Hey guys, i have a few years of welding practice under my belt with mig welding. Im really falling in love with it. Im getting better at it with practice. Starting to lay nice beads with great penetration. I cant bust them with a hammer. Welding varys from really really thin stuff to 3/8th steel Im learing how to tune the welder and know how to do so by thickness and sound. Ive also taught myself how to fill in large gaps like on butt welds and just as well some aukward welds for fun such as welding a flat piece of steel to a round piece of steel. When welding a large gap i will weld a little on one side and more to the other and do a little, little more, other side, little more. This seems to give my molten welds time to cool. Other wise they burn through and dont stay in place. Im getting down the small circles with the tip which seems to give me great beads! Now, i dont have a large budget but when it comes to mig how much and what welders should i be looking at? Im going to a diesel truck mechanic school in indiana and this is how i have been welding for hours and all. We have lincolns, and they seem to work good except for their wire feeding. They love to jam anywhere and everywhere. Its no fun. My teacher told me this is because the surface the wire feeds against is metal. He recomended miller welders because they feed against plastic or something like that. How are your guys experience with lincoln, hobart, miller and other welders. I believe with most the welders i have used they have been lincoln, and when they work they can weld good. Thanks

 

Lincolns are good, Millers are great, and seem to be industry standard for factories. We had mostly Millers in the entire plant, with on antique portable Hobart. The liners usually are wound steel, plastic would wear out pretty fast. Tension and how clean the wire is makes a difference. We also had a little oiler that clipped around the wire, kind of like a little round cloth that we would soak each time we changed the spool. This serves two functions, cleans the wire as well as lube it a little to get through the liner easier. No matter what brand, liners wear out and need replaced every so often. They get grit in them and start to stick like that, and the grit can come from grinding dust, wear of the liner, whatever. That is why the oilers were effective. Another issue can be the tip as well, sometimes they get to dragging as well, either due to grit, or if you get the wire burned back in to far, or even when they wear out, they start arcing at the tip, making it stick.

 

Thanks for the reply. Our lincolns were having spooling problems at the wheels that spool the wire through the handle, in the middle of the steel liners half way between the gun handle and the welder it self, and at the tip but that was a very easy fix (needed to tune the welder better to prevent the spatter and it worked nearly flawless). The lincoln welders seem to work fairly flawless and probably are the best priced i would guess. After replaceing the liner in the welder it worked extremely well. It was very weird though one time i had a single bend right after the spool wheels and right at the opening of the liner. Cut the wire pulled it out, and redid it and worked for a while. But then, i had wire that sprung out around the spool wheels which was so odd. After fixing it that time it worked extremely well! Im just enjoying mig welding so much right now, and from what im being told miller, lincoln, and hobart are all exelent welders. I want to buy high quality instead of waisting my time on a welder that will always be having problems. That will save me no money at all! you get what you pay for. But lets say i had a budget of 2000$, what would be a good start? Also, i was thinking about buying the porta- torch (lincoln electrics small oxyacetyene torch set) for i believe 280$ for small projects or loosing bolts a ways from the house. Is that a reletively cheap investment for small projects?

 

If you have that kind of cash to spend, go for at least a 220V unit, they work much better, and get better penetration. I have a 110v Lincoln, and other than the trigger having a mind of it's own, it works dang good for home shop use. I want to upgrade to a 220V, just have to be able to spend the cash on it, so I just use the 110 for light work, and the 220v stick for heavy stuff. You can get a Lincoln easily for that, might even get into a Miller.

The wire kicking out like that is probably what is called bird caging, where a bunch of extra wire springs off of the spool. You stop that by increasing the tension on the spool to keep it from free wheeling, which allows the wire to unwrap at will. You don't want it so tight the drive rollers slip pulling it, but enough that it won't move on it's own.

On the torch, not a bad price for the set. (assuming the regulators can mount to any tank setup) When buying a torch set, pay attention to the tip, there are generally two styles of tip, Victor and Harris if I recall. They do not interchange. Some of the cheap units don't always trade with either of these, and replacements can be an issue. Also, if you mostly want a torch for cutting and heating, use a propane grill tank, much cheaper. You have to get a propane tip for the torch (the other reason to watch the style tip) and then you can use propane for about $20 and readily available vs 60+ for acetylene. You can lease tanks these days from most welding supply places, best way to go any more.

 

I really dislike running Lincolns for anything other than stick. Millers are what I prefer, but I also have a Hobart Beta Mig 250 for my MIG jobs.

 

These are called the lincoln port- a torches. They seem pretty nice for some small projects i would like to use them for. One example, if im doing a ball joint a ways from the house and im attempting to try to heat it up with propane, then im usually sol. All i do is use a good amount of propane. When i do a project like that i could easily back pack this over there instead of trying to roll the whole cart. I have been finding these for under 300$ so they seem like a great buy. I would like to be able to get my tanks filled and tips replaced fairly easily though. Am i correct when i say the lincoln mig welders may be cheapest? Im thinking so. I dont want any lower quality. People tell me i should just buy a cheapy. What a hassle! You get what you pay for in a welder!

 

That is what I thought you referred. Handy for little jobs, but you will run out of oxygen real fast. I can run for a long time on the propane, but if I am doing a lot of cutting, like a scrap job, I will go through a big tank of oxygen a day. The good thing with that set, you can use the same set on larger tanks as well. They should be a Victor style tip.

 

Back on the small torch set, how can i tell if i can use larger oxygen and acetyene tanks with this set? Just wondering. Can i also substitue a small propane tank like on a large oxyacet set up on a cart? thanks

 

The mounting of the regulator is common, even to the propane tanks. I can switch from grille tanks to acetylene tanks to big propane tanks with the same fitting. The big nut to the tank is the major key. Nut on the oxygen, inside nut on the fuel

 

Wow, i could use propane grill tanks with this set? Well, i would really want to do that, because we fill our own little ones with a 20 pound tank. Would i be able to hook this directly to the 20 pound tank as well? really handy sounds like just the set to start with. I could pack this in my back seat of my car and buckle it in in the up right position. Victor tips are quite common? Great

 

I use 20 pound grille tanks all the time, haven't bothered filling the big one, the grille tanks last a long time as it is. I think I went for a couple years on the big tank...

 

Wow, thats really great to hear! I oughta buy that before that welder then. Thats great. For 300 to 400 dollars i could having a decent small torch which would be something i really needed

 

2 main things I pretty much require in a shop, a torch, and a welder, then the grinders and such, but I don't last long without a torch around.Too many uses, not just cutting.

 

Your telling me, there is a lot my handheld propane torch cant handle. I love using a torch and there are countless uses!

 

Hobart Welders - Products - Wire Feed Welders - Handler 210MVP
This thing looks neat!