MIG Welder Help

[mfaley]

Hi folks,
After taking serious verbal abuse from our horse shoer last night I am considering getting a welder. He always seems to find some thing I have cobbled to gether with nuts and bolts, chewing gum or old bailing twine when it should have been welded.

So now I am looking at a small welder I can tack hinges back on, weld up fence braces and other small jobs. I dont think I would need it often but I would sure like to be able to simply plug it in and weld when needed. I think mostly it will be all outdoor work.

Could I get by with a small unit from Lincoln/Miller from one of the box stores?

Any advice is appreciate......
Mark

[Pat]

I have a Lincoln Weld Pak 100 that is powered by 120VAC. Although I have the accessory solenoid valve and everything for using a shielding gas I never have used it on this welder. I use innershield flux cored wire and it is good for nearly everything I do. I am losing the ability to do good stick welding from lack of practice since the Little Lincoln lunchbox does so good up to 1/4 inch mild steel. It is about 10 years old and they have probably changed model numbers and made inprovements and changes but the equivalent or better that runs on 120VAC is available at the big box stores. Mine came from Home Depot. I have frequently worked it too hard until it shuts down in thermal overload but have never had to fix it or change any parts except the little thingy on the end of the stinger where the wire comes out and I change that very infrequeltly. Oh yeah... the plastic thing on the end that partially covers the tip eventually burned up after several years and I replaced it. I have less than $5 into this thing for repairs in about 10 years of use.

I LOVE IT!!!! It will run from a medium sized portable generator so I can go anywhere on my 160 acres and weld stuff like gates and such. This welder plus my automatic darkening helmet are terrific. Miller makes a good unit too but I have only owned Lincoln welders. DO NOT BUY BRAND X I have let some folks who have brand X welders use mine and they all rave at how much better and easier it welds.

I took a lot of guff from the good ole boy chorus (AKA Peanut Gallery) because I bought the 120VAC model rather than the 240VAC "adult" model. It is NOT super powerful but I can take it anywhere and find 120VAC. If i have to make multiple passes... so what, I'm not on the clock and I'm not in a high production environment. It does most of what I need as fast as I need it. IF it doesn't then I have to drag out the Lincoln AC/DC buzz box and stick weld it.

These things are easy to use and can do a good job. With gas bottle and a change of wire (and change of liner) you can weld aluminum or stainless.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[mfaley]

Thanks Pat! That is really helpful.

I heard the same thing from my prof welding buddies so I was torn between getting the 240 version, which I would have to use in my garage, or getting the 120. I guess most of what I will do is around the garage but the barn is 500 feet away, the front gate is 500 feet away, the lower arena is 400 feet away. So being able to lug it around seems like a good thing for me.

I think I will take your advice since I can move it around easily. And Lincoln seems like a good choice.

I guess I know what I am going to ask for when we get to Christmas!

One last thing.....any recomendation on a self darkening helmet?

Thanks again Pat.
Mark

[GaryM]

I have a self darkening helmet I bought at Harbor Freight a while back. I think I paid about $90 for it and it works fine. Has a battery that's charged by a photocell. So if I leave it in it's box and don't use it for a while I need to leave it in the sun to be sure the battery's charged up. It has a test button to confirm operation as well as a knob to adjust shade from 9 to 13.

[mfaley]

Great! Thanks Gary.

I was sort of afraid I would spend more on the helmet than I would the welder. I never thought of looking at Harbor..... [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

Thanks for the good direction.
Mark

[twstanley]

I got one of the 40 dollar auto darkening helmets off of ebay, it is a no name but it works just fine for my limited use.

I also second the vote for the 120 volt mig, my wife got me a Hobart 125 for last Christmas and I have used that thing for all sort of stuff that in the past would have left me scratching my head or without a way to fix.

Welded our hay rake ( on a Saturday afternoon with hay on the ground and a broken tongue on the hay rake ), some seat mounting brackets on our Dixon ZTR mower, some alley frames for our cattle handling area, widened our chain harrow from 4 feet wide by 8 feet long to 8 feet wide by 4 feet long ( haha ), welded the stand for the baler so we didn't have to pick it up to hitch it up anymore, man that is nice.

All sorts of uses for it around our place.

I can put our 5kw generator and the welder in the bucket of the tractor and have an instant portable welding rig as well, lol.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Sure, sometimes I wish she had picked the 135 model that is 120 vac but has a bit more power, but I can just use multiple passes if I need, most of what I weld around here is 3/16 or smaller anyhow.

