welder question-what to buy? Options

[rfuerst911sc]

Now that I have dug into my 914 project I'm going to have to do some sheet metal repair on the rear trunk floor. Also in the future will be various chassis reinforcements being added and possibly flares for the wheelwells. I have a oxy/acetylene along with a old 300 amp stick welder but I'm thinking a mig welder is what I want? Today I looked at Lowes,Home Depot and Tractor Supply at Lincoln and Hobart 140 amp migs that run 110v. So can I do this work with my oxy/acet unit or should I go mig? And if I go mig any preference to brand? I know that shielding gas is preferred over flux wire.Help me out guys. Thanks

[nebreitling]

go mig, go 210, go with a big bottle, and just plain invest in your "second" welder upfront. you DO want infinite voltage/wire feed control. hobart, linclon, miller. if you can't afford this right now, then postpone your project a couple months until you can. just my 02.

[Crazyhippy]

It can be done w/ oxy/acet. A mig will be 1000% easier. The Home depot Lincoln 135 is a heck of a welder for the little stuff (like our cars).

Shielding gas is the only way to go. Makes the welds look alot better, and you dont have to deal w/ slag.

I built a SCORE class 1450 (unlimited pre-runner) w/ the afformentioned Lincol 135.

BJH

[Mid_Engine_914]

I've been thinking about buying one of these Millermatic 175's . Does anyone know if you can buy an electrical cord (say 20 feet long) that you can plug into the electrical outlet for a dryer to run a 220V welder?

[TravisNeff]

I have a miller 175 and I love it. You can make an extension cord for your dryer outlet, I have a 20ft one myself.

[Twystd1]

If it ain't 220 volts...

It's too small........

I think NeBreitling said it best.....

C

[rfuerst911sc]

I can get the Hobart 140 for 399.99 and Home Depot has a closeout Lincoln 3200 HD for 368.00. Why are you saying 220v is the way to go? Is it needed for sheet metal work?

[Dr. Roger]

Ditto on the custom extension cord.
I went to Home Depot and picked up 25' of their heaviest gauge multi strand wire/cable and 2 A/C plugs. One male for the dryer outlet and one female for my welder. They have a few different types of plugs so make sure you get the right ones.

Remember:
Wire of a certain gauge is rated in ohms/ft. 6g wire is rated at 0.00048 ohms/ft. Remember V=IR, so V = 100 * 0.00048, or V = 0.048v. This is the amount of voltage "lost" due to the resistance, or the "voltage drop". The rule of thumb is the voltage drop should be no more than 2% of the original voltage
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

I've been thinking about buying one of these Millermatic 175's . Does anyone know if you can buy an electrical cord (say 20 feet long) that you can plug into the electrical outlet for a dryer to run a 220V welder?

[Jax914]

I bought a Miller 135 about a year ago. I also have a large arc machine for really big stuff - but I haven't touched it in a year!

The Miller is more money - but it's well built and the infinite adjustability is much better than presets. Highly recommended for sheet metal work. The shielding gas should be required for sheet metal.

The 135 is 110 - but I run it off a 25 amp circuit.

[IronHillRestorations]

No, a 220 welder is not required for most every thing you'd do on a 914. I have an old 110 Century unit (with gas) that I got about 15 years ago that's served me very well, without the problems of finding an appropriate electrical outlet. I did find that anything over a 25 ft extension cord would degrade performance a little. The nice thing about this unit is the voltage (heat) and wire speed are infinately adjustable. This is a feature I would definately put on the must have list, as well as shielding gas kit.

All that said, you do get what you pay for. The better welders have better drive mechanisms, better features, and generally speaking produce a more stable arc. I've upgraded to a TIG unit, and a Miller 175 which I like pretty well.

[Twystd1]

rfuerst911sc

I look at a Mig from a "all around welder" perspective.

Too many times when I was younger and didn't know any better. I bought welders that were great on sheet metal. And sucked at building cages or was less that wat was needed from a fabricating perspective.

Cause once I got a GOOD welder, I found that the opportunitys to create new parts, build cages, fix lawn mowers, help a buddy out with a broken car trailer, etc.

Was only possible with a 220V commercial style welder that was both DC and AC. And had the balls to weld anything that came my way.

