I really want to get into welding, but the only experience I've had was in high school shop class. So what can you guys recomend for a first welder? I'm looking on craigslist and I see a whole bunch of types. And I dont know what would work for what I want to do. All I want to do really is little projects for my car and possibly work on bike frames. (but importantly, practice) Any help or advise would be great! -Tony
How serious do you think you'll get? Buying a cheap welder is generally a false economy. A cheap welder won't do anything well, and when you decide you need to get a better welder or get out, you won't be able to sell it for much either. I went the cheap welder (Northern MIG 135) route, and after several months, I was starting to think I just wasn't going to figure this stuff out. My beads were ugly, I couldn't get any penetration on metal over about 3/16" and it was just frustrating. I managed to find an open box unit on a Hobart Handler 187 (made by Miller, just not as high a duty cycle as the professional units). Actually, I'd know about it for a few months, and I just never moved. Finally I went up to the store manager and basically said that I knew that unit had been sitting on the shelf and not moving for months, and that if he'd cut me the right deal, I'd take it off his hands. He was overjoyed and basically sold it to me at his cost just to get it out of the store (but he refused to have his sales ID entered in when it was rung up because he didn't want it to go on his sales record :laugh. First weld with the new machine was a thing of pure beauty. I nearly cried. I would suggest a Hobart Handler 140 if you want a jack-of-all-trades sort of 120v unit. A Handler 125EZ would be great for simple, flux core stuff, and it's pretty much idiot proof.
I would highly suggest getting some gas for whatever unit you decide to go with. It was night and day difference going from flux-core wire to gas shielded. I bought a small tank from toll gas for $130 and its ~$30 to fill. Ive filled it once in the year ive had it for the small amounts of welding i do. Ive been using a hobart mig 180 230v unit. Works great but my only complaint is this older model only has 4 power level settings. the newer units have a potentiometer power setting for better control then 2 isnt enough power and 3 melts holes. If your spending the money it might not be a bad idea to get a unit with interchangable guns. This way if you ever do get into aluminum you can buy a spool gun for it. Otherwise trying to push aly wire is a lost cause.
Search Craigslist, and get something better than you think you'll ever use. Who knows what you'll need it for. Plus, if you buy used you can usually sell it for what you bought it for later on.
The newer version is the one I have, the Handler 187. It doesn't have a potentiometer for voltage control, but it does have a 7-tap selector instead of the 4 the old 180 has. Interestingly, my 187 feeds aluminum wire just fine, without a spool gun. But like the 180, it does require a 220v supply, which is great if you have it, or can do the work yourself to put a 220v outlet in. They're also about $670 new, which is pretty steep for someone just learning. A smaller 110v unit that has decent resale might be a better choice. Gas vs. flux depends on what you're doing to a large extent, but of course whatever gas bottle you get with a smaller unit will work with a larger one too. IIRC I have a 40cf bottle for C-25. I'd really like to find someplace that sold really small bottles of pure Argon though, for Aluminum.
I have a millermatic 180 and love it. Someday I'll step up and buy a TIG, but for now, the MIG does everything I need it to. Flux core sucks nuts for about 98% of anything I've had to do, And the only time I ever use it is if I'm in a pinch and out of gas