[Pat]

Mark, For the casual welder (not in a production or HD situation) the 120 does just fine. You will be amazed at the number of opportunities that occur to use the welder once you have it. Many of these opportunities would be a royal PITA if you had to have 240VAC.

I have two of the auto darkening helmets and haven't a clue as to the brand of either.

Atributes of interest in selecting an auto darkening helmet include: (not in priority order)

1. adjustability of the shade (9-12 is a decent range but more is probably better if it is available),
2. how fast does it darken?,
3. is there an adjustable delay for going clear?
4. does it shut off automatically if left on (saves batteries)
5. Large area so you can see much better and if you wear glasses, especially bifocals, try it on to see if you can see out with your bifocals.
6. comfortable when adjusted tight enough to allow wearing it flipped up without falling off. Wear it at least 5 min to decide. What seems comfortable at first can produce a headache in a few minutes.
7. uses easily found batteries or solar powered.

You can buy the auto adjusting unit separate from the helmet and put it into whatever helmet you like if you prefer. I have had years of good service and batteries last multiple years since there is so low power consumption. Don't be shocked if your unit looks like it has "measels." This is a normal thing with this technology. A soon as the unit is switched on it will get uniformly dark and then uniformly clear.

You can try these things at most welding supply stores. Sometimes the big box stores have them but I haven't seen any demo setups there.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[mfaley]

Thanks Tim and Pat!

I think its time for me to start dropping hints about Christmas. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I noticed that there is, as Tim mentions, another welder with a bit more power. I am just not sure the extra $130.00 to go from welding 1/4" to 5/16" is worth it. I cant really think of anything I have around that more than 1/4".

I looked at the helmets at Northern and they look pretty reasonable to me. Maybe I will take a pass through one of the welding stores and see if they have some for me to try on.

Thanks again gents.
Mark

[Pat]

Mark, I forgot to mention one of the drawbacks of many (most? all??) of the auto-darkening shields... Although with the innershield wire there is little or no chipping there always seems to be a little grinding involved, at least when I am doing the work.. The sparks from the grinder trigger the darkening circuit and you can't see what you are grinding. Raising the hood is OK but having it down is a convenient safety shield.

The 120VAC model does 1/4 inch mild steel BUT typically requires multiple passes to do it. The little 240VAC unit that does UP TO 5/16 probably requires multiple passes too. I rarely weld stuff over 1/4 inch and I can always fall back on my Lincoln AC-DC stick welder if I have to do something seriously heavy duty.

When I am welding heavy wall pipe to build stretch fixtures or corner braces for fences or other tasks that can take a long time with the little MIG, I typically use the MIG to put everything together, a bit beyond just "tacking" and then use the stick to git 'er done. It is a time issue. The little MIG would do the job but would take longer. When neatness counts I favor the MIG. IF it is a light duty job, I definitely favor the MIG. It isn't that you can't turn the buzz box down and run little rods but at my skill level the MIG just makes it so much easier to do a decent job. My skill level is about two notches above didly squat.

So far the most excitement I have had while welding was starting a fair sized grass fire with me at ground zero. I partially melted the jacket of the power cord to the MIG befor I noticed an odd smell (not like welding usually smells.) It was kind of exciting when I raised the shield and saw I was standing in a fire. Luckily I got it out before it got away from me. Apparently starting fires and not noticing is a frequent happening for welders.

If I had it to do over again and the $130 difference was not an issue, I'd still go 120VAC for convenience. I'm sure the extra power is JUST RIGHT for some users/uses but convenience is important to me.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[mfaley]

Thanks Pat,
The two I am looking at so far are both from HD. One is the Weldpack 100 and the other is the Weldpack 3200. They both seem like I can plug them into a normal wall socket as long as it is at least 20 amps.

If I read it correctly, the two units would operate about the same except that the 3200 might weld slightly heavier. Or am I missing something here?

I sure don’t mind welding slower if I have to make additional passes. On the other hand, if I can get the 3200 and it will make a difference then I would spend the extra. Or….is this the line where I should then find someone else to do the heavy welding?

Sorry for being so ignorant on this......

And thanks for the advice on the helmet. I will just take off the welding helmet and put a face shield on when I grind. And also the heads up about a fire.

Slow and safe is a good way for me to go......

Mark