Stick or wire feed?

[gotago]

I've got the bug to adapt implements to the pt but i've never welded. I'm going to buy a welder and go at it, should I go with a stick welder or a wire feed? Ease of use vs. utility...etc...Any ideas?

 

[woodlandfarms]

You can buy a used stick welder for next to nothing. Not easy to use per se, but does the job well and cheap. To get the same penetration you need to spend some big coin for on a mig. The stick should be 220 volt AC/DC

Truth is you should have both. The stick for big ugly jobs and the mig for delicate jobs. This would keep you in the under $1500 for gear category (new) or much less used or HF quality.

ps. I am not a welder but I own one. This was the advice I got from tbn when I went to buy. I got a used AC /DC Tombstone stick welder for $100 on craigslist.

 

[royalslover]

I agree. I would love to have a nice mig but can't afford it. I've been using a stick for years and it works great for anything that's not too light. A monkey could weld heavy steel with it.

 

[SpringHollow]

I am definitely not a welder! I had the Lincoln AC and last year bought a used AC/DC model. However, i also just got an inverter plasma cutter with DC stick and tig capability - bought scratch and dent model for about $450 mif i remember correctly. I just used it for the first time on Sunday night. Used it to cut through a 4 x 8 I-beam. Worked pretty well. I have not tried the stick or TIG yet. One of the reasons I bought it was that they are finalizing a MIG add on to it that will cost an additional ~$250. That would give it 160 Amp MIG capability on top of 160 DC Amp stick and TIG (no foot pedal control). It would cost another ~$500 to get one with AC TIG capability to allow aluminum TIG. IF you can wait, I can let you know how well it works as a welder. As a plasma cutter, it has a rated cut of 3/4" and a sever cut of ~1". So far, I have not had to go above 160 Amp on my Lincolns. It is possible that these inverter models might be a nice compromise for people who do occasional welding and plasma cutting.

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Some people like him, some don't.

The cheapest solution is a used Lincoln Tombstone - great for structural stuff but takes a little practice. I hear MIG is the easiest.

Ken

 

[MrJimi]

I've had stick welders and they have their use but now I have two MIG welders, one for heavy welding and another for light stuff below 1/8 and I love them both. The people that say it don't have to be clean with a stick are almost right, It has to be clean to stick and hold like anything else you would put together to stay. This thread will get lot's of reply from stick and wire members but we are all happy with our equipment and MIG/wire feeders are real easy to operate
Jim

 

[Wayne County Hose]

After owning Mig, I will never own stick again. I don't care about the cost. What I care about is what I'm welding not falling apart. Mig is easier for vertical and overhead welding. My Mig makes me look like a good welder and I do not claim to be at all. I could never stand having that long stick when you begin, get it half way down and get comfortable with it, then you are out of stick. Darn, I need a new rod again. Start over. Not that way with Mig. My vote is wire feed with gas.

 

[J_J]

I've got the bug to adapt implements to the pt but i've never welded. I'm going to buy a welder and go at it, should I go with a stick welder or a wire feed? Ease of use vs. utility...etc...Any ideas?

Don't waste time buying tiny stick welders, or no name MIG welders. Lay out the bucks and purchase name brands, and with some Amps. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. I and others probably started out with what we could get for a few dollars, and it sort of did the job, at least we thought so, until we bit the bullet and got the real thing. You might say, I only have to do a few jobs, but why not do those few jobs well.

It takes a lot of practice to be able to say, that looks mighty good.
One of the best things in welding is having a good set of eyes. If you can see what you are doing, the weld bead will tell the story.

I don't think it matters what kind of welder you start with, you will have to use both kinds of welders in order to make a logical decision.

 

[Marks481]

And I love my TIG welder... fairly easy, very clean welds with no real dressing up after your are done... but VERY slow (OK, maybe it is just me who is slow).

Keep your eye on duty cycle. If you want to weld 1/4" plate and your welder has a 30% duty cycle at 130 Amps, then you get to weld for 3 minutes and stop for the next 7 minutes. It doesn't sound like a big problem until you are sitting there waiting for your welder to cool down.

Go with Miller or Lincoln. If you see cheap Riland-clones on ebay, don't buy them unless they are being sold by Giantguy (he is a great guy and offers awesome service... he has even arranged for the free repair of a couple machines that were bought from one of the not-so-good ebay sellers who left the buyer with a DOA machine).

 

[radman1]

The advantage of stick welding is cheaper to buy, can be used easier on dirty/painted or rusty metal and can be use outdoors in the wind (if use gas with MIG). I use MIG. 0.35 wire and argon gas will about cover all of my needs. Won't even try stick unless forced to use one.

 

[wmgeorge]

The advantage of stick welding is cheaper to buy, can be used easier on dirty/painted or rusty metal and can be use outdoors in the wind (if use gas with MIG). I use MIG. 0.35 wire and argon gas will about cover all of my needs. Won't even try stick unless forced to use one.

