New to welding

[87woody-atl]

Looking to start learning to weld, and I don't have the money to buy a millermatic, anyone know where I should start looking for something for a beginner

 

[souske]

Community colleges are a good place to start. You get to use top of the line machines, and its pretty cheap as long as you arent trying to get any certifications yet. Get a feel for what process you prefer, and go from there.

 

[crystalcleanteam]

Look on craigslist for a Lincoln 100-140 or a hobart Mig welder.
I found one for $100.00 never used. Be patient you will find a good deal. If you want one right away look at home depot or lowes they sell the ones Im talking just about $400-500 Make a cart for it with some castor wheels or something. Learn the settings like thickness of metal and wire speed. Then learn the angle at which to hold the tip also the patterns like c's etc. By the time you feel confident you will be ready to spend more on a bigger mig welder with gas. Closer to a thousand bucks!

 

[r33pwrd]

Look on craigslist for a Lincoln 100-140 or a hobart Mig welder.
I found one for $100.00 never used. Be patient you will find a good deal. If you want one right away look at home depot or lowes they sell the ones Im talking just about $400-500 Make a cart for it with some castor wheels or something. Learn the settings like thickness of metal and wire speed. Then learn the angle at which to hold the tip also the patterns like c's etc. By the time you feel confident you will be ready to spend more on a bigger mig welder with gas. Closer to a thousand bucks!

Im doing just as you said! Just picked up a linciln 100 for real cheap! Even has a cart! If you want to down the road is it worth adding the gas to this welder or just upgrading?

 

[4WDlifeform]

I started out with a Gas-less MIG welder. It uses flux-core wire. Its kinda like a hot glue gun, just squirt the metal out, and boom. I like it more for structural things. The welds are not pretty compared to a real MIG or TIG... lots of spatter mess, but they are strong.

I would say, for starting, that's the way to do it. Get a bunch of scrap metal and just play around. You should be able to get a gas-less MIG around 150... just look around. i pay about 12 bucks for a 2lb spool of the wire you would need. Those last a while. Just look on places like you-tube, or google for techniques.

I have very little experience with a stick welder, and what I remember from that, I hated it haha. But, that is a cheaper option I guess. I like the MIG just because there is so much more control. Best of luck to you, and be safe!!

 

[crystalcleanteam]

Also harbor freight has auto darkening helmets for $49 and they are awesome! There really is a huge difference in auto darkening and not.

 

[4WDlifeform]

Also harbor freight has auto darkening helmets for $49 and they are awesome! There really is a huge difference in auto darkening and not.

X2!

 

[stewie]

I have very little experience with a stick welder, and what I remember from that, I hated it haha. But, that is a cheaper option I guess. I like the MIG just because there is so much more control. Best of luck to you, and be safe!!

i was a professional stick welder for a short while. now i am working on getting my pipe welding certs from my local union. stick rocks! i built my rear bumper tire carrier with stick as well as a lot of axle work on my axles and others as well.

Also harbor freight has auto darkening helmets for $49 and they are awesome! There really is a huge difference in auto darkening and not.

X2!

i love mine!

 

[souske]

i was a professional stick welder for a short while. now i am working on getting my pipe welding certs from my local union. stick rocks! i built my rear bumper tire carrier with stick as well as a lot of axle work on my axles and others as well.
i love mine!

I prefer stick as well, but I am wondering if this is due to my choices of machines at my last job. 220 lincoln home depot mig, or a Lincoln Ranger stick. Needless to say, the Ranger kicked some butt!

 

[4WDlifeform]

I guess if I got to work with stick a lot more, it could have rubbed off on me. I pretty much taught myself to weld... I had a very basic intro class to welding at Penn State, and it made me want to lean it more. So I bought a gas-less MIG and went from there. I don't have a steady hand, and I think it takes that along with more experience to weld well with a stick. I just didn't like it. I don't mean to drive away the OP... just my $.02.

And as for shields, the auto darkening ones are sooo awesome! For a while, I had to use one where I had to hold it in front of my face... not fun. Really got me to appreciate the auto-darkening that attaches to my head! haha.

 

[whammy]

i use a miller mig welder. Its one of those where you can use gas or no gas. i like migs do to the fact i can fill in some pretty good size cracks with it. I did a rust job on a jeep and had to cut out giant rust patches and replace with new sheet metal and it did good. im about ready to upgrade to a 220.

 

[BGDG280]

Stick is great for structural, but when it comes to sheet metal or small repairs or even precision building, its hard to beat a MIG, unless of course you go TIG ;-)

Flux core wire is fine for most jobs but if you are going to do any serious work, invest in gas as soon as you can, it makes a much cleaner welding experience.

 

[kastein]

From what I've read fluxcore burns a bit hotter for the same current/wire size, so I'll keep using it when I need to weld stuff that's right at the limits of my machine even once I get my gas cylinder filled up.

 

[xcm]

flux core sucks balls.... its better than not having a welder at all, its good practice, it'll do a lot of stuff, but when your talking serious jeep fabrication, but still compare it apples to apples with shielded mig.... fail.

 

[whammy]

Stick is great for structural, but when it comes to sheet metal or small repairs or even precision building, its hard to beat a MIG, unless of course you go TIG ;-)

Flux core wire is fine for most jobs but if you are going to do any serious work, invest in gas as soon as you can, it makes a much cleaner welding experience.

yeah thats one thing i hate about the flux core wire, the bead comes out funky looking but i always use the gas only time i use use no gas is if im out of gas. lol

 

[4WDlifeform]

yeah thats one thing i hate about the flux core wire, the bead comes out funky looking but i always use the gas only time i use use no gas is if im out of gas. lol

haha! I have a Lincoln weldpak 100, which can be converted to gas. I want to dearly, it is just expensive. Im a little too tight on cash to make the change. Some day though!

From what I have read, the flux core wont do sheet metal very well, because of the higher burn temps. And, precision work with the flux-core just isnt pretty. Ive tried... Result usually comes to JBweld or rivets haha. I do love the flux-core for big sloppy structural stuff. Haven't had a structural weld fail yet (knock-on-wood).

 

[maxwedge]

no gas makes alot of holes in your weld huh must hold real good lol.