Thread: Welder

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I am a novice car builder. Would a 135 amp 120 volt mig welder be a good investment? I don't really have the funds to go with a 220 volt at this time.

Thanks

As long as you buy a quality welder--Miller--Hobart.. Iv'e been using my Hobart handler(120 volt) for years
It'll do anything you need to do in street or race car fab....

Most knowledgable welders, and the manufacturers of these units, will tell you that these 110v models are great for sheet metal, and light duty bracketry, but are not heavy duty enough for fabricating a frame (such as your previous posts would indicate). At best they will do 3/16th (.187) material, usually meaning flat stock. Trying to weld box tubing correctly would be much more difficult. How you could do it would be to use the 110v unit to tack your frame together, then take it to a certified welder for finish welding where they have equipment for proper penetration.

The rule of thumb is you need a 220v for frame work(10 gage & thicker) but, 115 will sufice for body work up to 14 gage.If you can not afford a 220v MIG, I would but a stick welder.
I use a 250 amp TIG or a 200 amp MIG for my frame work but, a 160 amp would work fine.

My welders are Miller because they are real reliable & they were what I was certified on however, Lincoln &Hobard area also good. Hobard is probably the cheapest. They have a 185 amp that is available. Look on-lne for the cheapest prices.

Miller donated an entire welding lab to my school so you should support them because they're cool like that.

I have a century gs155 120volt 20amp mig welder and a lincoln 225 amp 220volt stick welder both I have been pretty happy with it so far it has tackled many jobs I thought it wouldn't be able to do...really the duty cycle is what you are looking for most of these base type welders have a cheap transformer that can only support part time usage at the higher settings...the hobart, lincoln, miller, and htp all have something that will work for you the more expensive the better the duty cycle. If your on a budget I know cambell housefield and craftsmen have a few inexpensive models that will do light stuff sheet metal some up to 3/8 inch for short bursts. If you have can hold out I would get one above what you can afford because the one you can afford sometimes limits the performance you want. I am sure you can look at a farm and fleet should have one in IA they have a great selection of Hobart welders and I think homedepot has some of the lincoln stuff they still sell the stick welder I have and it hasn't changed a bit in 20 years. Hope this helps

I was at Harbor frieght the other day (don't shop there much due to the mostly foreign stuff) and i noticed they have hobart welders there. I just noticed the name but didn't look to see what size they were. I noticed the most expensive was like 480 bucks and it was wirefeed. Are these any good?

I'm going to need a welder to do some work with my monte and future projects and I can't afford anything really great, I'll have to look into the 480 dollar one since i can live with that price.

Thanks gang...

Originally posted by Don Meyer
The rule of thumb is you need a 220v for frame work(10 gage & thicker) but, 115 will sufice for body work up to 14 gage.If you can not afford a 220v MIG, I would but a stick welder.
I use a 250 amp TIG or a 200 amp MIG for my frame work but, a 160 amp would work fine.

My welders are Miller because they are real reliable & they were what I was certified on however, Lincoln &Hobard area also good. Hobard is probably the cheapest. They have a 185 amp that is available. Look on-lne for the cheapest prices.

I have a lincoln sp130 and a miller tig older unit, but I would like to know if anyone has any experience with HTP welders seem a lot for the money. Need to remember that flux wire will give a lot more penetration for thicker material. Ed ke6bnl