Welder Questions

[crokett]

My dad is looking for a welder (the tool not the person). He doesn't know how to weld (yet). He has a small farm so his welds don't necessarily have to be pretty, they just need to not break. My cousin is an experienced welder and told him to get a Lincoln 180 MIG welder. He says Lincoln is one of the better ones and a 180 is about as big as my dad will need.

What say you?

[maxparot]

Your cousins advice is good although 180 amp mig welder is a powerful unit. My suggestion would be in the range of 130-150 amps. this is enough power to weld 1/4" plate steel in a single pass. The next thing to consider is duty cycle (the amount of time the welder can run before it needs to shut down so it doesn't burn out) 30% or higher is the range to look for but you can make do with 20%.
Besides Lincoln you can look at Miller and Hobart theses 3 manufacture a quality product. If you are looking for a value priced unit HF model 151 is a 220V 130amp unit with a 20% duty cycle. It regularly goes on sale for $199 so add a coupon into the mix and it a quite inexpensive.

[eezlock]

welder?

A Lincoln weldpak 100 is a good one...I have one and it works great. eezlock

[blame]

my self i use a 225 amp arc welder not as easy to use as a mig but cost less.

rod for an arch welder cost about 5 bucks a pound
i'm not sure what it cost for the spools of wire and argon gas

but if he will be welding new steel up to 1/4" the 180 mig would be the way to go because of the ease of use if you need to weld thicker steel upto 1/2" i would use the arc

it all boils down to what you will be welding the most

blame

[Hellrazor]

Bigger is better in the welding world. You can always reduce power on a large unit, you can't increase power on a small unit

If he is welding anything related to farming, bigger is better since farm equipment has some heft to it.

Miller, Lincoln, Hobart are good.

Clarke, HF stuff are bad.

[Kristofor]

Hobart and Miller are the same company now, with Hobart seeming to be a little lighter on features, but higher bang for the buck ratio.

More power = more penetration and/or a longer cycle time when running at less than full power.

What does the power situation look like at the intended use locations
The 140 machines can be found in 110V flavors (nice if this unitl will do house calls). 180's will run off of a 30A dryer circuit in a pinch with a plug converter so again somewhat flexible, the 210+ unitls require a 50A circuit.

I never did very much stick welding, but a while ago I bought a MIG welder and I found it to be 10 times easier. It's nice to be able to fabricate that "goofy little bracket" that does exactly what you need when you need it. I'll second the "grinders are your friend" comment, at least with my beginner quality work

[cork58]

If he has a farm of any size the welding will need to be in the field sooner or later! Look at the Readywelder. If your going used be sure not to buy one with the 2 hash marks. That one had problems. E-Bay has them and it is free shipping to you guys in the lower 48 for around $250.00. It is a spool gun and works on batterys up to 36 volts. Depends on how thick of material you are welding. The DOD has bought thousands of these for repairs in the field for our boys overseas in the war. I have personally used this unit and wish I could find one here for under $500.00. Shipping is an issue here. The unit does good in the shop or the field from 3/16" to 1". I tried it on sheet metal and 20 ga was about as small as I could get it to weld good enought not to extend heat to far. Hope this sheads some light on your purchase. Think portable as well as shop work!

Cork