Welder NEWB, what to get.

I've been learning how to weld at work and on my spare time at home and am ready to purchase my own mig welder. I was looking at the Lincoln Electric 140 and the 180. I like the 140 because I won't need to run a 220V line in the garage. But I worry the 140 won't have enough amperage to get the job done properly. I see it says up to 3/16" thick carbon steel but that is max. The most I would be doing is bumpers, rock sliders, and skid plates and they'd never be any thicker than 3/16". That being said, should I just get the 180 to be on the safe side or is the 140 plenty? The Home Depot has a 140 for $525 right now which is a sweet price, the 180 is $670.

 

I got a Lincoln 135SP plus a number of years ago. It's a nice machine that I originally got to weld floors and quarter panels on a car I restored. For thicker projects, I put together two bumpers on my old truck - It did the job but if I were to do it again, I'd go with the 180. My preference is infinite voltage and wire speeds vs set voltage output taps. I got mine through a welding gas supply house. They had the best price out the door once the bottle of gas and helmet was included.

 

This was one of my same thoughts. I figured the 140 would be great for thin sheet metal work, not so much on heavy steel bumpers. There is a company local called Earl Beck here in Baltimore, figured I'd run up there and talk to someone and see where I am at cost wise.

 

I wanted to jump in on this tread as the guy who 15 years ago was where the beginners are now. You can read my story below, but here is my advise as a former beginner: buy a 110 volt, gas/flux core, Lincoln/Miller/Hobart mig welder. YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY. Every home handyman should have a 110 volt welder because it will do 90% of what needs to be done. (and because it is 110 it can be used anywhere) And, don't skimp on the tool. IMHO its better to cry once about the price than to cry every time you use the tool. Once you have a welder it will get used more often than you think it might.

Learning to weld, its not that hard with a mig. I tell my non-welding friends its like a hot glue gun that uses a steel wire for glue. Watch youtube, practice on scrap and before you know it you'll be making strong welds on 1/4" steel with multiple passes.

Beginners advice for regarding 220 volt, stick, TIG and other confusions. After years of welding as a home handyman I can tell you to read what others say but buy the MIG. There are times I'd love a big 220 volt MIG, usually after the 3rd or 4th pass on that 1/4" plate. And a TIG for body panels, oh it would be nice. But my tool budget is limited so the little 110 volt Miller is what I use. (besides I'm lusting after a plasma cutter )

My story:
A bud had spent $1,200 on a bumper for his rig. Being a handy sort I looked real closely at what he had bought and thought "that's not too complex, I can do it myself." I didn't know a thing about welding, but I've never let ignorance stop me from doing something. (that's had good and bad consequences BTW ) And, given the choice between buying something or buying the tools to build it, I go with buying tools 8 times out of 10.

So, with a budget of $1,200 I set out to build my own bumper. I cruised the internet and back then the advise was the same as now, buy a good Lincoln/Miller/Hobart mig welder. I found a welding supply house with a friendly guy behind the counter that knew what he was talking about and threw myself on his mercy. He set me up with all the stuff you need to weld, which believe me is more than just the machine. I bought the Millermatic 140. A good solid little 110 volt welder with the ability to do gas and flux core welding. After I bought a band saw, some files, a grinder and some steel for the bumper my total out of pocket was just around $1,200.

Long story short, the bumper turned out 10 times better than my bud's. It survived years of abuse on the rocks, my bud's bumper, well not so much. Years later when I wanted to build an improved version, the first bumper sold for enough to buy all the steel for its replacement.

15 years later the Miller welder is still going strong. It has built/repaired more things than I can remember. The Harbor Freight band saw was a complete pile of poo. But, the Harbor Freight auto darkening welding mask works great and was a fraction of the pro models. (I know I said don't buy harbor freight, but do as I say, not as I do )

AND you are going to need a few more tools too! The ones in red are a must.