DC is especially good on verticles and upside down welding.

The welding opportunitys are greatly expanded with a high quality ac/dc mig welder.

There is also the the duty cycle question. With the bigger welders. You can weld all day. With the smaller welders, The duty cycle may be so low. The welds start to degrade as the windings and the diodes heat up. Then ya have to stop and let the welder cool off. Thats a pain in the ass IMHO.

A good example of this is welding up all of the chassis seams for a A/X car. The small welder "more often than not " will flat out over heat and start creating crap welds. Then ya wait a half hour and stick a fan on the welder to cool it off.

Then start again... PITA........


Commercial 220V welders ain't cheap brand ew..... yet they are SOoooo worth the extra dollars in my experience.

(used welders can be a great buy if ya know what to look for)

Then again.... If your holy grail is to only weld sheet metal and handle small projects. Dam near any 110 mig with a bottle of mix gas will suffice.
(NOTE: Bigger bottles are better)

Hopefully that answers you question...
Cheers,
C

[ein 6er]

i just got a lincoln 135 plus from welding mart free shipping, fast delivery. also got the cheapie auto darkening helmet works great, i'm happy!!

go infinite adjustability!!

ps .... buy extra tips ...

[Mid_Engine_914]

also got the cheapie auto darkening helmet works great, i'm happy!!

Not me, I'm gonna buy the most expensive, fastest darkening helmet I can find.

[ein 6er]

also got the cheapie auto darkening helmet works great, i'm happy!!

Not me, I'm gonna buy the most expensive, fastest darkening helmet I can find.

OK .... maybe i should have said "inexpensive" helmet. the product description says: "the Apprentice is a low-cost unit that features the number one selling welding helmet on the market and the highest quality solar-powered auto darkening lens."

it doesn't mention the auto dark speed, but i feel certain there is a standard for darkening speed that is deemed safe. also the auto dark lens can be exchanged for a more expensive or faster darkening lens if need be.

it shouldn't take me long to find out if it doesn't darken fast enough. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

[Twystd1]

[/quote]it shouldn't take me long to find out if it doesn't darken fast enough. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

it shouldn't take me long to find out if it doesn't darken fast enough. [/quote]


You would be hosed long before you noticed the effects....

C

[Joe Bob]

What's that stuff that deaf people use to read????

Not Braille...that's fer blind people that cheap out on safety equipment....but hey,,,,,I COULD be wrong....

[jd74914]

I'm all for buying a Lincoln SP 175 (thats the infinately adjusable 220V I have). It works great on just about every project you can throw at it. We've done everything from weld 3/8inch plate steel (of course, you might want to do that in more than one pass lol) to sheet.

I never use autodarkening helmets. The scare me. I totally agree with Clayton in that you will be in trouble way before the side effects step in. I would highly suggest getting a dark helmet that is not autodarkening . . . its not a big deal to push it up when you stop welding . . . all you need to do it nod to put one down. But thats just MHO (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[ein 6er]

What's that stuff that deaf people use to read????

Not Braille...that's fer blind people that cheap out on safety equipment....but hey,,,,,I COULD be wrong....

maybe it's the helmet that is low-cost and not the lens itself. anyone know what is the minumum darkening speed that is considered not cheaping out on safety? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

if we can believe the manufacturers claim that it is "the number one selling welding helmet on the market ", then there will be a lot of blind CSOBs out there soon.

should i contact my lawyer?

[jd74914]

Doug, its probably not a big deal for people unless they weld very frequently or for a long time each sitting. I have heard of people getting headaches and sore eyes from welding with auto-darkening helmets for a extended periods . . . IDK what kinda of helmets they were wearing.

If Chris Foley or McMark would chime in the disagree ment could probably be settled :shrug:

[sww914]

Welding upsidedown on dirty rusty old metal without an auto darkening helmet is waaaaaayyyyyyy harder than with one. If you plan to seam weld or reinforce the rear of your car, you'll be doing lots of this kind of welding.
I bought a small 110 volt Miller a few years ago for doing bodywork, I couldn't afford $1000,00 for a 220, so I spent $400.00 on this. I haven't been sorry. It's small and light, doesn't cost much to run, I can take it to the track, and if I need to make a trailer or whatever I can use a buzzbox.