Buying a used welder

I am considering buying a welder and learning how to weld. It would have to be 110V (really, I'm not buying 220).

The only problem is I have never welded and have no idea what to look for in a used welder. Should I just buy a new one and learn on it or how can I tell I'm not buying an expensive pile of scrap?

Have a friend who knows how to weld go with you to try it out.

Look for blue (miller) or red (lincoln). They're the major players, and if you do, you can find parts for them most places*.

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* - The huge exception to this is Lincoln's "Pro-MIG" budget chain that is only sold through lowe's. Some of the parts are only available through Lowe's. If you are looking at a "Pro-MIG" you should spring for the "Power-MIG" instead. They cost a little more, but all the parts of the wire feed mechanism are metal.

Lincoln, Miller, Esab, or Hobart are what you want. 110 is fine for just about anything you will do.

Learning is easy, just get a project and get stuck in. You will figure it out, I did.

Since others have covered the MFG above I will add the following.

You can not weld rust and dirt. Everyone tries at first.

When you get the sizzling sound (like bacon frying) you have the settings correct.

Practise. Move the heat and wire settings around to see what they do so you can get a feel as to how to adjust things.

I second what Joey said about getting a friend to help you out, otherwise go over to weldingweb and ask questions before going to buy...

As far as my personal experience, I pretty much did the same thing, but bought a cheap new HF MIG unit (220v) and have been learning how to do rust repair on the Fiat (go figure). I chose it because it could do gasless or gas, and has sheet metal to thicker metal welding ability, and it was cheap, about half the price of a nice 110v, but as many have said and the more I get into it, I'm starting to believe the whole "start with a good welder" mantra. The obvious good welders like Lincoln and Miller spring to mind, but I keep hearing Hobart Handler 140 for a beginner. It's got a good range of power settings and speed control, plus it plugs into a normal outlet...

x2000 on the gas thing.

Once you get it, come ask and I can type up how to adjust settings and how to weld sheet metal.

I bought a Lincoln SP-100 years ago and love it. I mostly use it to weld sheet metal so its fine for me. I bought it from a welding store and it was a complete set up. I paid more for it than buying from a big box, but feel I got a better welder. Mine has a variable power setting. Most now come with four power settings.

Ditto blue and red, gas too. An experienced friend/ co-worker can help shorten your learning curve. Adult vo-tech night classes are usually pretty good but some may require stick welding class before the MIG/ TIG class, doing both might cost more than you want.

Nothing wrong w/ learning on your own either. Start w/ clean metal like said, adjust the setting per chart on the machine or manual., that'll get ya in the ballpark. You'd be surprised how many don't follow the chart... or even know what it's for.

Get comfortable in the helmet, auto-dark highly recommended. Surprising how many new starters get turned off on welding just because they can't even see correctly. Might need a magnifying lens too if you're over 40.

Plug it in and have fun running beads.

Youtube should have plenny of how to MIG vids. Miller has excellent resources on their site... videos, tutorials etc.

I second buying one from a welding shop. Better service after the sale and they usually carry better machines. The big box store ones look cheaper until you add in the gas conversion, then it is usually on par with the welding store. If I have any issues, the welding shop takes care of me right away, plus I get my welding gas from them as well.

I got my lincoln (Power-MIG 180) from a welding shop. Like the others have said, it was the same place I get my gas (local Air-Gas shop.)

Yes, a vo-tech will probably start you on stick, and will probably start you on thick slabs of metal. I would not have it any other way. Thicker materials are easier to work with, so it is a good way to start. I burned up more rod and destroyed more metal - by far - than what I paid for my class.

Learning stick welding is like learning a stick shift on a car.....Do it first, and MIG will be easy. If you can keep a constant distance between the workpiece and the tip of a rod that is disappearing, keeping a constant distance between a MIG gun and the work piece will be trivial.

Evan, I took a multiple weekend class at the local Votech school for welding - it was a lot of fun, and we got to play with a variety of welding equipment. The only major thing they didn't train us on was OxyAcetlyene.

I've got a Hobart Handler 140, which was the most powerful 110V welder around at the time I bought it. Started off with flux core, but made the switch to MIG, and don't ever want to look back. So far, its been pretty good. Only time I've had a problem is trying to weld thin (Neon) sheetmetal. That was an operator issue more than an equipment issue, though.

Evan, I sent you my email before I saw this thread

Good ideas, thanks for the input.

The only thing...what if I don't have any friends who can weld?