I've got both, an old Lincoln 225 AC stick welder for the serious jobs that Require penetration, and on rusty metal. Plus a Hobart 187 MIG welder for the light stuff up to say 3/16 clean metal, inside. You need both types...

The problem with MIG is you can make some very nice looking welds, even at the higher settings... and the welds do not have Penetration.
For serious work on trailers, backhoes, loaders and high pressure pipe welding, you can not beat 6010/6011 root welds, with 7018 cap over. My son welds high pressure steam lines, a union pipefitter, and sometimes they TIG the root.

If you have some doubts, turn up your MIG to 180 amps or so and weld some 1/4 inch plate test pieces, one side... and try to break the weld. Do the same thing, with a stick welder and test the same.

TIG is slow, and great on stainless and special projects. The good part is most TIG welding machines are also darn good stick machines.
BG in Iowa

 

[WildWest]

For the average joe hobbyist id say a good 220V ACname brand Stick welder would do fine To use a 7018 you will have to buy 7018AC a regular 7018 wont burn

An AC/DC stick welder has more options as far as burning rods goes and its nice to have both ac and dc


The mig setups are great i dont like the flux core but it does work and burns hot just messy

..

For a mig setup id suggest a Hobart Ironman 210 you can get them for around 1000$

Or keep an eye out for a good used machine

I got a good millermatic 150 for under 300$ its not bad for up to 1/2 But i would like to upgrade to a larger mig when funds allow..

And i run all my mig welders on Gas I also have a Hobart 135 but its a little stuff welder i have used it up to 1/4 1/2 with multiple passes But its not half the welder that the 220V is


Duty cycle is another thing you need to keep in mind the higher the duty cycle the more you can weld without it cooling down

 

[cqaigy2]

I seem to remember using a wire-feed unit that attached to a big lincoln welder-generator. It was a flux core alittle smaller then a pencil and we used it to weld relatively thick metal. I wonder f there is something like that for a smaller stick welder to give you wire-feed capability for cheaper then buying two welders?

 

[J_J]

I seem to remember using a wire-feed unit that attached to a big lincoln welder-generator. It was a flux core alittle smaller then a pencil and we used it to weld relatively thick metal. I wonder f there is something like that for a smaller stick welder to give you wire-feed capability for cheaper then buying two welders?

You must be talking about these units. The LN-25 will handle mig wire up to 5/64. It is an add on to generators. I have a 10,000 watt diesel generator that I would love to add this unit.

The LN-22, Squirt is a smaller add on unit. Ebay has both of these listed.
The second picture is a spool gun, just plugs into the generator.

 

[DavidVT]

I 'learned' some welding at my last job. I have some input from myself, a novice welder at best....

We used small Invertec DC stick welders at a food factory for doing TIG mostly on SS.

They strapped an argon bottle to a hand truck and welded a small bracket on the back to hold the Invertec welder. The cord set was sourced from another vendor but it all worked very well.

It was scratch start TIG but having never welded before, I was not missing anything with regard to foot pedals and such....

Sure they had one of two massive welders for thick structural stuff but more than 90% of the day to day welding was with several of those Invertec TIG setups. We would run those Invertec units for hours and I only recall one going bad while we were outfitting an entire new room of food processing equipment over the course of one summer.

I did try some MIG welding at the same place but never had much success with it. They only had one unit and I don't think it was in very good shape.

This is a good thread, I am trying to make the same decision about what to buy for home use......

 

[wmgeorge]

I seem to remember using a wire-feed unit that attached to a big lincoln welder-generator. It was a flux core alittle smaller then a pencil and we used it to weld relatively thick metal. I wonder f there is something like that for a smaller stick welder to give you wire-feed capability for cheaper then buying two welders?

Don't get me wrong, a MIG using gas as C25 (75/25 CO2 and Argon) or straight CO2 is great to have. You can do a lot with these 230 volt units. I prefer a Miller for commercial use, but the Hobart is a great welder for those of us who only use them as a hobby / home shop / farm use. Hobart is made by the same parent company as Miller and use a lot of the same parts & same warranty. You can get them at Tractor Supply or other outlets sometimes at a sale price. My Hobart 187 was sold for less than $600, plus the tank if you want to use as a true MIG with gas and not run flux core. Tanks are cheaper at a true welding supply house such as Praxair.

I picked up my old Lincoln AC 225 amp stick welder on Craigslist used for $80 with the hood and in very good condition. With the right rods, and I use the Lincoln brand it does a great job. The 7018 AC rod works fine on AC or DC, but takes some learning to get it right on either power source.

I learned to TIG on a very nice Miller unit with high freq, start and foot petal control. But ended up with a Harbor Freight inverter TIG / stick unit for $199 less the the 15% off coupon they used to put out. Its scratch start and no foot control, but for the one stainless job I do a year... it will do!! I hope this helps. I've been welding for over 50 years (as a hobby) and STILL wish I was better!!!