Good welder?

[jpjohns]

[jpjohns]

[raygreenwood]

Not saying what I bought was the best by any means...but it is excellent and has worked flawlessly. For those shopping....this is what I put into my own personal decision.

This was an OK basic rating/review done by popular mechanics. Its not exhaustive by any means but tells some important details. It also has weight and average amp draw info.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/...-6#slide-1

Hobart, Miller, Eastwood, Campbell Hausfeld, Lincoln and Northern tool brand.

Of course the Miller as they noted is in a class and cost all its own. With its auto current sensing and setting, higher total amps etc....it should be.....for $1250.

The Campbell Hausfeld and the Hobart are actually the same machine inside from what I have seen and read. All decent but I was not really impressed with the CH.

The other little bits and pieces I factored in from everything I read or tried when trying to decide what I "needed" in a mig....is what I plan to use it for...meaning what I really bought it to do....FIRST...
....before I decided what I "might" be able to use it for down the line.

I think thats important. Because I delayed getting a mig welder for far too long and got really behind in getting my project done because every time I looked at a welder....my tool brain would tell me....I would be a fool for not buying the best basic tool I could get....which would be a Millermatic 140.

It kept me mentally priced out of the market for far too long.

In looking and learning I realized these things:

What I "actually" need it for: Sheet metal, sheet metal, sheet metal....small tack welds on bolts and brackets, short clean beads in maximum 1/8" thick mild steel....and nothing else "needed" at this time

If there were a bonus what would it be: The ability to cleanly weld .065" or thinner stainless ....later....for possible heat shield and exhaust system work

Budget to do all of this in: About $500-600 including small accessories

What it needs to do for what I need:

1. It needs infinite wire control

2. It needs infinite current control

3. decent duty cycle

4. good quality wire feed rollers and clamping. All Tweco parts drop right in. In fact there is rumor that the Eastwood unit "might" actually be made by Hobart. If the plastic parts wear out they are easy too get and can be upgraded to metal with parts from other welders...all are like this.

5. Easy to find parts like tips, accessories etc.

6. IMPORTANT: Must stay under a total of 30 amps pull on striking an Arc through about 3/4 of the current dial.

Everything but the Eastwood drew 28-30 amps on 1/8 metal. That is usually done in the 140 amp welders at about 3/4 of the dial...depending on gas and metal type, surface prep of metal, backing, gap size and wire alloy.

The two top contenders ...Miller and Lincoln....drew 30 amps or more for 1/8" steel.

7. needs to be light enough to move readily.

Everything in the lineup outweighed the Eastwood by an average of 20+ lbs. but this is really trivial

The two overall hot items for me (as long as it was in the budget)...are very nice sheet metal work and....amp draw.

The amp draw is critical for me. I am in a rental house....1926 model...with upgraded wiring. It has a detached garage...being fed by two 100' heavy gauge extension cords on separate circuits.

One is a 20 amp that feeds the lights and workbench for small tools, fans etc. The other is a 30 amp that feeds only the compressor and the parts washer. I plug the welder into that one and turn compressor off when welding.

The 100' cord means that total available amps are down to about 20-25 except for a very short peak on start up. Yes....for something thicker I can cart it up to the house and plug in without extension to do some work in the basement and get the full 30 amps.

But.....I cant drag the car BODY to the basement...yet

The Eastwood kit came with regulator, basic cart with bottle chains, decent self darkening helmet, some spare tips, cheap but usable slag hammer and brush and a spool of .023 and a spool of .030". It was right at $425 after taxes and with free shipping.

I spent on a good pair of welding pliers, a good set of gloves, a small 20 lbs tank first and then an 80lb tank later, nozzle dip a good universal nozzle wrench and some sheet metal butt weld clamps (gotta get those), two magnetic angle clamps and a couple of copper spoons.

