What Welder to buy

[Scarsorie]

Hey everyone i had a question about what welder to buy. Im 16 and i have been welding since i was 15 (about 1 1/2 years) and im not a pro yet but im not that bad. Considering my level of skill... what would be a good welder to buy for my garage?

[fun4now]

price,power, and use ???

how much can you spend and what do you intend to do with it?
i got gas O/A setup first it alowed me to cut and weld, then i got a MM135.great lil welder verry handy and portable runs off 110V plug no problem.
if you have acess to a 220V outlet you might concider the MM175, bit more bite as it were. should handle anything around the home garage.

it realy depends more on how much $$$ you have, what power you have available, and what you want to do.

you can lern to use any welder but you cant lern to have more power(110V to 220V) lerning a new welder is sometimes easyer than getting more power to run it.

concider what power you have, bolth volt's and amps. some welders take 220V and over 60Amps. thats a lot for most home garages.

concider your budget. how much you got to spend and can you wait to save up some more. you want to buy the most you can get to keep from wanting or needing to upgrade right away.

concider what you intend to weld. if everything you intend to or think you will weld is 1/8" or less then get a welder that will weld 1/4"


skill level is the easyest thing to overcome you can always take a class or practice to be a better welder

[arcdawg]

skill level is the easyest thing to overcome you can always take a class or practice to be a better welder

yeah fun is 100% right.........the biggest hurdle is the cashflow problem

best bet is a mm210/251 mig so you can do steel s.s. and aluminum

and learn it pretty quickly

if not go with a o/a set up so you can cut weld and braze and not be dependent on electricity !

dawg

[hankj]

Hi there, Scarsorie. Welcome to the forum.

What process(es) do you have experience with? What are you interested in doing? Give us a little more information, and we can help you male an informed decision.

Hank

[Mike W]

I would get an oxy/act rig sooner or later. You will end up needing to cut metal that a bandsaw won't handle. A hacksaw gets old real fast.

[fun4now]

O/A rig

dont leave out the fun factor of the O/A setup

gota love the flame

it can be a bit hard to master the O/A weld

[ChrisDaWelder]

Instead of a O/A rig get oxypropane. Its much safer and cuts quicker. The only thing is tha u have to be good to get a nice smooth cut. The Oxypropane is a little cheaper.

[hankj]

Chris,

I'm confused.

If the temperature of acetylene burned in oxygen is 5589°F, and the temperature of Propane burned in oxygen is 4579°F, and the kindling temperature of mild steel is 1600°F, and that once the kindling temerature is reached, the pure oxygen stream and the generated heat from the burning slag will sustain the cutting process WITHOUT the presence of a fuel gas, how does oxy/propane cut faster?

It seems to me that the mixture that heats the steel to kindling temperature the quickest would be the faster method.

Any explanation would be appreciated!

Hank

[austy888]

the mm 135, 175, 210 are all great welders. the 210 hooksup for aluminum mig plug and play. i am also a young welder(21 yrs) and i am stilll learning for and more every day. if you are going to get an oxy/acl torch buy one with welding tips also. hen buy the welders handbook by victor. i learned to oxy weld and the transition to tig welding was alot easier than i thought. just some good advice. depending on cashflow though i would splurge for the mm 210. good luck. drop me a line if you have any questions about tig.