There is a great site to get welder information from some people who are very helpful and knowledgable. Actually those guys are who pointed me toward FTE. Although the forum is accessible through and sponsored by Hobart, they have info and recommendations on all brands.

Go to: www.hobartwelders.com and click on Weld Talk at the top. Great welding info can be had there.

Have a great day,
Doc

 

silverbullet2000

you should probably buy a decent sitck welder and learn to weld on that before you get a mig I have been welding for about 2 years now and have learned its like a car once you can drive a "stick" you can drive an automatic. yes a mig is more convenient but s tick welder will do every thing you will need it to for less money

 

I've been tryin' to figure out what would be halfway decent for me based on your guys's advice. I would go with a stick welder but if I'm spending $200-250 on something like this, I would rather just fork out another $100 for a mig. So by that rational, let me know what you guys think of this unit. I looked at the big names, Hobart, Lincoln, etc. and they're just way more than I want to spend. I'm not sure if craftsman makes decent welders but let me know what you guys think. Click here

If that doesn't work, it's Sears item # 00920569000, model # 20569

Thanks again for the feedback every, it's much appreciated. By the way, this is gonna be a b-day present from my girlfriend so pick me a good one! ha ha.

EDIT: Ok, after reading more around this forum, I see it might be best to learn with a stick. So I want to spend around $250 or so, what does everyone recommend?

 

Check out the good 'ol Lincoln headstone 'buzz box' AC stick welder (225 amp output) at www.weldingmart.com, $280 and free shipping too! The AC/DC model is $400. Both run on 220v, have been around forever and won't let you down. They also have the Miller Thunderbolts for $270 and $380 (AC, AC/DC). No free shipping on the Millers though .

You won't go wrong with any of those .

 

I bought an old Lincoln 225- 220 unit a couple of years ago along with a gas
welding & cutting rig for 200.00 from a guy who didn't need them any more.
I have no Idea how old this Lincoln is but it still works like a new one I used
to use that a friend had and will weld weld almost anything as long as it's steel as it has two BIG copper coils in it. Of course the draw back being that it's stick, The last few years that I welded on the job I used a Miller mig unit
and let me tell you it's hard for a shakey old man to go back to stick. Learn
Stick first or you probably never will.

rls58f100

 

I recently bought a little 125 FarmHand from a guy to do bodywork with. He
had bought it at a local farm store that I had delt with before so I called them before I bought it & talked to the guy who sold it, found out it would be just what I was looking for & was only 6 mos old & still under warranty and
was $100.00 less than he paid for it. So far I've built a Welding table &
installed 3 patch panels. This Machine has flux core wire in it right now but it
can take a gas bottle also. I haven't had a problem one with it & got another
helmut with it to boot.

rlangs58

 

Hey sliverbullet - on most of the 'gas-less' MIG welders, they have kits that allow you to attach an argon/CO2 bottle to. The kit is usually just a factory-preset requlator and a plastic tube that runs to a nipple on the back of the machine. On mine, it came as 'gas-less' but was also sold with the regulator, so all I had to get was the bottle and 3' of 1/4 fuel line to go from the regulator to a brass nipple on the back of the machine. The tube was already installed in the cord and welding gun.

Looking at the site, it appears that the only wire-feed welder they offer WITH gas is their $459 Lincoln. All the rest are just wire-feed buzz-boxes...

 

Thanks again for the help guys. I ended up going with the Lincoln Electric AC/DC 225. It seemed that learning with stick is the way to go and this machine seemed to cover it all. Hopefully it'll be here this week! Can't wait to start!

 

You will not be disappointed it's a good machine and I have a friend who has used one for 30 years & never had a problem with it.

Ron

rlangs58