Total was right at $510. I consider myself learning to weld. Ray

[c21darrel]

congrats, thats a very reasonable price for the set-up you picked out.
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[Rabrown77]

Raygreenwood - thank you for posting your whole decision making process there. It is pretty much exactly what I've been doing the past couple months. I have come close to pulling the trigger on a Miller 140 quite a few times now but have held back due to cost. I know it would be worth it, but with limited funds, I would rather buy parts for my bus. I have been having a hard time finding a quality welder with infinite voltage and wire feed settings at a decent price. Looks like I'm ordering the Eastwood. Thank you sir!

[raygreenwood]

You probably cant go wrong with either the Hobart, the Eastwood or the CH.....as far as functionality of the guns and the actual welding operation.

However for instance....the Hobart has precise tapped voltage set up to match your wall voltage exactly.....which is really, cool....but oddly only has a 5 step voltage control for output....which is not ideal for sheet metal work.....and it was more expensive than the Eastwood.....and I still would have had to buy a cart, helmet and small accessories for extra.

The Campbell Hausfeld was virtually identical in the guts to the Hobart....also a very good choice, cheaper than the Hobart......still more expensive than the Eastwood......still only 5 current settings....and still lots of accessories to buy just to get started.

Not like im working for Eastwood or anything.....but for the values and what this thing is capable of....if you are limited to a budget of my range ...and will probably not be able to wait to save up for something better .....I have not found anything of better value in the market right now.

I also added this train of thought to the mix: over the next year I have to fill all of the trim holes in my body panels and add in about 1.5 sq foot of sheet metal patches...nicely done, and weld in about 4 modified brackets in metal that is roughly .070" to .080" max thickness and the last project on this vehicle short of whatever else pops up....is to retack weld back together my rear engine hood inner support section. That one will be tackled after all else is done because I need the practice.
Thats not very much welding in the scheme of things......but that weldjng would have cost me about $18-2100...and would have required towing the car to the shop for a portion of it.

I finally balanced....just a hair over $500....versus knowing what the average cost would have been to have it done....and not ending up with a tool of my own to use for anythjng down the road.
And if it turned out that the Eastwood could only accomplish say.....1/3 of everything on my list....then it still would have been far cheaper than farming it out, far cheaper than renting a mig welder......and I would have gotten my moneys worth and could simply sell it quick later at a huge discount just to get rid of it.....and would come out way ahead in every direction.

These things are the total of went into my decision. Ray

[Northof49]

My Lincoln is an SP175T. That is a 175 amp output, 220v, infinitely variable wire speed, but tapped voltage selector having 5 setting. I am not really sure what benefit I am missing by not having infinitely adjustable voltage. I previously had a Cebora Pocket mig, a 110 v model. The Lincoln has a really smooth arc on sheet metal with 025 wire. I'm talking really smooth. Just a constant smooth sizzle, none of this zap zap blob transfer going on. And I know it's really cheap of me, but I run straight C02. I get it free from a friend in the fire extinquisher business. You get slightly more penetration and splatter with straight C02, but get a lot more in the fill of the bottle as it is pure liquid C02. Argon doesn't liquefy under bottle pressures, so they can't pack anywhere near as much into a bottle.
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[raygreenwood]

[Northof49]

You are wise to use the best selection of equipment available. Just sharing my experience with fixed taps for voltage and straight C02 shielding gas, to say it's not all that evil. Nothing like the difference between using flux core vs mig, or a cheap welder vs a good one.
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1958 Karmann Ghia owner

[theKbStockpiler]

I just stumbled across this. It might be worth considering.

http://www.praxairmidatlantic.com/gts-welco.aspx?pcid=263&ptid=1
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Use all safety devices including a mask.

[jpjohns]

[raygreenwood]

[Northof49]

That looks like a clone of the Lincoln, right down to the spoolgun port. Maybe a rebadged Lincoln?
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1958 Karmann Ghia owner

[Vanapplebomb]

Even though the Hobart has 5 taps, it works very well for sheet metal. Sheet metal is the Hobart's jam. In my honest opinion, infinitely variable current MIG welders are over rated. As long as you have 4 or 5 taps and infinite control over wire speed, you will be golden.

