Anyone know anything about welders? I just want something inexpesive to learn on and use for exhaust work on my car and smaller projects. Theres a Lincoln Hobby Weld on Sale at CT this week but I have no clue about this and what to look for. I did a little research and so far they suggest MIG for the everyday user since its easier to learn etc.

Anyone have any input on the Hobby Weld and or welders in general.

thanks.

is it a MIG welder (wire feed) or is it an arc welder ?

if its a MIg welder it will most likey be a flux core (just means you dont have to use the gas for welding) the dont work bad but have a really really low duty cycle.

the migs are gas sheild - you use an argon gas to sheild the wrok being welded. flux alows you weld with out the gas

as for the arc welder you can weld think material withthem but it is much harderto learn to use


duty cycle - the amount of timme you can actually be welding ..

i used to work for a custom exhaust shop we used mig welders (with the argon mixed gas) big lincon welders - nice units ! with a big duty cycle. wire was .030" .. i became a very very good welder from the time i spent there

i have also a small century mig (flux core) and mid sized miller. - i like the miller but it still dosent have the versitility of the big lincons ...

any thing else you want to know ?

oh always were a welding mask with the proper shade tint - been there done that !!... auto darkening is sweet but will cost some more coin - the one that come with the welder will do

and it usually a good idea to wear a long sleve shirt when your welding ( sun burn !!)

have you looked at the princess auto catolog ?

there are some tutorials on - http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowl...icles/list.asp

all in all if you plan on doin alot of welding save for the biggest dusy cycle you can get - the gas is also a really nice option but will cost you some more$$ ...

the next welder i get is gonna be a TIG - oh so nice [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[ November 18, 2003, 10:59 PM: Message edited by: johnson ]

thanks johnson

Im not sure what the Hobby Weld is they dont really say

Heres a PDF of it

http://content.lincolnelectric.com/p...r/im/Im681.pdf

From the pic it doens't look MIG because it has some rods beside it.

I looked at the princess auto catalogue and they seem to have some cheap Mig units. With mig though do I need gas or can I just run it without? I coulda swore Ive seen some mig units run off AC without them using gas or maybe it was a diff machine.

thanks though :D

I never did work at a custom exhaust shop but if you consider a jouneyman welder that works in a stell shop good enough, then yeah I might be able to help.

It all depends on the kind of money you are will to spend. For your application I sugeest a 100 amp wire fed welder using solid .035 or smaller wire with a shielding gas. You could get away with a gasless flux core welder but the solid ones with the shileding gas is much easier and cleaner welding.

Not always true.

You can use it smaller stuff but yes they are harder to use and I also do suggest a wire fed welder

True low duty cycles suck. Try to find something in the 60% range in your power range. Remember that duty cycles are rated based upon output. So if you have a 50% duty cycle @ 100 amps then at 50 amps you could use it all day long.

Get something in the 10-12 range for shade.

Please cover all exposed skin.

X

according to the pdf that welder is just a 50 amp "buzz box"

it's an arc welder with a fixed output of 50 amps ........

IMO total crap don't touch it......

I'm no welder but from what I've seen my dad use if you want an arc get a 250 amp ac/dc arc welder for at home hobby use

I like the wire feeds myself [img]smile.gif[/img]

Princess Auto has a Deca Arc welder on sale this week

70 AMP
ARC WELDER
• 20 amp 115V AC input
• 70A @ 15% duty cycle
• Automatic thermal shut-down protection
• Variable heat settings
• Uses 1/16" or 5/64" welding rods
2 YEAR WARRANTY
with A 5 YEAR
WARRANTY ON THE
TRANSFORMER.

any good?

http://www.millerwelds.com/ I think they make some decent welders. We had the 135 (120 volt) at our shop, just swapped it for the 175 (220 volt).

Thanks everyone for the responses. I appreciate it. I have been doing some reading on my own and seems like Arc welders are very nice but are tricky to use thats why alot dont use them because of that fact, but I might look into picking one up and trying since they seem cheap and usually if Im dedicated to something I will learn it after awhile :D

practice practice practice...at a shop i worked in, we had an arc welder, and after work for an hr or 2 each day, i would just sit there with a box of scrap steel, and a box of rods, and weld my heart out...just keep at it, and its not THAT hard to learn.

arc welders are great, metal shop [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

but you need power, different metals different power.. thicknesses I mean.