Anything welding

what do you guys think about the hobart 125? i found one on craigslist for 200 obo and im thinking about picking it up. It would be my first welder so i would basically be learning on it. i will be taught how to weld in the spring at school but this will give me something to do over winter break. i would probably want to build a lightbar similar to the nfab bar and probably some bed bars to put yakima bike trays and maybe snowboard holders on. do you guys think that kind of stuff would be possible with a hobart 125?

i dont think the metal would need to be too thick especially when i first start, but the bed bars might be near the higher end of the mfg recommendations for thickness

 

I'm in pretty much the same exact position except I just finished my welding class. I want a welder pretty bad, but am thinking I will just wait till I see a good one on craigslist...

Also its a pretty good price. I'm not sure how well a welder like this would weld at the at its max though. You might want to wait till after your class and pick one up right before summer?

 

You're going to want to go bigger. It may be all you need right now, but as you start learning you are going to wish you had a bigger machine

 

im wanting to get something bigger . just trying to decide if i want sationary or mobile

 

yeah i thought about that too, idk i guess it really depends on when i find the right deal.

yeah thats what im worried about, ive wanted to pick up a welder for a while. the only thing im worried about though is that i buy a more expensive/better one and end up not using it. the other thing is that i only have access to a standard outlet at the moment, i dont know if i would be able to get bigger one installed. decisions decisions...

 

I'm in the market for a welder myself. I'd look at the Hobart 190. It's 220v and they come reconditioned off Amazon for $500. Not bad of a deal and basically are brand new. But if you only have 110 then I'd look at the Hobart 140. It will handle most welding needs for a while and plenty of guys have built bumpers and the such using them. You can do thicker steel with the 110 welders, but you just have to go slower and make more passes than with a 220 machine.

 

ive been looking at the 140, thats what i really want but have not seen any on craigslist. ebay has one for a little less than 300 at the moment, from the pics it looks good and the seller has good ratings but idk. ill have to see if there are any reconditioned on Amazon.

 

If you have a choice between 110v and a 110v/220v machine, take the 110v/220v.

 

Yeah one of the members on T4R got a 140 and it had an issue with the gun not working properly. He called Hobart and had a new gun overnighted to him. He also had a small slice in a cord and they overnighted that part as well. It's almost worth it to spend the 420 for one if there isn't anything great on craigslist nearby. I plan on getting the 190, but I'm not sure when. The welder is expensive enough, but the rest of the stuff (regulator, bottle, clamps and so on) gets really expensive. It's not cheap to start, but I've had a blast in my class.

 

If you plan on welding anything heavy you need a welder with 220 input, I got the Lincoln Powermig 215 and it can weld anything i would ever need and i would stick with a name brand so in 10 years you can still find parts for it...just my 2 cents

 

Are you saying hobart isn't name brand? They are made by miller and use the same parts

 

I don't think he's saying that. At least I didn't interpret it that way.

 

no i am aware of that miller and hobart share the same parts they are good quality welders and they are name brand welders, we have alittle hobart 140 and it welds great and my grandpa has a miller that has been through hell and it welds good, im just saying dont get a no name welder like one from harbour frieght or similar

and the 140 i have set on the highest setting...when i am welding exhaust, so i would look at the 190 or bigger

 

I just got me the Harbor freight Welder a couple weeks ago. Bc it was on sale and Ive always wanted to learn. So I descided to practice with this for awhile and to do small jobs were Im not worried about being pertty and such...
But I think im going to get the Lincoln either 140 or the 180 mig, later on to do some nice work and learn mig welding..

 

Need some quick advice, I took an arc welding class (stick & MIG) this fall and learned a lot. I'm now able to sign up for more classes, but I'm torn on whether I should take the advanced class or if I should just apply the money it costs for the class ($160) to a welder and start practicing at home on things. What do you guys think? We don't do any projects in the class, just bead after bead. Kind of gets boring and I was a bit burnt out these last two weeks.

 

Buy a welder unless you are taking classes to work toward a certification

 

I'd do this. And start building stuff I wanted.

 

Buy the welder. Unless you think you would weld aluminum... Then I'd take the class. I'm in the same position as you but our class had TIG and brazing, and oxy acetalene too

 

That's what I was thinking as it would take me years to complete the certification. I can only take one class a semester, so it would take a long time.

Haha, sounds good to me. I have a few people already asking if I could help with some stuff.

They have a TIG/Oxy class, but I wouldn't even be able to afford a TIG machine for a long time anyways. I do have a oxy/acte set up from my neighbor that I need to check out and fix up. It's pretty complete, I just need some odd and ends.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

Rob-Just in case you wanted to run TIG, you could hit up the Tech Shop in San Jose. I think you have to take a "safety class" but otherwise, they have MIG/TIG machines. Maybe stick too-I forget.