projects.
Using a TIG or MIG(w/gas) welder outside, you will have trouble with the shielding gas getting blown away. You can use flux core wire, but the welds are not near as pretty as with the solid core wire and gas.
Also, TIG welding is a slow process, and hard to master, MIG seems to be easier to learn and is much faster for those larger projects.
Have you thought about stick welding?

I use a 50 amp breaker with my 210.

CLICK HERE for a great bunch of guys with LOTS of knowledge about welding

 

[MadReferee]

Personally, I would stick with the mig as it is more versitle and easier to use. Tig is great for thin metal but not very good for anything over 1/8" thick. You would be hard pressed to use a tig on any carryall or forks etc. However, the stick side would be ok for what you want to do.

I have built all my projects, carryalls, landscape rake, dethatchers, bucket forks, hitches, etc. using a Millermatic 175 mig with absolutely no problems and excellent results. Many have been posted here and I have done several for other TBN members. Any type of welding takes some practice to get right. You need to keep at it.

As an aside note, why don't you ask your question in one of the good welding forums on the net? You will get much better answers from people who do much more welding as both a hobby and a profession than any one of us tractor guys do. I participate somewhat infrequently on both the Hobart and Miller welding forums. Even though the forums are brand sponsored, the posts are not brand sepcific. The advice given on those forums has been invaluable to me, moreso than anything anyone has ever said on this board. It will be for you too.

Hobard Weld Talk Message Boards

Miller Motorsports Ask Andy Welding Forum

 

[jim_wilson]

My first welder was an HTP 160 MIG welder that I did a bunch of autobody work with. It worked really well for that but I was never very successful using it for thicker metals. Then I bought a Miller EconoTIG unit and used that for some rollcage / heavier metal welding. I didn't do any welding for about 5 years or so and then broke the welders out again when I bought the tractor last year. That's when I found that the wire feed on the MIG was not working for some reason so I just started using the TIG. You can use the TIG for welding thicker metals but it is slower. You do get much nicer looking welds though. It does take some practice but it is not all that hard in my opinion. In my opinion the TIG makes it easier to fix your mistakes. With the MIG you can make a crappy weld and then when you try and fix it you can just end up laying more crappy weld on top of the original crappy weld. Both take some practice. I haven't yet had any of my TIG welds break on me - I have had some of my MIG welds break though. If you are going to work outside of the shop you should think about some sort of portable shield you can use with either method. Also - HIGHLY recommended is to get a quality self darkening helmet. This will actually help you make better welds as you can put the shield down before hand and position properly before striking the arc.

I have been looking at a Millermatic 251 as my next welder - the HTP doesn't have the juice to weld thicker steel and I want to make some more stuff for the tractor.

 

[RonR]

I have the 30 yr old Lincoln AC buzz box that I use for all my welding right now. I'd like to buy a 175 amp mig for smaller and prettier welds, and still have the AC box for the heavy stuff.

Being able to tack stuff together with a mig and finish it with the stick on heavier stuff would be nice to me!

Ron

 

[StretchNM]

Thanks for your input. I'm already a fairly good oxy-acetylene welder (hobbysit) so I'm confident I can weld with a TIG machine. My theory is: whatever's too thick for the TIG, or maybe too windy or breezy, then I can use the stick welder. But men, this is just my theory, I don;t know from experience so I don't know if it's sound.

I was looking at a Miller 210 MIG yesterday, with running gear for about $1500. I'm so tempted that I'm torturing myself by waiting, I'm thinking if I keep waiting and seeking advice maybe I'll avoid any regrets. But whichever one I get, I have the feeling I'll be seeking the other machine after awhile. That same guy also had a Synchrowave 180 machine for $1500 that he said was a demo model. I asked if I could see it and he had it in the back of the store, where he was using it and the new MM 210 to weld up a truck rack for an electrician in town. It looked like he's used the TIG quite a bit, so it was more than just a "demo" model.

I am going to go to some welding forums (thanks for the Hobart discussion forum link). I started here because you guys are making the stuff that I want to make for my tractor. Plus, I was reading a long thread here about the British kid with the little welder, and everybody was so generous with their advice to him. Pretty impressive.

Thanks again for the advice. I'm not done researching yet.

I also want to make a 5x10 single or dual axle utility trailer and a small trailer to put about a 100 (or more) gallon tank on it.

 

[HGM]

I'm looking for a welder too, I've narrowed it down to the MM210 or the Lincoln 215. Anyhow, you may want to check this guy out on eBay, he seems to sell alot and you can save a bit as well..
Shortened Long Link

I was asked to trim the link down in the past. When I tried to do it here, I lost the link. Can anyone give me a lesson on how to do this? Thanks.

MikePA: Cleaned up long URL. Please review your message before posting it. It's simple not to do this. Just insert a descriptive word or two between the {url=http://whatever}<font color="red">Enter words here</font>{/url} instead of the entire URL. Replace parentheses {} with square brackets in previous example.

