What Welder do you recommend

[Oregon Duck]

I need a good welder, flux core wire, and that will plug in to any outlet. It should also be able to weld tool grade steel along with the regular stuff around the forge. Something very portable that i could just pick up and throw in the truck, no tanks just grab and go!

      I want to know what you recommend and why! 

[jmccustomknives]

My personal preferance is the Miller Matic 211.  It will plug into 115 or 230v outlets and it's not an inverter.  The inverters are cheaper but they have a limited life (ave 5 years).  The welding tool steel is tricky, but I do it all the time.  After welding you reheat the piece to a nice red heat and with a small hammer forge the weld.  Without doing this the weld will break easily.  Lincolns version is about the same price but doesn't have the output that the Miller has (that's why they give free stuff).

There are other machines by Thermodyne and Miller that are inverter based and will stick/tig/mig (the Miller is quite pricey) that are light weight and portable.  You can count on a good transformer based machine to last 10-15 years.  Mine is 12ish.

 

I've been selling welders since 1994.

 

one a side note, I look forward to seeing an Alabama vs Oregon national champ game.  It will be the heavy machinery vs fast and furious.  Lets hope niether trip up this week.

[DSW]

You would be best off with a good name brand unit, Miller, Hobart or Lincoln. Cheaper units often have QC issue that make them feed erratically and thus tough to get decent weld with. You want to look for a unit with the most amps possible, so you are looking at 130 to 140 amps in a small 110v mig.

 

Now the down sides. With 110v power you are very limited in output. Most units will want a dedicated 20 amp line to get full power. on a 15 amp line or on a long extension cord, or other items on the circuit, your power will be seriously limited. With a small mig like this. expect the best you will get with solid welds will be 1/8" material under real world conditions on a 20 amp dedicated line despite what the manual might say. Manufacturers over rate these small migs. They get away with this because they do super short welds to stay inside the extremely low duty cycle at max output, and they run them on 120v 30 amp power to maximize the input so that the incoming power doesn't limit the machine any more than possible. Unfortunately none of those conditions are helpful to the end user.

 

Miller used to make a unit called the Passport or Passport Plus. It was an inverter based small portable mig designed to use FC wire or small CO2 cylinders like the paintball guys use that fit inside the case. Max thickness on this was a bit higher than most small 110v migs, but not by much, maybe 1/16". They were also pretty expensive. Miller dropped the Passport sadly when they brought out their new multi purpose mig/tig/stick machine this year, the Multimatic. It's performance is supposed to be similar to the passport on 110v power. but it's even more expensive. It would give you the option to do DC tig or stick on both 110v power or 230v power. Edit: BTW the Passport is also a multi voltage unit on 230v it will do 3/8" mig.

 

 

 

My honest recommendation would be to look at some of the variable voltage migs that are out on the market now. Millers MM211 and Hobarts HH210MVP have a good reputation. On 110v power they are still limited to 1/8" under real world conditions. However both can be plugged into 230v power as well on on 230v power they will do 3/8". You get the best of both worlds, 110v portability with the most output available in small standard units, and 230v power for at the shop. They units aren't light, though they are portable. And they do cost more than a single 110v mig. Lincoln also makes a unit, but it's 180 amp max vs 200 amps of the Hobart and Miller. That means you top out at 1/4" on 230v. Thermal Arc is also supposed to have a multi voltage mig, but I haven't looked at it yet. Of the bunch on a budget, I'd go with the Hobart vs the Miller. You give up the continuous voltage of the Miller and the parts aren't quite as robust, but they are owned by the same parent company (ITW) and many of the parts are interchangeable.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

For small portability I love my old model Lincoln SP-100

[John McPherson]

Whatever unit you buy, get it from a welding supply house, not a big box store. The homeowner units are all foreign made and lower quality, with short warrenties. The pro editions are usually US made, pricier, but worth it. Older used machines may be US made as well, read the labels.

 

The 120/240V and 120V only MillerMatics have both held up well in our school fab shop with flux core and solid wire for several years. Despite the TLC lavished on them by students.

[Timothy Miller]

your not going to do to well flux core welding "tool grade steel"  Unless you follow careful procedure.  I have been a welder for about 18 years I have never liked using the smaller flux core welders. It kind of felt like I was playing with an lazy bake oven and not a real welding machine.   I bought a miller 250 when I opened for $1800 in 1998 its still going strong and making me money.  Its not a portable machine but I have not one regret about buying it.  I also have a ranger 8 welder generator that I bought in 1999 its still going strong I paid 2500 for it.  I guess if you are doing auto body work the 120V welders are the right tool for the job.  But if you want to weld up 1/2" steel in one pass your not going to do it.  I have never regretted buying good tools.  I have regretted buying cheep and underpowered tools though.

[petere76]

Duck,

In the shop for small work, gas shielded wire feed machines work great. They are quick to use and the welds don't require a lot of clean up. Flux core leaves a lot of splatter. Get a good rig from Lincoln, Hobart or Millet. They all have reasonable duty cycles that will suffice for small jobs. Run it on 220 and it will be easy on the power bill. Should run between $600 and $800. Treat the units well and they will last a very long time. Get a supply of tips for your preferred wire size, a few spare cones and some anti splatter paste. Keep the business end clean and you should be good to go.

For heavy welds we use an engine powered AC DC machine that puts out. In our shop it's a bobcat 225. These are essentially back of the truck rigs that you can take to the job site. Some are set up for Full wave rectified TIG but not all. You can still scratch start the non rectified rigs if you only want to do steel. Any jobs involving non ferrous require the full wave rectified set up. All the players make these rigs but new they aren't cheap. $4000 to $6000 depending on the set up. Plus you need cabling, clamps, connectors, stingers and the racks for your truck. It's a big investment so if you don't have a real need for one consider saving the money until you get a job where you can amortize the cost. Do your research and select carefully. A fellow I worked with once told me that the job should always pay for the cost of tooling.

Peter