best welder to learn on

[Savage Wolf]

what about stick welders? they're often dirt cheap at Crappy Tire on sale

IMO, choosing a welder depends on what you plan to weld with it (metal thickness/type) for most fab work on off road stuff, you can get by with a stick (SMAW)welder, which works great for 3/16"+ thick metal, IMO lighter gauges with a stick is too much of a pita. GMAW (Mig) with flux core, or even better gas sheiled solid core is best IMO for doing light gauge metal or production work, mig is also alot easyer to learn to run a bead with soon as you learn the machine settings, as others said you can weld thicker metals with out too much trouble (up to 1/4"). Finally there is GTAW (tig) alot harder to learn unless you have welded with a O/A rig, if so Tig welding steel is pretty close to the same as pushing a puddle with O/A, Tig has a few things over the other welding types, a good tig machine can weld just about all metals at any thickness, its also the cleanest welding process (no slag or spatter), draw backs are large though, tig boxes are $$ for a good one, its VERY slow, over all cost wise it is the most expensive welding process

As for what someone said about cutting metal, plasma cutters look nice, but really if you get one, you'll find that you really end up not using it very often

*Warning, All info in this post is mostly based on opinion YMMV...

 

[ryf]

the plasma cutter also requires a fairly robust compressor, to run without stopping. plasma is a very "cool factor" tool, but now your up to TWO 220v tools. (leaving out that nice plasma cutters are $1200+ on sale, and a compressor to go with it is another $300-400)

IMHO a sawzall, jigsaw, and a good drill to give you a starting point works and makes a cleaner cut, you still have to bevel edges with an angle grinder, it also won't take as long to get it in a straight line.

if your not running a near production shop, a plasma is just eye candy, like said above, it will sit way more than you'll use it, and with WAY less expensive ways to do the same job, $1000 bucks will buy alot of metal to play with (assuming $200 spent on other tools)

 

[Kirby N.]

Someone said something about a cheap 220V buzz box Stick welder to learn on. I agree with that. I love my good old Montgomery Ward Buzz box and I wouldn't trade it for a 110V Mig. If I had the cash I would go out and buy a good 220V Gas capable Mig, but I really have a hard time justifying it when I can use the good sitck for everything I need. I have welded some pretty low guage stuff and I can make it look pretty. The biggest thing is I can weld as thick as I want and not have to worry about penetration. My Brother has a cheap Walmart 110 Mig and it is really only good for Sheet metal body work stuff. I welded my knuckles back onto my Dana 44 with 1/2" thick axle tubes and I could have done thicker. I know guys who own welding garages and only have sticks and aceteline.

I have used MIGs with flux core and with gas. They were simple to use after running a Stick for years.

If I were wanting to do some fabbing, wanted a versitle machine, I would check local farm and estate auctions and find a good old stick welder for $50, and learn to use it.

All my opinions and preferences, he is going to have to decide for himself.

 

[DB_1]

My .02

I am by no means an expert welder but I can see myself getting better with every project. I did a lot of research before I bought my welder so a couple questions I asked myself was what do I plan on building for my truck and what thickness metal am I going to use to build these projects. I knew I was going to make suspension brackets and crossmembers and such and wanted to go with 1/4" material so I knew I needed a machine capable to do that.
I went with a Lincoln SP-175 220v machine. It's gas capable and one thing I like about it is that you can set say either the voltage or wire speed knobs in between the A B C..etc. or 1 2 3...etc. for infinite adjustment. Wheras a lot of machines you are stuck with just the A B C, 1 2 3 settings.
My machine is rated to weld 5/16 thick steel with flux core wire but I sprung for the .045 innersheild kit (flux-core wire) in hopes of welding thicker metal. It comes with a new gun liner (larger dia.) gun tips and a 10 lbs spool of .045 flux core wire and a knurled drive wheel to fit the larger wire. I decided to try welding 3/8" plate steel and it handled it no problem with a couple of passes. I never even came close to maxing out the voltage or the duty cyle on my machine either. I'm still running the 3/8" radius arm brackets I made from that plate steel with no cracks to speak of and I've done quite a few wheeling trips with them to date.

I bought all of my stuff through centralweldingsupply.com...no tax and FREE shipping.
Good luck and choose wisely

 

[ryf]

he said he wanted 115v welder.... now there are some seriously useless 115v hobbyarc (stick) welders...but given the criteria, he's going to have to go MIg with or without gas. I mean its all good we are trying to figure out what the best is.. but he wants 115volt, and thats pretty much MIG for any realistic welding.. MIG is fine, get one than can be upgraded to gas. this is the best solution for the parameter specified... figure it will weld a fine bumper, but I would make multiple passes. alot of the bumpers on exp forum are made on 115-120v mig welders.

invest in a 4 1/2" grinder too to clean up the welds, you'll be fine.

 

[mynameisaric]

well i'm 17 and i got bored one day recently and decided to make a bumper, so i pulled out some off brand 115 flux core mig my dad picked up at a garage sale for 5$ with a full spool of wire. it took a few passes to get used to such a cheap machine( i am used to the 220v gas solid wire machines and 220v smaw stick machines from school), but it works just fine. it jams every now and again and i have to disasemble the nozzle head and wire feeder and rewire it, but for 5$ i think my dad made a good investment for me. and i have no "real" shield. the first day i just held a lens to my eyes to protect em.. yeah.. that was dumb. my whole face peeled off 2 days later. and so i just duct taped the lens to some cardboard, and its a makeshift shield and it works great for tacking and other small welds. but i need a real shield for the longer passes so i can steady the bead with 2 hands. but thats another story. BACK to the welder. ton of spatter but it chips right off. just remember to drag the bead with flux core... i forgot this my first pass. but i think its a great machine for what i'm using it for. and the welds hold up great. i had 2 of my frends stand on the weakest part of my bumper and i told them to break it so i could find weak points, and they couldnt break it. but the welds arent pretty by any means. and penetration could definitely be better.

so there was no need to read all that but i typed too much to erase it. IMO 110 fluxcore mig. supereasy. try and pick one up cheap like my dad did and then if u want to upgrade, you didnt invest to greatly in the first one.

 

[j602]

Definitely get a shield ASAP. You're gonna go blind and kill your face doing that. MIG's definitely make lots of splatter, but nothing a grinder or chipping hammer can't take care of.

 

[mynameisaric]

no no no.. you misunderstand me... i have the lens... no umm.... Hood i beleive the term would be for the helmet deal. my dad said he got me a hood, but hes in florida on a job. right now i just have lenses that he picked up from another job. i'm not goin blind.. just more afraid of skin cancer. haha.. but my sweet cardboard should prevent that. my chopsaw is pretty sweet to. its just a skilsaw with a steel cutting blade and safety covers and dust catcher removed. i'll post pics of my "shop" in my bumper thread. u'll love my shield. i do. lol

 

[j602]

Yeah I saw you said you had the lens, but if you were just holding the lens, the light still comes in around it and is no good for your eyes. A full face shield will do the trick.

 

[mynameisaric]

my setup

my welder and shield. lol... i really need to upgrade.