best beginners welder

Hi guys,

I'm about to start body work on my jeep but need a welder. We have a friend thats going to teach us how to weld but I was wondering what the best mig welder is for a begginer at a reasonable price. I will be doing sheet metal welding.

Thanks,

Landon Bell

 

If you want it pretty...don't buy the harbor freight version. Many will say the entry level hobart or lincoln that are truly mig with shielding gas. The Lincoln may be the cheapest way to go....

 

X2

 

what does the gas have to do with it? Do you have propane bottle things that you hook up? Do you use electricity with it? What kind of price range are we talking about here?

 

If you want a great little machine but a little more expensive than the Lincoln or Hobart is the millermatic 130 another good company is Cebora that is what I have and it works great.
What ever you do dont buy one with just two heat settings HI LOW and get one that run gas CO2/argon mix you will be glad you did.

 

what advantage does the welding gas do for you? If you use gas, do you have to plug in for electricity? Thanks

 

Uh, propane would be a bad idea for shielding gas. The kind of mistake you couldn't make twice.

 

I would rec. the miller 210 it is a little $$ but as your welding skills improve the last thing you want to do is buy a 2nd welder. This welder will weld aluminium, ss and you can add a spool gun later. This machine will weld anything . for $1400s it's moeey well spent

 

As Mike said the CO2/argon mix that is generally used to weld steel displaces the oxagen so the weld comes out clean and splatter free.

 

I have a Millermatic 135 with gas and it is great. I'm fairly new to welding but have had no problems with this little machine. I don't think there is anything that I do where I'd need a 220 machine. This box works really well...my wife actually bought it for me...she's a keeper!

Casey

 

Here's 2 I was looking at but I don't know what the $50 difference is...

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...=TOOL&pid=00920686000&subcat=Gifts+Under+$300


http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...&vertical=TOOL&pid=00920569000&subcat=Welders

 

We use one of the Hobart Handlers for sheet metal and thinner metal. It works great and I've welded some pretty heavy guage metal with it. I don't know if I'd go for the craftsman, it appears to have the adjustments but I would check the warrantee on it. IMHO I'd probably go with Miller, Lincoln or Hobart...

 

IMO, the true "cost" of a welder is all of the ancillary things you'll want to have with your welder- gloves, helmet, grinder, vise grips, welding cart, etc... Home Depot sells a couple nice ready-to-go setups which are pretty reasonable in price <$500.....

I got a great deal on my Lincoln SP175 Plus. If I added up everything else I needed/wanted to make the welder more useful, I'm sure the price of the welder would be doubled...

 

Approximately how much does a bottle of shielding gas run?

 

Somebody here said the empty bottle is about $95 and the gas is about $25 per fill.