home welder

admin

i have some welding experience from work. i would like to buy small wire feed for at home. i do my own auto repair and some fab of home projects.  ie my son and i are thinking of building a forge.could someone suggest the size of welder that would be most practical for the $.we have been looking and amp ratings from 70 to 90 seem most available but i dont want to stay small to save a few bucks the kick myself lateri guess that non gas would be more practical for at home yet a lot more smoke?thanks      jim
Reply:The size of the welder depends on the thickness of your material. The most a 110v welder, per recommendation of the manufacturer, is 3/16. Although many of us have done up to 3/8" thick with proper preparation and a beveling. Realistically, if you just want to point and shoot, get something bigger. Any welder from Miller, Hobart (miller owns hobart), Lincoln and Clarke will do you fine - they are priced decently, have good customer service and good warranties.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:i have no prob with prep to do thicker but in most cases it will be up to 1/4. i would also like to be able to repair sheet metal such as in auto.so if i buy 70 amp will i be bent a week later wondering why i bought this.i think if i need more amp it is so much more economical to buy stick welder later.   jim
Reply:I would buy a 110v machine that is 90A capable. Most machines in this range will say 20% duty cycle at 125 or 130A. How they arrive at those ranges I'm not sure. We've been discussing this in the chat and have a letter out to Miller. In other words, if you're going to get a 110v unit, get the biggest. I personally have the Clarke 130EN. It has a great duty cycle, they have great customer service and the consumables are common Tweco style.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:thanks john
Reply:Welcome - post back if you have more questions. John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Hello everyone,I too am interested in buying a 110V mig for home use. I see John that you recommend the Clarke 130 EN. Is that machine available in the US pretty much all states wide?I will google it once I'm done here.Thanks for the machine research. I like to follow what others are having sucess with themselves.SD
Reply:Yes - it's available at quite a few places. I'm sure once you googly moogly it, you'll find a source. If not, give us a shout back here.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:I had a 110 volt wire feed unit for a while and very quickly got frustrated with its limitations.  Even though you think (I should actually say, "I thought...") you will never do any welding on anything thicker than x", pretty soon you want to do a quick job on something thicker and you are stuck if you only have a 115 volt unit.  In my case I wanted to weld some rope/chain hooks onto my trailer that has fairly heavy channel side rails with steel bar reinforcement inside the channel (I didn't build it) and couldn't do it reliably with the 115 volt unit. There is an absolute limit to the power you can draw from a 115 volt circuit and it places a pretty tight limit on the jobs you can do.  1725 watts on a 15 amp circuit and 2300 watts on a 20 amp circuit.  Conversely, a common 30 amp, 230 volt circuit can supply 6900 watts, which is more up in the useful welding power range.  I would recommend a low end 230 volt wire welder, which is what I got after a year or so of frustration with the 115 volt unit.  Love it.  I think a small extra investment up front will pay off in the long run.  I traded the 115 volt welder off for a battery powered drill/driver and thought I got the best of the deal.It is a rare house that doesn't already have a 230 volt branch, often for a dryer.  And it's not that hard to run a 230 volt branch to your garage dedicated to the welder.  There are many threads on this forum discussing the details of running a 230 volt branch for a welder.I don't have any experience with sheet metal work, so can't comment on the suitability of a low end 230 volt unit for that application, but it is all in the details of design of the welder.Whichever unit you get, have fun!awrightLast edited by awright; 04-16-2007 at 01:54 PM.
Reply:My Clarke 130 replaced my Lincoln SP100, it's a great welder and for the price, it's hard to beat.-Clarke 130EN-Miller MaxStar 150STL-Miller Elite 29' Roadster
Reply:Shed Dweller if you have a Menard's Store close check them out. They sell Clarke welders and consumables.I purchased the Clarke 130EN because of MicroZone's recommendations, sure glad I listened to him.Last edited by tommyj3; 04-16-2007 at 05:22 PM.
Reply:If you must get a 120 volt welder get the largest available from the brand of your choice. I too suggest a smaller 230 volt machine rather than the 120 volt machines if you can afford it.
Reply:ive got a lincoln 135 and like micro said, if you prep your metal you can do a lot more with it than the book says. if it needs more than it will handle i use a stick. i use flux core wire  on a 30 amp breaker. does the job for me.