Need Help Choosing a Beginner's Welder

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Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and need some help. I am a high school student and I am in fabrication class this year. I want to purchase a welder(wire-feed/mig) to practice and build small projects. I want a quaility welder that I can learn to get nice, decent looking welds with. I was thinking about buying a new HF 90 amp just because of the price. But I was also wondering what better models(lincoln,miller,ect.) I should look for on craigslist. What do you guys think? Thanks
Reply:I'd avoid a small mig like that. Those little FC units are quite limiting. With FC wire you can't do material much thinner than 1/16", but with only 90 amps you can't do much more than maybe 14 ga. Also quality control on those machines is spotty at best. Wire feed is often erratic and this gives newer welders a great deal of trouble.If you want a unit you can use for years to come, I'd strongly suggest looking at a name brand 230v capable machine. A 180 amp class mig will let you do up to 1/4" steel, where as the best 110v machines will top out at 1/8" under real world conditions despite what the manufacturers lit might say. On a budget Hobart makes a good unit new, or search CL for an older mig. You probably won't regret going bigger, but most welders quickly out grow small mig units.If money is super tight, don't overlook older transformer stick machines. You can usually pick up an AC stick machine used for less than $150 and it will do quite a bit and you can probably sell it for what you have into it later when you want to upgrade. AC/DC units are usually a bit moer money, but occasionally there are super deals to be found on older "store" brand units like Montgomery Wards or Craftsman's. Most of these units are very simple and seldom have things that go wrong.Take a minute and add your location to your User CP at the top left. Many guys here browse CL daily and may see a good deal in your area if they know where you are located.Last edited by DSW; 11-22-2012 at 09:31 PM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Thankyou for the help, I think I will pass on the harbor frieght. What do you think the price range of a good condition 230v machine would be?
Reply:I paid $700 for my Lincoln weld-Pak 180 new at home depot. If you buy new shop around I found mine listed everywhere from 700-900.
Reply:I see a nice MM185 listed for $700. I have one myself and they are a very nice machine. It's larger and has a higher duty cycle than newer migs in that price range. This machine will do 3/8" if needed. I'd probably offer $550 and see if he'd bite. If not $600-650 would be fair.http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/tls/3427881373.htmlI also see a MM180. It has a lower duty cycle than the MM185 above, but is a nice small unit. I'd rate the max on this machine at just over 1/4". Again I'd offer less than the $600 he wants, maybe starting at $450, but $500-550 would be fair..http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/tls/3427881373.htmlI also see a nice Miller Tig stick machine with spoolgun listed for $800. Mig with this is probably so so, but anything you can't stick weld you could tig. $800 is on the high side of fair. $600 would be a steal. The machine is big and heavy, but you won't outgrow it for a long time.http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/tls/3414499522.htmlAn older listing showing both a MM251 and a MM Vintage. Both nice machines. The MM251 has more balls than any of the other ones, but is a lot more money. I'd have to look up the specs on the Vintage again. IIRC it's roughly the same if not a bit more powerful than the MM185 above.http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/tls/3413584907.htmlFarther away, I see an older listing for a Lincoln 175 for $450. A lighter duty machine compared to some of the others, but at a price that's hard to pass up on a budget if he still has it.http://tucson.craigslist.org/tls/3422742685.htmlOf all of these I'd probably look at the MM185 as my #1 choice, with the 175 Lincoln as a close #2 especially if cost was a big factor.Last edited by DSW; 11-22-2012 at 10:11 PM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Check www.welders-direct.com. I bought my Lincoln 180a wire feed from them. They had the best price I found online. Tom
Reply:I recently picked up a Lincoln 175HD on CL, with a bottle and cart, for $250. Look around a lot and you can find some very good deals.Lincoln 175HD
Reply:The whole idea of a 'beginner welder' is kind of silly. Is there such a thing as a beginner's drill press? It seems to me that it's either a good welder or a bad one -- and that it works for particular applications well or it doesn't. You could ask what a good 120V MIG is, or a good 240V MIG. But I can't think of anything that happens as a welder advances in skill that would make a different machine become a more appropriate fit.I own dozens of Harbor Freight tools, but I wouldn't consider their welders to be good learning tools. Based on what I've heard about their MIG and Flux Core welders, the thing is only going to slow your learning curve at the point where you need the most help. A particularly skilled welder might be able to make the HF 90A machine work just fine, but the setup issues are probably going to make you nuts and end up discouraging you from continuing.I think a better way to ask the question would be to tell us what you're hoping to weld, and then get suggestions on the most economical route to get that work done.Jack OlsenMy garage website
Reply:175 amp machines are a minimum threshold powered by 220VAC. The more amps, the better. 250 amps is bare minimum for spray transfer in short bursts, 300 plus for serious high output production.I'ld just get a Lincoln 230 stick machine, but here's to asking questions first! City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:+1 on avoiding the HF machine... Craigslist is your friend when you're starting out. I got my lincoln buzzbox for $75 and my little lincoln 110v wirefeeder for $100. Ahhha, the good ole days [Account Abandoned 8/8/16 Please Do Not Attempt Contact Or Expect A Reply]. See you on YouTube! -ChuckE2009
Reply:I started out with the HF model. Got it for my birthday. I know a guy who is certified in welding for everything out there and has a nice job as a welder for a good company. His welder of choice at home? the HF model. He says he does things 3/8" thick. The trick is he has to bevel everything he welds like crazy and then has to make a bunch of passes. Personally, I got rid of the HF one after a while because 1, I wanted to use gas. 2, I had to do too much prep work with that machine and it was a lot of work. I don't regret starting out with that welder though. I had it for about 6 months and then I bought the Northern Tool 135 for about $300. I regret buying that one. It was a good welder for welding 1/8" thick WITHOUT gas. With gas it just didn't have the power. I had that one for about 3 months and then upgraded to the Hobart 210 MVP W/ spoolgun for a little over $1000 on ebay new from some welding company. I'll most likely have this welder for the rest of my life. If I were you, I would go straight to buying a quality welder. You can get the Hobart 190 for $750 at Northern Tool or with the spool gun for $850 I think off ebay. That's a pretty good one if you'll ever want to do aluminum. But just my two cents. Skip the smaller stuff and go straight to what will last you the rest of your life.
Reply:another local CL adhttp://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/tls/3429218291.htmlEd 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 kinda agree with Jack.Jeff97, tell us your goals.  Do you plan to become a weldor as a career or do you just want to fabricate things now?  If it's the former, I'd say pass on the mig for now and get a set of torches and a cheap DC buzz box.  If your goals are the latter, I'd say find the best used 220v mig you can, as has been mentioned.Either way though, eventually you're gonna need some torches and an arc welder Lincoln SA 200Esab Caddy 160Thermal Arc 201TSMiller Dialarc HFI don't like making plans for the day because then the word "premeditated" gets thrown around the courtroom....
Reply:Welcome Jeff,Anyway I also keep your eye out for Miller, or Lincoln, as parts are readily available decades later and consumables are at most every local welding supply. Brings back memories as I was 15 when I bought my first oxy/acet outfit. My neighbors raced motorcycles and owned a refuse company. They were masters at repairing heavy transport trucks and used gas torches like magicians. They tried to teach me but I usually just tacked while they finished off the welds. Anyway I became really good at brazing. From there I learned to handle the torch and feed rod and that led into tig. I still have oxy/acet and I still love silver brazing.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:check your PMs....From the desk of Kevin CaronTrying to be the best me I can!www.kevincaron.comAHP Alpha Tig 200x MillerMatic 251Miller Syncrowave 200
Reply:I'd get a TIG.