Advice on buying my first MIG welder

One word, "Miller"

Get thier 110V that runs o house current. When i was a welder, I ran mine 9 hours non stop for months at a time building fire place burners. It was old, used and should have been dead, yet I hardly ever had a problem with it. I did this for 5 years every fall to spring 5 -1/2 days a week.

fistfull of hurt said:

i agree go with a 110 volt miller with .030 flux core wire will work well to 1/16 thick with proper weld prep

Click to expand...

I was running .23 (0.23? .023? I forget) and Argonn

Themaxman727 said:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200403263_200403263

Is this one good?

Click to expand...

A welder that cheap will be total garbage. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to learn on a crappy welder. How do you know if the bird s#it welds are you, or the machine?

Google Miller welders, and get the latest 110V Mig they are selling. You can set it up for flux core if you like, but it's a cheat in my book. I'd prefer to run real Argon myself.

A crappy welder will make crappy welds that will fail when you need them most. This is ESPECIALLY if you are making a high stress fabrication like a gokart or mini bike. No sense putting safety at risk on bad welds.


Do it right the first time.

Themaxman727 said:

Is this a better choice http://www.ruralking.com/welder-handler-125-ez.html

Click to expand...

I would prefer that over the first one, but it seems a bit inflexible to me. The lack of control would be an annoyance to an experienced welder, but it may be an asset to a beginner who does not know quite how to tune a welder right.

Also, I'd prefer a unit that can run either a flux core, or Argonn at your leisure. But Hobart does make quality units that perform every bit as good as Millers.

Lincoln, Miller and Hobart are the top 3 manufacturers. It's hard to go wrong with any of them so long as you get a unit that can handle the material you will be welding.

kev said:

One word - fluxcore

Do not buy a mig - which requires gas. I used a 110 volt fluxcore welding machine to build my bar-b-q pit.

YouTube- Welding on my bar-b-q pit

Click to expand...

I have never liked flux cores myself. Argonn shield gas gives a much better smoother easier weld in my opinion. This is especially so if you are in an environment where there is contamination in the material you are welding (Like using weld through primers for corrosion protection on autobody repairs). Argonn welds smooth, flux cores you have to struggle a bit with to get it good in conditions like that.