• An angle grinder. You will have to have one of these. For every minute of welding this thing runs for at least 20. I have 2, one with a cutoff wheel and one with a flap wheel for removing mill scale, rust, and contouring thick pieces. I lived with one for quite a while by changing the wheels as needed. Mine are Harbor Freight and other than being noisy and vibrating obnoxiously do the job.
• Metal files for when the grinder won't fit. I only have 3 or 4 in different shapes.
• A welding mask. I started with an old school flip down mask. Don't bother, buy an auto darkening mask. I picked this one up from HF on sale for $50. The kids use the old one for Halloween now.
• Lens covers for your welding mask.
• A couple of these magnets to hold things square.
• Clamps to hold things. Some guys might be able to hold the piece, and the MIG torch and get the weld started without messing up, but I'm not one of them. I have to clamp the pieces where I need them. Most of my clamps have plastic ends so they have to be removed after starting to keep from melting them. I do have one metal clamp for welding. The plastic ones are more useful for other things so I put up with having to remove them.
• MIG welding pliers. Use them for cutting the little ball off the MIG wire, the square tips remove slag from the tip, and the round griper helps unscrew the tips below.
• Spare welding tips. You will melt them from time to time and you need different sizes depending on the wire you are using.
• Different gauge welding wire. Depending on what you are doing you will need different thicknesses.
• Soap stone markers. They leave a heat resistant white line that you can see while welding. What no one tells you is when you are welding the only thing you can see is the arc. I can barely see the soap stone line.
• A gas cylinder. I rent mine from the welding supply place, but they want a deposit up front. I started with a small one like this, but quickly upgraded to the bigger size. (without this you have to run flux core wire. Personally I don't like it because it spits and splatters more than using plain wire with gas. That said I use it when welding fences in the wind.)
• A welding cart. My little Miller weighs 60#, the bottle 30# and they are never close to where I want to weld. A lot of guys make their cart as the first project, buy it or build it you will want one.
• Welding gloves. You are melting steel with electricity and creating huge amounts of heat and radiation and your hands are only inches from puddles of molten steel.
• Welding sleeves or long sleeve shirt. You will burn holes in your clothing. If you don't protect bare skin you will get the nastiest sun burn you've ever had. (don't ask me how I know this )
• A tool box. I like to keep all the welding tools in the same place. Mine has separate compartments for the welding tips which is really nice.
• A way to cut metal. Depending on the project this is the hardest part for me. The HF band saw I had would never cut a straight line through anything. I fussed with that thing for hours and hours and hours. Finally the motor burned up and I gave it way. Now I use my jig saw and a cut off wheel. Maybe some day I'll get a plasma cutter.

Depending on what you already have these "extras" are going to add about $150 to $300 + dollars to your budget. And you've haven't bought your first piece of steel yet, be prepared for sticker shock, especially if you go to the big box stores. I buy mine from dedicated metal shops, and it's still expensive.


Over the years my welder has paid for itself many times over. My last project looked like this:


The complete cost was a fraction of a comparable one off the shelf. Off the shelf wouldn't have the cool touches like the spider web, or the satisfaction of being better and cheaper than your buds. Getting started with welding ain't cheap, but over time you will have cooler, better stuff than anyone else

 

I have said this...just never acted upon it.

 

Finally got all things that are good. My stepdad gave me a Miller 110v flux core welder, I picked up magnets, tips, gloves, wire brushes, soap stones, helmet, straps and wire. Then my secret Santa sent me even more welding gear which was great. I've been practicing after work with a Miller 350 mig welder and then at home with the flux core. Soon I plan to get a good multi voltage miller mig welder but for now the flux core is perfect for tacking things together.

 

Yup. I'll be making my bumpers and skid plates soon. Working on sliders now, hope to have them done real soon.

 

Now that I am getting more and more into fabbing parts that require weld, I picked this up today. Lincoln 115/230V MIG/TIG/Stick welder. Only 40lbs and $900! Extremely easy to use and lays a really nice bead. Fabbing up what I hope to be my last revision on 100% full bolt on rock sliders this weekend.

 

nice machine glad to see you bought a little bigger machine than you first intended ,as your skills grow you will tackle bigger projects . it never hurts to have a little more power than you need. congrats

 

I see first hand so many people make this mistake .

They weld at work with lets say any of the industrial welders of your favorite color.

About a year down the road they figure I am tired of dragging projects to work after putting in 12 hour days.

Buy what ever is Popular at the Time and within Budget try welding with the new toy .

Now very few have never used a small 120 VAC welder and the only thing they can compare it with is what they use at work.

So it gets boxed up and brought in !! Only in most cases to work right at or better then factory specs. Now they are upset Just paying around $100.00 to be told there welder is fine.

Now we are only one place and have a few like this every month.