Welding Equipment

I saw an item on marketplace that intrigued me. A handheld, portable stick welder. I googled it, and found it on sale for 70 bucks at a popular online retailer. I ante'd up my 70 bucks, betting it might just work. It plugs into a 110v outlet and is supposed to be capable of up to 130 amps, 1/8" rod or smaller. It really does sound like a hair dryer on low when it turns on. The unit has cooling fans in it, drawing air from the rear, through it to the front. I cleaned up the edges of a couple pieces of 1/8" scrap steel. Then I gave it a shot at a butt weld. Mind you, I have not tried to stick weld in 35 years or more, and I was pretty bad at it then.

I just got a custom job that should be putting a bit more cash into the smithing budget, and I'm thinking about how best to spend it. One thing I often consider is, "What can I add to my setup that will do the most to expand my shop's capacity?" This time, I'm seriously thinking about adding a torch. I don't anticipate using it for welding (very happy with the wire welding so far) or very often for cutting (the horizontal and vertical bandsaws, the chop saw, and the various handheld saws handle pretty much everything I'm doing these days). What really interests me is the possibility of localized heating outside of the forge for riveting, bending, and the like. Since my sh…

Last weekend I bought this welder- the price was so low, it was too good to pass up! I don't know much about it except that the guy I bought it from bought it new in the early '80s from MW. It seems to be in good condition except for a few minor things. I peeked through the vents and it's really dusty and cobwebby inside- is there anything I should know before I take off the cover and blow out the dirt? The plug also needs to get changed; the previous owner removed the original plug and replaced it with a 125v plug, twisted one of the prongs, and plugged the machine into his (presumably) 220v a/c outlet . I'm not sure if the cord is original or not. All the switches, etc…

I've asked this question on a couple other welding forums without much success so I'm hoping for better luck here... I bought one of these machines for not much money because it had been sitting idle for a while and would not start. I took it to a local Honda generator dealer who got it running for about $600 in parts and labor so it starts easily and runs fine; putting out the correct power at all of the plugs. The engine is strong and the machine only has about 300 hrs on it. However, the welding circuit has a problem because the machine will suddenly put out full power when welding, which melts the weld and rod all over the place. I was welding with it last week …

As documented elsewhere, I recently made the decision to add an oxy-propane torch to my little shop. This naturally creates a need for some way to store the rig and move it around the shop. I had the idea to combine a cart for the tanks with a torch stand such as the ones described HERE and HERE, and this is how far I've gotten. The base is a dolly I picked up at the industrial surplus place. There's a large ring upon which I can put a 20 lb or 30 lb propane tank. The central post is attached to two rings that can hold one or two tanks up to 125 lbs each, although I am planning to start with a single 80 lb. The tall post has a gas saver on top, scre…

My Dad had a Lincoln auto-darkening helmet he used for many years that finally died. It was in just the right spot for a leak in the barn to fill it with water. His Lincoln was on the lower end of what a professional would use. I wish I knew the model, but don’t. Since I do not, my question is probably impossible to answer, but I will try anyway. Are the Hobart Inventor or Creator series helmets good enough for an old guy puttering about in a barn? I don’t want to buy him something which could fail to darken quickly enough or is just generally unreliable.

I am asking this for a friend and my own curiosity, it is not mine. This is a Hobart Beta-Mig 251 that he said started smoking, and he took the cover off to find this. I know I should ask on a welding forum but this is my only social media, I tried Welding Web once and never went back. Any idea? Could build up of dirt cause this? Are those cooling fins? He says it still works. I told him to quit since it was smoking.

