Don't buy a Harbor Freight!!

Well I'll represent the cheap welders.

They are NOT equivalent to a Lincoln, Miller, etc...but I can't kill mine either.

I have had a 170a Harbor Freight 220v mig for 3 years and have a couple hundred hours on it by now. I've welded significant items with it, primarily for heavily modified Jeep wranglers. Control arms, track bar mounts, hydro-assist steering bracketry, control arm mounts, roll cages, axle trusses even welded the Knuckle C's to the axle housing (and it hasn't come apart yet).

That welder was $180 or so. The lead is short, the ground wire needed upgraded, and the rollers are not all that good any more. But holy moly, did I get my monies worth out of it. At the time, it's exactly what I needed. I put another hundred or so hours on the machine for sheet metal and rust repair work on my Barracuda. Worked out just fine.

I will replace it with a higher quality machine, when it dies. For what it's worth, I taught myself how to weld on...you guessed it..a 90a Harbor Freight MIG (flux). While that wasn't a "good" machine either, it served it's purpose. I still have it as a 110v option if ever had to take it somewhere that didn't have 220v available.


The barriers to entry for welding is steep enough as it is. Had I purely listened to the "buy one for the rest of your life crowd", I'm not sure I would have ever gotten there. I have around $400 in my 220v machine with a decent hood and a shielding gas tank.



..That's my 2cents.

I think the Lincoln is really "entry level" - a toy almost! If you plan to do much in the future you'd quickly want an upgrade. The Miller is a nice little welder for a 110v unit.

The thing about name brands is the availability of parts. If you change wire sizes you ideally need to change the feed rollers, liner and contact tip. For name brands, these are "off the shelf" items at welding supply shops or on line. Just try to find a feed roller for a no-name welder or a liner !!!

"A 110-Volt, single phase machine (140+ Amp) with 75/25 mix of Argon/CO2 gas and 0.023" to 0.030" wire should do most of what you mentioned, welding 3/8" and thinner carbon steel."

Sorry, but you are not welding 3/8" with a 140 amp machine with any confidence, most everything else on this thread is pretty standard info.

Oxy-acetylene is versatile, but causes too much warpage for sheet metal work. Would be useful for leading body seams.

This is hilarious but April Fools was Friday! This is like wearing suspenders AND a belt - totally unnecessary. Learn to weld with either/or but both is a crutch you'll never get rid of.

And to the point of producing "near perfect" welds, lets focus on that. First the word "near" - so they're still not "perfect" so why bother! Second, the shielding plays such a small role in the whole scheme of things that using two shielding methods is ridiculous. Torch angle, stickout, voltage/amperage settings and speed of travel play a much larger role in the quality of the weld. Shielding ... you set the gas flow and forget it!

Seriously, you don't take advice from a "beginner" on how to weld !!

Why not learn on a mig right off the bat - you cannot beat the versatility of a mig! Stick is for repairing broken, rusty farm equipment in the middle of a field!!

Sounds like you are looking at Gas Metal Arc Welding process - GMAW, also commonly known a MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding.
A 110-Volt, single phase machine (140+ Amp) with 75/25 mix of Argon/CO2 gas and 0.023" to 0.030" wire should do most of what you mentioned, welding 3/8" and thinner carbon steel. I recommend staying with well known brands like Miller, Lincoln, Hobart, ESAB/Tweco because replacement parts and service are easier to get for them lesser known import brands.

Downside is the brand name MIG machines prices start near $600 (with reguator.) Also need to add around $200+ for the gas bottle. Prices vary depending on bottle size and discounts. It is best to call around locally to compare prices.

Do not buy a cheap flux core only machine. Any MIG machine can do flux core wire, but it is messy and will wish you had the solid wire with gas.

There are also multi-process machines that will do MIG, stick, and TIG.
These machines are more expensive, mainly because they require addition cables and electrode holders. The stick welding function (Shielded metal arc welding - SMAW) could be useful on thicker steel or welding outdoor where the MIGs shield gas may be blown away by wind.
On these lower cost machines, the TIG (Gas tungsten arc welding - GTAW) function is pretty limited to fixed current DC lift-tig. This might be useful on thinner sheet metal or tight places where the MIG gun won't fit, but the TIG torch will, and maybe to learn basic TIG.

As you go up in price you get more output power, functions, and higher duty cycle.

The ESAB Rebel EMP 215ic Multi-Process machine they have been prompting on Power blocks Extreme Offroad looks nice if you want to learn to weld the different process. This is a dual-input machine so you can plug it in a 110-volt outlet and MIG weld up to 130 Amps @ 20% duty cycle or plug into 230-volt outlet and weld up to 205 Amps @ 25% duty cycle.

http://www.esabna.com/us/en/products/ind...=9504&tab=1

These seem to be selling for $1437 on cyberweld.com or $1435 on weldingsuppliesfromioc.com

Both web stores have good prices on welders.

Duty cycle is the amount of time you can weld in a 10-minute period, so 20% is 2-minutes welding, 8-minutes cool-off time. These ratings are at max power output, so normally you will be welding at a fraction of the max output and duty cycle will be higher. The welder instructions should have a chart of the duty cycle at different outputs based on the input power used.

When I was looking up the machine prices, I noticed Cyberweld has a Tweco Fabricator 181i Multi-process machine that is only $599
http://store.cyberweld.com/tharcfa18miw.html

Machine looks nice, but I think it is 230-Volt input power only?
I have never used one of these, but it has good reviews on the web site?