MIG Welders

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

Speedracer228

Speedracer228

......
Just a quick question to those who have some knowledge in welding/fabrication. Im looking to get a MIG welder to be able to weld charge pipes, custom exhaust, and maybe even some home made traction bars, ie stuff like that. I know a TIG would be preffered, but were not all made of money. Ive bought The Welders Handbook, and a couple other books to learn technique and also enlisted the help of a retired machinist/fabricator to help me learn. So basically i just want to know what everyone else is using, ie licoln, miller....

Also ive seen this craftsman MIG at sears and just wanted to know if anyone's used it before and if its any good? http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?...pid=00920569000

any help is much appreciated
 
ok well where to start first we need to know what you will be welding ie materials. if you would like to be able to do body work? or what? i also need to know what your price range is? also do you have a local gas supply house near you?
also i would only recomend getting a welder made by a welding comp. Sears well they don't make a good welder.
 
like i said im just going to be welding like stainless steel, mild steel, and maybe aluminum for exhaust/ ic piping. Im not looking to make a tube frame race car. But Im pretty sure there is a place to fill up nearby, a guy i know has a tig and ill just ask him where he goes. As far as price it depends, im not looking to be a cheapass because you get what you pay for, but on the same notion im not looking to shell out a grand for a welder.

civicious - do you have a miller? ive heard really good things about them, also Lincoln welders. If you do which make/model etc..
 
beautiful, but alas im a poor bastard in college and cannot afford it.

Ill prolly hold out checking out school sales, farmer auctions and such to score a decent older tig or something. who knows.

civicious - have you ever welded with it, or does your friend do it? Ive heard that mig's produce kinda messy welds and is harder to learn with bc you cannot see the puddle as well as say a tig.

also, has anyone heard of the Hobart Handler 135, i have heard that it is a decent entry level mig
 
I've welded with it. I disagree that they produce messy welds...the PEOPLE you heard it from may produce messy welds, but the welder definitely doesn't...not in my experience, at least...

I've been welding since high school, and I dunno about being able to see the puddle as well...it looks fine to me... :shrug2:

I wouldn't buy anything other than a Miller or a Lincoln....there's no sense in buying a cheap welder....but maybe that's just my opinion.
 
I totally agree with you, you get what you pay for. And if i could afford the millermatic 210 i would so buy it, but i cant so i guess i just have to either look for a used on in good condition or just continue having other pple weld my shit <_<

Everything i stated was just what ive read either on the internet or in a book. Ive only ever welded with an oldskool arc welder but im going to get some help with the machinist guy i know.

The book I have, The Welders Handbook, which is supposed to be really good, described mig welds as being messy. But im sure they were just comparing that to a tig weld.
 
I have a hobart handler 175 or 85 or some shit its the next step up from the 135 and is 220 where as the 135 is 110. Both are very good welders, and as you said yes the handler 135 is a great entry level welder. Hobart is made by Miller incase you didnt know. I Paid roughly 600 bucks for my welder, with a cart, but i got it on promo so i think it was reg like 700 or so. Anyway you should be able to get a handler 135 for around 5-600 bucks. And they are not messy as long as you have gas...and provided u kno what you are doing.

this is the one i have
http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/handler180.html

and the 140 which evidently replaced the 135
http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/handler140.html

and is a great value if i might add.
 
to weld stainless and aluminum you need a tig. I have a licon mig pak with the flux core/ gas conversion, the aluminum conditing pads and feed gun, and now i have a stainlees gun. im into it for over 1500.
A mig will give a super good weld.
 
ok the way it works is for each material you need a diffent wire and also a diffent tank of gas.
aluminum needs arg and mild stell uses co2 or mig mix. A mig must have a diffrent gun for each material ie aluminum and mild steel, which has a coating on the wire that will cause contamination during an aluminum weld. so ya a welder may be able to do it but then you need buy extra parts inorder to do it. And i hate hobart welders. If you have any moew q just ask i have 3 friend that all work as welders, 1 has his tig ticket for aircraft, 1is a b persure welder, and 1 has some wierd oil rig crap he does.
 
I understand ya. I read into it more last night and learned basically what you just told me. Now how about using an arc welder or stick welder to do exhaust setups and little stuff like that. Would they work better than getting a crappy mig just using flux?
 
your not gonna want a stick welder for the type of jobs your talking about doing.
Hcivic, why do u hate hobart welders? if your gonna state your opinion to someone who is looking to by a welder than why not tell him why u feel that way....u think it helps him decide what to buy because youve told him that you hate them? Anyhow ive had very good luck with my hobart and liek it alot. and for the price i dont believe you can beat the value of the hobarts. Hobarts in some perticular models are actually almost identical machines to some lincolns.
As far as the different metals and gases go all the differences you listed are unescessary. I weld mild steel and stainless with my hobart using only argon for gas and simply chnging the wire to a stainless wire when i want to weld stainless. It works very well to. I did my whole exhaust all in stainless this way and it came out great. Ill get some pic's of it soon if i can.
 
thanks, that helps a lot. That is basically all i will be using it for until i get out of college and i will eventually upgrade to a tig anyway. Ill probably save up for the Hobart 140. But do you really think that craftsman mig (link at the top) is a huge POS. I saw on their site they have welders that range up pretty expensive.

Craftsman Duty cycle : 40 percent @ 60A

Hobart Handler : Rated Output at 20% Duty Cycle (90 A at 19 VDC)

(63 A at 21 VDC (CSA Rating) )
 
me personally i would never buy a craftsman welder. With a welder you will always get a better product from a company that makes jst welders...i realize hobart miller and lincoln make other things but generally speaking they make welders. And as far as craftsman goes there are very few hand tools that i will even buy from them so in my opinion a welder would be out of the question. But thats not to say someone like u couldnt go buy it and use it and have great results with it for what your trying to do. I own a bodyshop tho and use mine quite a bit so i couldnt justify not buying what i know is a good product and will work well and last for me
 
hmm, i wouldnt use it for long periods of time, and probably just use it for small projects. So i guess i could gamble and go with the cheaper price and hope it doesnt break or just wait and save up for a hobart/miller/or licoln.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
welders?
Replies
7
Views
848
Slammed90Lude
S
Back
Top