Hey Ax..more than I wanted to spend but saw these at Home Depot today..are they equivalent to your Hobart 140?

 

I'll probably get hounded for this, but welding classes are a waste of money for a hobbiest. For that price you could get an excellent machine and a dedicated outlet installed. Most of the welding classes out there, (at least around here) are designed for someone that wants to go into the trade and geared to heavy industrial welding and your final certification. You'd be lucky if they teach anything at all about sheet metal.

Welding is not hard. It does take some trial and error when first starting. Buy some scrap and learn your self. So much gets made about the actual welding and machines. What they won't show you in a traditional welding class is actual fabrication and fit up. That's where it's at in this hobby.

You know how one day you ended up married, and after the wedding you had some drinks and next thing you knew you were naked and next to your new wife? What happened next was easy right? That is welding. The time and hard work you put into the relationship to get you to that point, that is fabrication.

Don't sweat the actual machine too much. Buy what you can. Some of us here are tool *****s. I raise my hand. But definitely get a MIG. Then get some clean steel to practice on. There are several good books available.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lincoln-E...15-1/100670932

The extra 145 for the 180 IMO is a better deal if you are willing to spend that much for the 140. To me it just makes more sense.
I know you directed this question towards Ax but I can't help myself, so I hope I don't upset some of the others or you here. IMHO the Lincoln is of equal quality as the Hobart and I have used the Hobart in my welding class I took while a sheet metal apprentice. I have been using my Lincoln 155 for quite some time and am totally satisfied with it.

 

Wow! I was raised in PBC, and took night classes for arc welding at North Tech. It was like $25.......... That was in 1970, when $25 was a lot of money.

There's a lot of free online instruction these days. There's a guy on YouTube that has an excellent series. search Weldingtipsandtricks ,
Get some metal, and practice.

 

My Turn , I have a Hobart 190 - 22volt Mig it's a great machine however it's tied to my garage . If I was buying again I would get the Hobart 140 and have the ability to take it anywhere . The ability to weld outside away from the garage with flux cored wire would be an asset to me . IMHO

 

I totally agree. With the 140 you can use gas, and weld aluminum.

While you may never weld aluminum, the gas is important when welding sheet metal.

 

I have one of the HD 180 amp weldpaks, bought it on CL new in the box for $400. Normally I would not buy a welder at HD (many items you buy in HD are NOT the same as you can get at the real store, they are made cheaper to keep the price down..John Deere mowers, etc..) but the CL price made it worth the risk.
I have a 120v Lincoln SP 135 I bought at a welding supply store and use it for everything up to 1/8" As I started doing more chassis work I wanted a 220v unit if only for piece of mind.
The 180 weldpak works great, the only thing I do not like (and I am sure it is one of the money saving items) is the heat settings are on steps and not infinitely variable like on my 140 amp machine. Sometimes you need a heat setting between two selections and cant get it, so you have to learn to deal with that.
If I only had one welder I would get one with variable power output and not with set numbered outputs.
I have read good things about the Eastwood stuff, and if I was going to buy an eastwood 220v machine until I found the CL deal.

 

I bought mine years ago and have used it for many projects.

 

I took a vocational welding class about 40 years ago.
It was not a total waste of or money,but it became a problem when the welding machines had problems because of abuse.

 

When I retired, my co-workers got me a gift certificate to the Riverside Vocademy, where welding is one of the things they teach. I took three 4-hour classes for basic MIG welding for under $500 including the materials fees. Since I had never welded anything before taking the classes, I felt it was well worth the time spent. Of course, for me 2/3 of the cost was covered by my co-workers gift.

Check your area for a local vocational school. Sure, you can watch YouTube videos all day long, but no one will tell you what you're doing wrong.

 

Just post up some pictures, and someone will be with you, shortly!

 

I also have the Lincoln 140 for light stuff. For heavier (1/8" and up) steel I have a Miller stick machine with 60' of hot lead and 30' of ground lead in the shop.

 

^^^^^^^ This

I love my Lincoln MP210. I bought it without the TIG setup and saves a few bucks. Now the TIG setup is available with after market parts see ebay.

Brad