Starting off welding

[fasterz]

would this be an ok machine to weld with to learn the techniques and processes? what would you reccomend, mosly i will be welding mild steel and chromoly, will this do that? it wont be any thinker than 1/4 inch. Will i need to have a bigger outlet installed or any thign special to run this in my garage? thanks

http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/weldingdepot/WE6519.html

[ZRider400]

that would be good to learn on...

the welder i learned on was a MIG welder. It makes alot nicer welds than a stick welder. but ofcourse they cost more $$$

[mojoe2878]

that would be an ok one to learn on. with it only goin up to 130 amps you really wont be able to weld anything thicker than a 1/4 inch, or you could it just wont get good penetration on thick metals. with it being so small it might plug into a regular wall socket, if not you will need to install a bigger 220volt plug. practice weleding a lot and you will get good, at first your gonna burn a lot of holes and get a lot of splatter probably. and correct rod selection for what your welding is also key.
MIG welders are good but like he said there high too, and you gotta use a argon tank with a MIG welder, get a MIG and you wont have any problems learnin, any retard can weld with one.

[TheX1992]

My father has one of those at work. He says they are great for boat anchors lol. Yes they are convinent seeing that they just take normal outlet power, but in that, they hardly push out enough power to make it worthwhile. The power is so small that you can hardly get a good weld out of it. If you want to get something worth your money, go for a 220volt arc welder. It will be 10 times better than that thing. Just my opinion from what I have heard on those. I do have a 120volt wirefeed welder that works just fine, but arc draws to much juice to put it on 120.

[400exdad]

I've been welding for some now and I'll tell you this: I've learned that is does pay off to pay more for a name brand machine. I have never heard of Clarke, but they may be good machine. However, the purchase price says a lot. I started out with an AC stick welder (Craftsman) and I still have it. However, I have never really liked it and can tell you that when I have used a better stick welder and DC, it was night and day difference. The arc is much more stable with a good machine. Just FYI, in Harbor Freight yesterday, I saw a small AC/DC machine pretty cheap... but then again it was Chicago Electric. Good or Bad, I don't know.

My next welder was an off brand gasless mig. I cheaped out and ended up with a machine I couldn't buy parts for, but it did the job, with a few bumps along the way and some custom parts. Now, I have a Lincoln mig with gas on it. I love it! But, I finally had to spend some $$ to get it.

I know I wasn't much help, but I'll tell you that if you try out a cheap AC welder and then use a good DC welder, you, even as a beginner, will be able to tell the difference. My advice is to watch the sale ads or newpaper for a good used (stick) welder, if that is what you want. However, since you are saying that you plan not to weld over 1/4" a mig would be your best bet. I paid like $429 for my Lincoln and while it is not the most powerful, it will do what I need it to. I just added the gas which I am just now getting used to.

Now, as far as chrome moly, I don't have any experience with that. I'm not sure if you need the gas or even a tig on that.

[EXJUMPER]

Make sure you know what you are doing before you try to weld up chromoly.

[d-14 rider 27]

chromoly welds damn near identical to mild steel you use steel filler material and everything, as far as buying a machine, stick with decent brands dont buy your stuff out of a catalog or at sears or something like that go to a welding supply house , your gonna pay some extra money, but its worth it in the long run stick with the top brands for machines like miller, lincoln, esab, etc.. and try to come up with the cash for a 220 volt machine you will be a lot happier. i have a miller syncrowave 180 just a little air cooled tig welder, and even with spending 1800 on that i wish now i woulda dumped an extra couple hundred bucks and got the 250 with a water cooled torch, but for a biginner find you a decent mig welder, ask the supply houses about any used machines or look for them online a great mig welder is a millermatic 250 and you can usually find those used as they are a very popular machine.

[Woodsrider]

Unless you're welding cast or .250 and up, dont wast your time and money on a stick welder. Buy a good MIG that will run flux core, and solid core with a cover gas. A good dual MIG should run you about $400 to $450. learn with the flux core wire, and get good at it. Then buy your bottle and a spool of solid core wire and learn that. I personally like the versatility of flux core because I can weld anywhere anytime. With a cover gas, you have to weld in side or behind a wind break.

As for size, when I started shopping for mine I thought I would need a big *** 220 monster welder. After talking to a few guys at the welder supply store and some folks who do a lot of welding, I decided that a 110V, 135A mig welder was all I would ever need.
I have welded recovery hooks on jeep frames, repaired frames, and so much more with a 110 welder. It will weld 3/16th in a single pass. But if I need to weld thicker than that I just run multiple passes.
Welding is an art, dont get discouraged when your first few things end up with big *** burn holes, or welds that dont hold.
Plan to have a lot of scrap on hand to practice on and have fun with it. Before you know it you'll be welding frames on your buddies quads. Or adding tiedown points an trailers. The possiblities are endless.

[EXJUMPER]

Originally posted by d-14 rider 27
chromoly welds damn near identical to mild steel you use steel filler material and everything, as far as buying a machine, stick with decent brands dont buy your stuff out of a catalog or at sears or something like that go to a welding supply house , your gonna pay some extra money, but its worth it in the long run stick with the top brands for machines like miller, lincoln, esab, etc.. and try to come up with the cash for a 220 volt machine you will be a lot happier. i have a miller syncrowave 180 just a little air cooled tig welder, and even with spending 1800 on that i wish now i woulda dumped an extra couple hundred bucks and got the 250 with a water cooled torch, but for a biginner find you a decent mig welder, ask the supply houses about any used machines or look for them online a great mig welder is a millermatic 250 and you can usually find those used as they are a very popular machine.

Ok.....If you are going to weld Chromoly with a mig or arc welder you have to preheat, even some suggest post heating. If you do not do this the area around the weld WILL get britle and crack. The best and strongest way to weld Chromo is with a tig welder.

[d-14 rider 27]

Originally posted by EXJUMPER
Ok.....If you are going to weld Chromoly with a mig or arc welder you have to preheat, even some suggest post heating. If you do not do this the area around the weld WILL get britle and crack. The best and strongest way to weld Chromo is with a tig welder.

correct tig is the only way to go, unless your dealing with heavier wall chromoly a guy down the street makes $50,000+ long travel buggies and he mig welds everything without pre/postheat, but its some heavy duty stuff.

[450rboy]

Originally posted by ZRider400
that would be good to learn on...

the welder i learned on was a MIG welder. It makes alot nicer welds than a stick welder. but ofcourse they cost more $$$

meg welders are easyer to learn on but learned on a stick welder and i can't mig weld very good. i better at stick welding than mig welding. and my welds looks a lot better