Need Opinions: First Welder Purchase

admin

Hello all. Thank you in advance for reading this post. At the end, I will be asking some naive questions, and asking for your recommendations for a welder.I'm new to this game. In fact, I haven't even played yet . This all started with the need to weld a 2" copper pipe to a stainless steel lid, but the though of me getting my own welder is opening up many doors for me and the many projects I have planned.I don't think I'm likely to ever be doing much heavy duty, but I would like a welder that has the guts for at least medium duty. No matter what the choice is, I'm likely going to need to run some new outlets in this old house; so I'm not going to go with the 115V.Money is somewhat of an object, but not to the usual extent. I have no set budget and I am willing to pay what ever it will cost to get a good and reliable unit. But keep in mind that I'm not a professional. This is all for hobby work, but I take my hobby seriously, and I like to own tools that I won't grow out of or have to replace any time soon.All of this considered, I'd like to know what you all would recommend. I'm looking a lot at Lincoln. Especially the AC-225. This brings me to my list of naive questions.The AC-225 is a 'stick' welder. How is that different from a MIG welder?I've noticed that there is an AC/DC version of the AC-225, is DC better? How so?What type of projects would demand a TIG welder?When I go to a store to shop for this, what are the key questions I should ask the salesman if he suggests a product other than the ones you will list?I think this should be all for now.Thank you all very much for reading this, and taking the time to reply.Cheers!
Reply:well first off i would silver braze copper to stainless (but that is just me)a stick welder uses a stick electrode and a mig uses a spool of wire to weld withtig will use a tunston electrode and a argon gas shied you have to put the filler matrial in as you weld with your other hand tig and some mig you can weld alumi know that is not much to go on but its erly and i dont like to typeChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:One thing that would help to determine in which direction you need to look, is a clearer idea what kinds of projects you have in mind.  A Lincoln AC 225 or AC/DC would be a nice welder for a beginner and for someone who is not a beginner, but isn't welding in a production environment, and who likes the simplicity of stick welding machines (no spools of wire, no tangling of the wire, few adjustments).  Out of the box, that welder is intended mainly for mild steel.  It can be adapted to other metals (with a good bit of effort), but it still lacks many of the features of the more up-scale hobby or medium industrial welders.  The better choice of the two is the ac/dc model.  DC is preferred for safety.  AC is inherently unsafe, especially in damp or cramped places.You shouldn't be so concerned with buying a welder and trading up in a year or so.  A reasonably good priced used welder will hold its value very well.  Also, as you learn more about welding, you will find the welding process you favor, and learn more about the importance of the features offered on welders.  Just concentrate on getting a good deal and know that it's not going to do everything you will eventually want to do.Mig welders are a more complicated piece of machinery.  They have lots of moving parts to feed wire filler to the weld (You do the feeding manually with stick).  Also, MIG, in its true form, requires shielding gas.  The MIG/wire fed process can make welding fast and very easy, but they (the welders) generally cost more, a lot more per amp, and the machines are generally harder to set up than a stick welder.  They use DC current, so they are fairly safe.  You can weld more metals, more easily than with stick.  Wire fed welders have lots of benefits, but the cost is pretty high.The TIG process is like a oxygen/acetylene welder in that it uses a torch and a filler rod just like a flame welder does.  It's just that the TIG process uses electricity to generate a "flame" rather than a flammable fuel and oxygen.  The tig process depends on you to do a lot more.  It usually requires 2 hands and a foot to do it.  Mig requires one hand and so does stick.  So, the tig process is inherently harder to accomplish because it requires a bit more manual dexterity.  Tig welders can be fairly inexpensive or VERY expensive, depending on the types of metals it's supposed to handle, the added features, on the amps and the current types available (AC or DC or both).If you dont mind a bit of reading (if you did, I guess you would have already quit reading this, right), go to the miller website and read the intro pdf's they have for the different processes.  This will help get stuff clear in your mind and you can start to figure out what is best for your particular set of goals.http://www.millerwelds.com/education...pamphlets.htmlLincoln has a similar set of resources...I am not promoting miller, I just can remember their site better.One thing I forgot to mention, if you are planning on home-hobby welding, only look at welders that can run in single phase.  Many/most industrial are 3 phase and will not work on home current.Last edited by smithboy; 01-08-2006 at 11:26 AM.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Applause from here on smithboys comments.Here's the bad news. Once you get into welding a bit, you'll probably wish you had the equipment for stick, mig and tig. All three are extremely usefull for a ton of applications, just a matter of which one will suit you best for most of the things you want to start out with. So do something reading on application, go kick some rocks around and think about what all you might be wanting to accomplish then go dig up more info for verification. Here's a link to lincoln's knowledge base. I' not endorsing them over any other but they do have a wealth of info.http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/
Reply:Ive never had the desire to be able to mig or tig      actually I have but I usually get by with a stick welder and a cutting torch with welding tips available.  My machine is a multiprocess.  Its barely that.  Its primarily a stick.  But I can add mig or tig if I wanted to pay more money.  Theres times as Sandy says it would have benefited me..but then so many times if I need someothing welded and I cant use my equipment I can take it to some job Im at, or I call a friend who is working in a shop with the right equipment an they do it for  me  IF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:Okay, I think I'm realy turned onto the Millermatic 210. But the add page on the Miller site suggests that I need the spool gun for Al welding.What does a spool gun do? Isn't the conductor fed by the welder?Also, are there any general opinions or testemonials for the MM 210? Thanks!
Reply:a spool gun makes its easer to run alum wire it takes the place of the wipChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:The wire feeders in MIG welders use steel drive rolls to push the wire through the length of the gun.  This doesn't work very well for aluminum because the wire is soft and has a tendency to tangle up.  To work around this issue, one can get a spoolgun which takes a small spool of wire and drive rolls in the gun itself.-Heath
Reply:hello can some one tell me which welder is used to weld brackets to car frames