The hobart is more expensive because the build quality is superb. It is an extremely solid unit. I highly recommend it. The extra price is well worth it.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[raygreenwood]

[theKbStockpiler]

There is no doubt that Hobart makes arguably the highest quality welder and most likely the best buy in the market. If you look at their machines in person they have one of the highest quality appearing welders made. They make a comparable Lincoln look really cheap.

But if you compare wire taps allowed by the switch to total amps , most of the welders without a infinite adjustment have a larger voltage range per the maximum amp capacity of the machine. The htp 2400 ;I think it is, has about 24 taps for it's entire range. The Ironman has 12 at the most? Cutting cost with the voltage adjustment is the wrong way to go. The American Made Miller which is in a higher end market than the Hobart, has it. I'm not saying to go out and buy a miller but the infinite voltage option weighs a lot ,too hot or not hot enough. If the hobarts had about 3 more ranges I would have bought one already but they don't so I passed. I have infinite adjustment on a Century and you can set it so low it essentially pulses because it arcs and then stubs into the work in a repeated cycle if set low enough.

Edit: I talked to Hobart directly about this and they stated that in the low ranges the wire taps are closer together than at the higher voltages so that means you pay at the thicker metal ranges which I would prefer to avoid as well.
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[raygreenwood]

[theKbStockpiler]

I maybe using the wrong term or context. The old style Forney Buzz boxes had 'taps' which where plug receptacles to change the amps on a stick welder. There is a receptacle for every amp choice that there is . I assume the welders with the non-infinite switches do the same thing which is they connect two or more separate transformer coils into one coil sort of speak. The transformer coil is broken into as many pieces as there are voltage/ current settings. Migs may actually be different and I don't know what I'm taking about. Then the concept would only stay together vaguely.

I think lincoln let's their big commercial name sell their hobbyist models. The only notable thing about their small migs is that the mig gun unplugs if my memory serves me correctly. I don't see them having a selling point over Miller ,Hobart ,Htp etcetera unless you work or live right next to a dealer.
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[esde]

I've read the updates on this thread a few times, and thought I might have something worthwhile to add.
I taught myself to weld 20 years ago on a cheap harbor freight mig with flux core. When I upgraded to a lincoln 120 mig 3 years later I realized that the harbor freight unit had been fighting me back the entire time I owned it. Since then I've bought an Esab 260 mig/tig machine that is 10 years old and has never let me down. The little Lincoln soldiered on till out got stolen last year. I loved it for it's light weight, simplicity, and sheer durability. I have been welding in awkward places, with that little machine on long cords, raining, and it just never died.
I've replaced it with a miller passport, which is expensive but extremely portable. I almost went with the Thermal Arc 181i, but it is 220 only and that limits it's portability. I did get to test one at the supply, it is a NICE machine for under 1K ($800 at the time) and you get a lot of welder for the money. I did briefly look at the Eastwood machines, even driving out to Pottstown to see them in person. The inside scoop from a local welding repair place is that they get a lot of returns, and that turned me away from them. I did buy a Thermal Arc 186 for ac/dc tig and again am very happy. It was a grand less than the miller dynasty 200, and very comparable, decent warranty and repair support should I need it, etc.
For basic sheet metal, a 110 miller or lincoln is great, and are simple enough that I would take a chance on a used one if on a budget. Stepping up to a bigger 220 machine I'd look at Thermal Arc if Miller and Lincoln were out of range. Hobart is supposed to be great but I haven't bought one, yet.
You can't go wrong with brand names, rebadged import stuff will always be a gamble. When the parts availability dries up it's an expensive doorstop.
SD

[modok]

I just bought the eastwood 135 and took it out of the box. First off t was a PITA to get the wire fed into the plastic mechanism and sad little feeder motor.. Ok no big deal. Then I try welding and it is electrocuting me.
Why is it electrocuting me as I try to use it?????

I check the rubber insulation on the gun and it has 1000k OHMS to the electrode.
Yes they have made "conductive rubber". Besides this..... why is it making voltage spikes high enough to shock me??


Newbs beware!! Eastwood lacks adequate insulation.
THUMBS DOWN