Welding semi-newbie here. I'm looking at a hobby level welder to put some tooling together and do general equipment repairs. I will not be doing anything more than maybe a very rare 1/2 inch thick equipment repair with the vast majority of stuff being 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick (think brush hogs with cracked welds or putting together attachment points on frames). I try to buy US made equipment so am willing to pay a premium for US. I'm thinking a Millermatic 211 or a Hobart 240. I have an ancient Lincoln stick welder with my beads being, well, functional but by no stretch pretty. Everything I've read about MIG tells me they are a lot easier to do a decent job. My Linc…

So after many years of fighting with my little Lincoln mig welder, I finally gave in & bought a new machine. I set out searching with a few parameters in mind. I wanted a do all machine. I weld mig, tig, & stick on occasion. Something good for stainless, & carbon steels (I tig copper occasionally as well). I won't weld aluminum, so that wasn't a consideration to me. I wanted light weight & multi voltage 110/220v. Esab Rebel emp 215ic is what I ended up with. Was under $1800 USD (with an extended warranty) from Amazon. Comes with every thing a new welder would need to get started. Tweco mig, tig, & stick leads. Fairly nice Victor regulator (…

Dear All, I have noticed ads for a small, portable arc welder popping up. It is a 110 volt, looks like an oversized electric drill, and takes up to 1/8" rods. You can see it if you google "Temu portable welder." It runs about 80 bucks and the same on on Amazon is about $160. I am not a welder but I wonder if this might be worth the cost in the shop for tack welding, welding pattern welded billets before putting them in the forge, welding on a hunk of rebar for a handle, etc.. It may be too small and is just a novelty. Does anyone have any experience with these little guys or have an opinion (I'm sure there are always lots of opinions out there on IFI. …

Hi. A friend asked me if I had a spare oxygen regulator, since his was broken. I brought him one of my spares (in poor condition, but still worked) and took a close look at his, since I am interested in this kind of thing . Yeah, I know, but that's why I am interested in blacksmithing too. Failure intrigues and inspires me. First, a safety note. When the safety instructions tell you to stand clear of the front of a regulator when you turn on the gas, pay attention! Many of the scary failure modes involve projectiles shooting out along the axis of the control knob. When you turn on the gas, stand behind the cylinder valve on the opposite side of the outlet. These…

I have the old Montgomery ward 230 welder. I’m wiring my shop and don’t see information on what it draws so I need to know the wire size and breaker size to set up. thanks. ken

I have a Lincoln AC/DC 225/125 arc welder purchased from HD in the late '90s. A couple of years ago, I picked up an Everlast 161st, which I now use for the small amount of welding that I do. I haven't gotten around to picking of an Argon bottle for mild steel TIG welding and was thinking of selling my Lincoln to pay for it. Any special reason to keep the old Lincoln? While it's a beast and unlikely to wear out, I don't use it much, don't have a cart for it and it's basically taking up space. As mentioned, I only do a small amount of welding to make shop tools (I have yet to go through 10lbs of rod). Is there any particular capability I would miss if I got rid of it?…

I have a plasma cutter I got cheap (really cheap) because it is three phase. ( it will run on single phase, but the guy who sold it too me did not realize that) it powers on and starts. I can even get the pilot to fire from the panel, but the gun won’t do anything. I put new consumables in it ( cost more than the machine) but I can’t get fire? Any idea what I should look at ( possibly a less questionable machine, yes it has occurred to me) This is one of the newer “rounded” chassis models and is by all appearances and reviews a fine machine, when it works…

I saw an old Lincon vertical DC welder for sale and was thinking it would be good for my situation, I understandthey have an AC motor to run a DC welding generator? I have an 11kw VFD phase converter, witch will not run a normal 3 phase welding transformer but would run an AC motor happily. My AC arc welder is about 70 years old and doesn't work as well as it could thrugh the long run of cable to the shop. I use to have an old garden tractor that had a DC welder on it that was driven off the engine, I really liked that thing.

I've been running my Lincoln ProMIG 140 with flux-core wire for years, mainly because it came to me without a hose and regulator. Having a few bucks available from a recent project, I was thinking of getting the parts to set it up for MIG (hose, regulator, nozzle, gas bottle, wire), but I'm not sure if it would be worth it. Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations? What are the pros and cons?