I also suggest going to a welding supply house. They often take in trade-ins and will refurb and sell at a decent price. They want to get you as a continuing customer, and normally will act like that. They are usually fun places to hang out and network. There will always be somebody that will want to show off a bit and teach you.

EvanB wrote: The only thing...what if I don't have any friends who can weld?

You do. Maybe not local....

Also, if it hasn't been mentioned, a good clean mask makes a world of difference.

Yea, that's mainly what I meant. No friends that would want to drive a few hours just to check out a welder for me.

I'll stop by the local welding supply store and see what they have.

EvanB wrote: Good ideas, thanks for the input. The only thing...what if I don't have any friends who can weld?

If you haven't gotten a welder before Nationals, feel free to come down to Cincy sometime in October or November to mess with my welder. I've got a small pile of scrap metal you can practice on if you want.

Cool, I'll keep it in mind.

The immediate need for a welder is to get my exhaust to a tolerable noise level for the drive to nationals.

In reply to EvanB:

Ahh, in that case, I can't help much unless you bring it to cincy on Saturday after the rallyx, and that's probably a bit of a haul for you.

If the event isn't cancelled . That would be a pretty long haul though.

In reply to EvanB:

Heck, if its canceled, you're even more welcome to come on down. But yeah, a 2+ hour drive for exhaust welding is a bit of a haul. I'd think you could find a welding shop up there to do the job for you cheaply, especially if you can mock it up with clamps, unbolt the exhaust from the car, and just bring it to them.

One thing that nobody has mentioned, yet.

Welding the first few times is intimidating as hell. Took me 2 years to get up the gumption to use the welder my wife got me for my birthday. I read and watched a lot about welding- what looked good, what didn't, and talked to a lot of people who had similar things to say as the above.

Still took time to get the first weld done. And that was a practice bead on a scrap piece of metal.

Once that was over, it's no big deal anymore, and I'm happy welding anything. I got mine (which is the same Lincoln 135 that's the start of the other welding thread) in 2000. Great machine.

It just takes practice.

I enjoy welding... just something neat about sticking 2 bits of metal together...

I started with an early 2k's harbor freight 220v 120a... apparently the italian made ones where much better... still limited on juice compared to some high end 110v ones... but I've never run into thermal shutdown even while welding 1/4" steel plate I had to run a cable from the dryer power cord out to my welder to use... but it worked just fine (granted that cord was $40-50)

I started by watching videos... someone from GRM sent me a miller video tape that came with the entry lvl welding machine... I began welding anything and everything I could, I welded up my engine stand a few times... no penetration at first so i'd grind away the old weld and re-weld... had an old home made trailer that I cut bits off of and would weld back to it...

when I started my s10 volvo engine swap I spent a lot more time watching videos on youtube... there is TONS of info to be had...

I think the biggest key at that point was I borrowed a friends auto darkening helmet... it made a HUGE difference in how easy it was to start cleanly... I ended up buying my own at harborfreight shortly after...

when I moved a few months back I was down to an apartment garage... no 220v... I needed something to weld up my exhaust and other little bits... I looked at the cheap stuff at HF but the tip is always hot... that along with all the other meh reviews steered me away (dispite my good luck with my older model)... so I watched CL for a used 110v I found this for $100

it was an older welder... can be setup as MIG or flux, came with a regulator, tweeco gun, spare HUGE grounding cable (want to say 0/4) with a high quality grounding clamp... I had to swap the wires to set it up for flux, and the old grounding clamp connection to the wire was corroded so I swapped to the nice grounding clamp... thing works like a champ... it's ugly... but works

on a side note... working with flux core stuff does kinda suck... it makes a big mess, the flux takes some work to get off (grinder with a wire wheel is nice and quick... if you can get it in the space).... when I have $$$ I'll be looking into gas... should clean things up a lot.

eastsidemav wrote: In reply to EvanB: Heck, if its canceled, you're even more welcome to come on down. But yeah, a 2+ hour drive for exhaust welding is a bit of a haul. I'd think you could find a welding shop up there to do the job for you cheaply, especially if you can mock it up with clamps, unbolt the exhaust from the car, and just bring it to them.

I went to the welding supply store, they didn't have any used or refurb machines, the cheapest new one was an $850 Miller. Then I went to the custom exhaust shop down the road and got a quote for a new exhaust. The guy put the car up on the lift and I told him what I wanted, reasonable price so I'm gonna drop it off Friday and not worry about it.

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