 

[MadReferee]

I bought my Thermal Arc Pro-Wave 185-TSW tig and Miller Spectrum 375 plasma cutter along with consumables from them (IOC). Great service and fast shipping. All it takes is a credit card. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[SkyPup]

I got my Miller 210 MIG and Spectrum 375 Plasma Cutter from:

http://www.cyberweld.com/

Great combination for any and all tractor-farm-ranch work! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[youfoundtheking]

i have a tig machine, the thermal arc prowave 185tsw, i can definitely recommend it. I chose to go with tig for the versatility of it, you can weld anything than can be welded with it, and you have a stick welder to boot.
changing over is very simple and changing from steel to aluminum is trivial. with mig that stuff is more of a hassle. with tig you only need one kind of shielding gas, its pretty easy to get filler wire in small quantities. If you get an inverter based machine like the prowave, you have low power consumption and a smaller breaker (mine is on a 30amp breaker)

The downside to tig is that its kinda slow, especially when you first start out, you'll be regrinding tungsten more than your welding. The only other downside is confusion and expense. The modern inverters have all the bells and whistles and it can get a bit confusing. The torch parts can be confusing also, there are thoriated, lanthanated, zirconated, ceriated and pure tungstens. gas lense collets or regular etc.... lots of stuff to read up on.

but hey, it makes a beautiful weld, its a lowhy process, its very clean, you can tig clean steel indoors without a worry, there is almost no post weld clean up. and you can weld some really thin stuff, like soda can thin.

But if you have 8000ft of picket fence to weld, get a mig. :>

 

[OffBalance]

Make a long link short like this:

Ebay welders

You do it by clicking the word URL under the Instant Markup heading just below the Post text box. A new dialog box pops up where you enter the long URL and press OK. Then another dialog box pops up where you enter the text you want to be the link (like the "Ebay Welders" in my example. This puts some weird text in your text box, that turns into a real link when you press Post.

 

[OffBalance]

Hi StretchNM, welcome to TBN!
I learned to weld in school before the consumer MIGs came out, with an old AC buzz box stick welder, and that is what I still have. I would not say I am proficient, since I so rarely dig the thing out of the garage. But it works! I wish I had a MIG, just for the ease of use, and an auto-darkening helmet, but don't have it in the budget now. I can get along fine as it is!

BTW, where do you live in Alamogordo? We have an undeveloped 555 acre piece above La Luz in Laborcita Canyon.

 

[txdon]

Stretch, I feel like I got several welders in one. MIG - Does 115 or 230 VAC, house current, or generator, co2 gas bottle inside unit, or flux core, pretty and strong welds with good penetration and all the size of a suitcase for portability. - Miller Passport.

20 amp breaker

 

[HGM]

Cool, I appreciate it, Sounds easy enough.

 

[StretchNM]

Thanks again to all you guys who responded.... now I'm really undecided!!!! (just kiddin.... well, no, really I'm not just kiddin)

I'll look into the Passport MIG welder. I'd seen it before but passed over reading up on it. I really want a TIG machine, but I'm so afraid of all the variables that I'm leaning more and more everyday toward the Lincoln MIG 215. I mean, I'm confident I can weld with the TIG. What I'm apprehensive about are all the tungstens, cobalt, laminated-chromium-multi-plasma, sharpening Kryptonite, Argon gas from Saturn, pulse, super-slope-pulse-soft-start, etc etc. It's kindly scary....

OffBalance: I live just south of town on Highway 54, about 2-3 miles outside the city limits. I know Laborcita canyon well. I think that 555 acres could probably sell for as high as $20.00 an acre... if you're planning on selling, please give me first shot at it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

$20.00 an acre!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I was stationed at 29 Palms Ca. in the early 80's. I was told back then you could still homestead if you spent a certain amount in property improvements each year. I grew to really like the Mohave High Desert. Spent lots of time rock climbing at the Joshua Tree National Monument.

As to welders, I've used them all. For a novice, I'd recommend the MIG set up. Then if you found out you really enjoy welding and decide you want to learn and do more, get a TIG/stick combo. Take some classes at your local Vo-Tech school. That's an inexpensive way to experiment with different types of welding equipment and other metal working tools.

 

[Mark4510]

Hey folks,
I dont mean to hijack this thread so if this way off topic let me know.

I keep lurking around these welding posts because I want to learn how to weld. I do so many things around the place where I have to figure out how to get things put together with nuts, bolts, gum and bailing twine when I should just learn to weld.

So after hanging out with some of my professional welder friends for lessons I am getting an idea of what is in front of me.

I was looking at the Lincoln 100hd wire feed model. For a rank beginer am I off base in thinking that this might be a good first choice? If not, what would the experts here recomend?

thanks,
Mark

 

[RobJ]

Well this may be not very important if your budget is in the $1500 range. That's pretty serious welding dollars for a couple times a month, but if you have it all the better. But for maybe someone else reading this, I'll post some thoughts. I have a Lincoln AC 220 buzz box stick welder. A little over $200. Cheap and it works fine. Recently a brother in law bought the Lincoln 110v gasless mig. I had him bring it over and I tried it out. Not to bad, really only good for light stuff, 16ga tubing, thin plate, etc. On some 3/16" angle it really didn't work that well, price about $250 if I recall. I went out and bought the Harbor Freight model (110v, like the lincoln) for $99 on sale. Really about the same, fine for thin stuff but not much penatration. But for $99 it does work. I used it Saturday to weld up a ripped tractor toolbox on a friends Ford 4630. Just a few points and pulls and it was done. So these things work but they have their limits.

Like someone said I now tack with the mig then finish up with the stick. My welds are so-so but with the stick but I get good deep penitrition and if I want it pretty I'll grind it smooth anyway. Works for me.

As far as learning to weld, read a couple short how-to's then get some metal and go for it. That's the best way to learn. You won't learn how to weld upside down but most people don't need to weld upside down. And if you do then no one will probably see it anyway...if it ain't all that pretty that is. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif