Equipment Question

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Hi! I'm Bruce. I'm retired military, and civil service. My interest in welding goes back to 1972 when I took an adult enrichment welding class at a local high school. Boy was I hooked, but life has a way of getting in the way as I re-entered the Air Force and made the military a career. After 22 yrs and rising through the ranks, I retired as a Captain. I spent the next 20 yrs in Fed Civil Service and am completely retired now. Being reassigned to many different duty stations, some overseas, it was hard to pursue my interest in welding. Now that I'm retired, I'm picking up where I left off. All my welding experience has been with gas welding and I want to move into electrical welding. I want to look at all the equipment options, and am looking for suggestions on how to move forward with purchasing equipment. I want to make one equipment purchase, so I want to consider all the options and suggestions before I act.I would appreciate any and all equipment suggestions and reasons why.                  Thanks from a Georgia Damn Yankee, bruce
Reply:An inverter multi process unit will allow mig, tig and stick. I am thinking about a Lincoln Power Mig 210. The only thing it doesn't do is tig weld aluminim.Eventual master of the obvious, practitioner of "stream of consciousness fabrication".  P.S. I edit almost every post because because I'm posting from my phone and my fingers sometimes move faster than my brain.
Reply:This should cover all your needs, for awhile anyway. http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us...olnElectric%29 Attached ImagesDon’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Welcome to the forum and thanks for your service, Bruce.Lincoln A/C 225Everlast P/A 200
Reply:Originally Posted by brucepetroHi! I'm Bruce. I'm retired military, and civil service. My interest in welding goes back to 1972 when I took an adult enrichment welding class at a local high school. Boy was I hooked, but life has a way of getting in the way as I re-entered the Air Force and made the military a career. After 22 yrs and rising through the ranks, I retired as a Captain. I spent the next 20 yrs in Fed Civil Service and am completely retired now. Being reassigned to many different duty stations, some overseas, it was hard to pursue my interest in welding. Now that I'm retired, I'm picking up where I left off. All my welding experience has been with gas welding and I want to move into electrical welding. I want to look at all the equipment options, and am looking for suggestions on how to move forward with purchasing equipment. I want to make one equipment purchase, so I want to consider all the options and suggestions before I act.I would appreciate any and all equipment suggestions and reasons why.                  Thanks from a Georgia Damn Yankee, bruce
Reply:Bruce, Thanks for your many years of service to our country. If I were you starting out, I would get a dedicated MIG machine and use it with 75/25 mix gas that is powerful enough to welding thicker material with ease (1/4")http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us...roduct=K2816-2http://store.cyberweld.com/millermatic210.htmlMIG is a very forgiving process that will let you get pretty good, really fast. If you can get a competent welder to help you with your new machine, you'll be off to a great start. After a short amount of time, you'll understand the amount of power and wire speed a particular thickness of metal requires. Additionally, you'll know what a good weld looks like and sounds like ... yes sounds like.Sorta like riding a bicycle, you can be riding in a matter of minutes and then spend the rest of your days getting better and better. I would not get a multi process machine for the simple confusion factor. Multi-porcess machines do TIG, MIG and stick welding, all in one machine. Chances are, you will not use anything but MIG to begin with anyway and the rest of the buttons and features will just be a haze of distractions. Get a dedicated MIG machine and start welding. After a couple years, if you want to try another process, TIG for instance, get another dedicated welder. But I suspect that the things you would want to build, MIG is the perfect process and a very simple way you can gain alot of welding confidence in a pretty short amount of time. The sooner you can get confident in the welding action, you get free'd up to spend you energy thinking about the things you'll build and not the welding task itself.Last edited by Jimmy_pop; 01-25-2016 at 10:05 AM.
Reply:depends on what he wants to weld. if just welding steel you can often get by just stick welding with 6013 or other rods and many welders sold for $200 to $500 that work well unless you plan on building navy battleships or army tanks.i never met a person who could not start welding in less than 5 minutes with 6013 providing he reads the basic instructions on recommended amps for rod size. usually basic instructions is like less than one paragraph.
Reply:Powermig 210 is about $1,400. It has a built in stick welder and is tig capable.Eventual master of the obvious, practitioner of "stream of consciousness fabrication".  P.S. I edit almost every post because because I'm posting from my phone and my fingers sometimes move faster than my brain.
Reply:Originally Posted by SedanmanPowermig 210 is about $1,400. It has a built in stick welder and is tig capable.
Reply:Ok. So the o.p. buys a $400 used stick welder then decides he wants a mig machine. 5 or 6 hundred used. Then decides to add scratch tig to his stick machine. Another 3 hundred and there's  two big heavy machines taking up space in the garage. One guy suggested $6,OOO  multi process machine. I stand by my recommendation. It's a lot of bang for the buck.Eventual master of the obvious, practitioner of "stream of consciousness fabrication".  P.S. I edit almost every post because because I'm posting from my phone and my fingers sometimes move faster than my brain.
Reply:Originally Posted by SedanmanOk. So the o.p. buys a $400 used stick welder then decides he wants a mig machine. 5 or 6 hundred used. Then decides to add scratch tig to his stick machine. Another 3 hundred and there's  two big heavy machines taking up space in the garage. One guy suggested $6,OOO  multi process machine. I stand by my recommendation. It's a lot of bang for the buck.
Reply:Originally Posted by brucepetroAll my welding experience has been with gas welding and I want to move into electrical welding. I want to look at all the equipment options, and am looking for suggestions on how to move forward with purchasing equipment. I want to make one equipment purchase, so I want to consider all the options and suggestions before I act.I would appreciate any and all equipment suggestions and reasons why.                  Thanks from a Georgia Damn Yankee, bruce
Reply:Some what similar situation, and this is what I have purchased:Hobart Handler 210 MVP (mig and flux core wire welding)AHP AlphaTIG 200x (tig and stick welding)So for about $1600 I have most processes covered with 2 machines
Reply:Budget?project ideas?Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Originally Posted by WNY_TomB.some people prefer to save a $1000. and buy 2000 lbs of steel instead and actually make something with the steel. if welding 1/8" to 2" thick steel you can do a lot just stick welding..for many buying new welding equipment every few years is part of the having fun welding. to me it is like somebody saying they want to buy just one car and have it last forever. good luck with that. technology changes. i hate having old welding machines around. like talking to grandpa and saying them cd-rom are not as good as his record player. or blueray dvd not as good as his betamax vcr tapes
Reply:Maybe Bruce lives near a member here who could invite him over to test drive a few different processes???"You can't out puke a buzzard"
Reply:Originally Posted by PipelinerMaybe Bruce lives near a member here who could invite him over to test drive a few different processes???
Reply:To All, Thanks for the wonderful replies. Lot of great info, which is going to take time to digest. I'm originally from Minneapolis, MN. and my many different military assignments have shown me that there are warmer places to live then MN. Don't get me wrong, I love the people of MN, but I can't handle the sub-zero cold, and the liberal politics. So, I'm now a Georgia Damn Yankee. Down here, a damn Yankee, is a Yankee who is still here in GA.Well, getting back to welding. If there's a forum member in the Warner Robin/Macon, GA area, who would take me under their wing and show me the ropes about the equipment, that would be wonderful. My main welding focus is general repairs, lawn art and silverware art, if that help. Thanks so much for the warm welcome to the forum. God bless!     -bruce- Georgia Damn Yankee
Reply:As sedan man mentioned the Lincoln 210MP would be a good choice.http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lincoln-Powe...-/141729188585NOTE:  IOC IS REPUTABLE COMPANY.This one includes the Tig kit with pedal.No alooominum TIG BUT A SPOOLGUN CAN BE ADDED EASILY.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Originally Posted by yesindeedif your grandpa knows what a betamax is, you aint that old.
Reply:I invested in Laser Discs Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:I see you got rich too.30+ yrs Army Infantry & Field Artillery, 25 yrs agoMiller 350LX Tig Runner TA 210, spool gunLincoln 250/250 IdealArcESAB PCM 500i PlasmaKazoo 30"  vert BSKazoo 9x16 horiz BSClausing 12x24 lathe20T Air Press