My dad’s welder doesn’t get hot. A welder repair shop told him it is the gun. I’ve searched online for replacements, but none of them have the same pin arrangement. They all have the same pins as what is in the last photo. Even the online owner’s manual has pins like those in the bottom photo. Has anyone any experience with guns for this welder?

I'm planning to add flashback arrestors to my oxypropane torch, and I'm having trouble figuring out the capacity requirements. Some manufacturers say something like "Rated capacity of 40 SCFH with a 5 PSIG pressure drop". Others won't give a capacity number, but give a chart showing the inlet pressure on the x axis, the scfh on the y axis, and a selection of curves labelled by the difference between inlet pressure and outlet pressure. According to my tips and pressures chart, my existing setup would range from 1 scfh (propane on my smallest brazing tip) to 80 scfh (cutting O2 on my biggest cutting tip). The latter number could theoretically go up to 380 scfh, although I d…

I have to buy a tig welding machine and am looking at a Miller Maxstar 161 TIG Welder. I realize it's the bottom of the line but it is 120 volts and I have to get going. I did a search on here and didn't come up with much. Ifi is my go to, and only forum I post on.. Has anybody used one of these before? I have tig welded once on a friends machine and it was a breeze, but it was a high dollar unit. I can mig and stick weld but am bewildered by this process. But I learn fast on my own. I just need something for light sculpture work. I have the money to buy the gas bottles, tig lead and all that I need but don't have unlimited funds. For heavy stuff I always have m…

I have a medium duty Smith torch and have been debating which oxy/propane rosebud to switch to since I am making the switch for heating from oxy/acetylene to oxy/propane along with new T-grade hoses to my gas saver. I was thinking of purchasing the MT800 although Smith has stopped manufacturing them, I think I found a source. However, the MT 615 sounds appealing if I could adjust the flame so it's not using so much consumables, then I could turn up as needed. Thoughts?

One of the reasons I got my oxypropane torch is to cut circles of sheet steel for making bowls. I've been looking at circle cutting jigs, but decided to make one for myself. Here it is: The scrap assembly that eventually became the base of the stand for a new anvil probably started life as some kind of wheel, so it had a piece of 1/2" plate on either side with a ball bearing press-fit into a hole in the middle. I started by torching out a circular piece around that hole with a bit of a tab on either side (the second tab was intended for a design element that I ended up scrapping, so that got cut off): The next step was to get an extra of the nut tha…

I have a TS8000 attached to my spare propane cylinder via a 12' braided hose. While using it yesterday, I noticed drops of liquid coming out of the nozzle, about a drop every 5 seconds. When the liquid hit the hot metal, it appeared to burn with a yellow flame. It was cold, about 30 degrees F. The tank is chained upright. What is this? It wasn't cold enough for propane to liquify. I just shut it down and didn't mess with it.

I just purchased a 100lb LP tank to be used for dual purpose: Treadle torch with gas saver. Acetylene was too expensive and I found out that I was using too small of a recommended cylinder per Smith's recommendation of: "Acetylene must not be withdrawn at more than 1/7 of the cylinder capacity per hour (50 SCFH for a 350-cu.-ft. cylinder)." Get back to running my propane forge until I finish repairing my masonry forge, plus, the extra heat in the winter. I have used a t-grade hose in the past and want to switch to something a little more protected and do a run of 20 feet to the LP rated gas saver for th…

My shop is located about 100 feet behind my house. If I wanted to run an extension cord out there to power a Lincoln Weldpak 140HD, what kind would I need? Also, am I likely to blow my breakers? I would hope not since these welders are meant for the home shop. Thanks, Rob

Decided to drill my table out into a low budget, low accuracy fixture table. Mainly to make clamping work down easier. My table is 5/8 plate and setup to take 99 5/8” holes at a spacing of 3”. Makes me wish I had a mag drill. But you gotta use what you got I guess. layout pilot holes starting to drill 5/8 holes