Starter Welder

Whatever you can find on Craigs List??? Look for deals and be willing to act fast. You may also want to look in pawn shops.

ALSO get an auto darkening helmet.

cee'dub wrote: I also wanted to comment about 220V. It is nice to have the power. However I have one 220 drop in my shop, so my 220V welder isn't very portable which sucks because mig more than tig is something that you don't have as much control over where you get to do it. So you either need a long lead and ground, or a hefty extension chord, or a generator. None of which are cheap.

I built myself a hefty extension cord. Wasn't as expensive as you might think.

The correct answer is a MIG machine from any of the industrial vendors; Lincoln, Hobart or Miller. The reality is that you will be most of $1000 out of pocket by the time you get it running.

I have no doubt that some of the lesser known brands might work just fine, but based on Experience with an SIP unit, I wont be taking the chance again.

As mentioned, if you set a budget and put a notification into Craigslist, one will come up. They are not as rare as they used to be. Have a WTB in there also. You should be able to get something for under $500 that is not too beat up. If it looks like it has a lot of miles on it, budget or subtract for a new whip/liner. Take a good look at the rollers and make sure they are not beat to death. 110V machines work just fine for most automotive work.

Just my experience, but I started with classes at the community college. Stick, MIG, and TIG. I ended up really enjoying it and taking the class 4 times with a friend. The teacher was cool and helped us with the projects we wanted to do after we learned the basics.

My family then all went in together for christmas and bought me a Miller 110v and supplies. Miller was chosen b/c its what they sell at the closest welding shop. At the school they had big Lincoln machines, but were starting to switch to Miller for the same reason I had.

I'm not a good welder by any means, but I did take a few community ed classes and been instructed by a couple of experienced folks. I decided that, for my light needs, the HF stick welder would be good enough. Well, it wasn't. It's useless, it can barely strike an arc even when the metal is as clean as you can make it. I wasted more time with that POS than I care to admit.

So I picked up one of these on Amazon, and it's actually pretty good. I mean, for a cheap 110v flux-core machine. You have to know the limitations of the machine, but it strikes an arc pretty well and sticks stuff together quite well. Being flex core, it's messy, but that comes with the territory.

I have had several welders and by far the most used one is M Lincoln 140. It can run gas but I run flux core. I seem to always need to bring the welder to what needs welding and this one is the heaviest 110 volt unit I could find at the time. I have put dozens and dozens of spools through it with no issues.

I got it off Craig's list for $300 with an auto darkening helmet. It was used one time by the seller who thought he could just get a welder and save a bunch of money and fix a couple things around his house instead of taking them to a welder or getting new.

It was funny. When I went to get it the guy basically said he could not weld. His wife was there and was giving him some crap about it. So befor I left with my new welder I tested it by welding up a railing and a couple lawn chairs and a metal plant stand. Everyone went away happy.

This is the one I got. This looks like a slightly newer model.

I teach welding at the local college. I recommend for my students to get a used Lincoln or Miller GMAW (MIG) machine. It will run Flux core wire as well as solid wire. I recommend watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KrwmK7df-s And all of the welding tips and tricks series. Lincoln puts out a very good GMAW welding guide , https://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/global/products/consumable_miggmawwires-superarc-superarcl-56/c4200.pdf. Do not be afraid to look at a machine that is advertised as not working properly, often the polarity is set wrong. GMAW runs electrode positive, flux core runs electrode negative.

Good luck, feel free to contact me with questions,

Braden

One thing to consider.......

Miller Electric is a regular advertiser in GRM. They were a sponsor of the $2016 Challenge, and will again be sponsoring the Grassroots Motorsports $2017 Challenge. They will again be offering a free Miller Multimatic 215 and helmet to the overall winner! Last year they were even cool enough to let our Challenge competitors use the unit in the Hotel parking lot before the event! Fortunately, it was still in good shape when Andy Nelson took home the prize.

Multimatic 215

If you enjoy reading / participating in the $Challenge, and like spending time on this forum------ hopefully you'll take this into consideration when buying a new welder.