Buying a welder

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pcampo

pcampo

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I have decided on buying a welder. I was looking at this one which has a great price. This $90 flux core welder from harbor freight- http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/mig-flux-welders/90-amp-flux-wire-welder-68887-8494.html.

Can I weld stainless steel with that? Aluminum?

My other option is just buying a mig/flex core welder like this one http://www.harborfreight.com/weldin...flux-wire-welder-22-volts-110-amps-68885.html. But it requires 240v. Which I don't have a receptacle for in the garage, but may be able to wire one.

Whats your take?

Also, please do not suggest those expensive brand welders. Im not spending hundreds of dollars on this. All I want this for is to learn to weld on, build my keggles and brew stand, and use it on occasion to fix things. If I ever want to upgrade welders, I will in the future. Thanks.
 
Subscribed.... I am doing the same research. From what I can tell, the power rating dictates the thickness that you can weld, but not so much *what* you can weld. Maybe.
I was looking in some local big box stores, and they have units that (by the numbers) seem very similar to the HF one, but it is hard to tell if there are any differences in capability.
 
I'm not a welder at all but I thought you needed a TIG welder to do stainless and aluminum. Seems like if all you are doing is making keggles you could silver solder the fittings on the cheap.
 
You can't really weld stainless with flux wire MIG. You pretty much need TIG and gas purging.

It's actually pretty difficult to make good clean welds with a flux wire MIG. There's a lot of splattering that happens, e.g.: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/gasless/gasless-weld.jpg

Get a gas MIG or a TIG. That $90 spent at HF will be a waste of money, to be honest.

MC
 
Soldering? You can actually solder stainless? If that's the case, I may just stick with a mig/flex welder.

Are there any limitations of TIG that a MIG can do?
 
pcampo said:
I have decided on buying a welder. I was looking at this one which has a great price. This $90 flux core welder from harbor freight- http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/mig-flux-welders/90-amp-flux-wire-welder-68887-8494.html.

Can I weld stainless steel with that? Aluminum?

My other option is just buying a mig/flex core welder like this one http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/mig-flux-welders/170-amp-migflux-wire-welder-22-volts-110-amps-68885.html. But it requires 240v. Which I don't have a receptacle for in the garage, but may be able to wire one.

Whats your take?

Also, please do not suggest those expensive brand welders. Im not spending hundreds of dollars on this. All I want this for is to learn to weld on, build my keggles and brew stand, and use it on occasion to fix things. If I ever want to upgrade welders, I will in the future. Thanks.
Click to expand...

You are NOT going to be able to weld aluminum or stainless with that particular welder

You get what you pay for... seriously.

You will certainly be able to make things hold together but making a stand that holds 10+ gallons of water or beer is another. And all of that depends on your skill. The last thing you would want is to build a stand and loose and entire batch because it broke...

You will certainly be able to learn to weld with it and build stuff after you learn the skill. But use caution, that welder does not produce much heat you will be lucky to properly weld 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch steel with it. And flux core welding has serious limitations.

Just an FYI, I paid 125 dollars for a Lincoln electric (expensive brand) 90amp welder from Craig's list. And that will weld up to 3/4 inch steel. Have some patients and shop around.

I would have to agree with MC, that Chicago electric would be a waste of 90 bucks...
 
pcampo said:
Soldering? You can actually solder stainless? If that's the case, I may just stick with a mig/flex welder.

Are there any limitations of TIG that a MIG can do?
Click to expand...

TIG is a completely different animal, stick with MIG welding. TIG involves a heat gun and a filler rod that you manually have to feed into your project. I have spent many years MIG welding and I have a hard time with TIG. MIG is the way to go unless you are going to get into specialty welding (BIG $$$)

Though TIG is how you would weld alumuinum and stainless.

TIG stand for Tungsten Inter Gas welding, a tungsten tip is used to create an electric arch that heats metal to a specified temerature anf then you add a filler rod into the metal / arch mix to creat a weld. TIG welding will weld aluminum and stainless

MIG stands for metal inter gas. a wire is fed and makes contact with metal that is grounded and makes an electric arch that heats the metal to a specified temperature (thats is where the amperage comes into play) while simultaneously feed filler wire into your heated metal and makes a weld.

MIG is much easier to being with, it is far simpler and by far cheaper that a TIG welder.

hope that helps a bit
 
Acafro, Thank you for your post. You have changed my mind, and now ill be looking on craigslist.
 
I soldered my keggle fittings as well. Stay Brite #8 silver solder and Stay Clean liquid flux. Here is a tip, after drilling your holes, lay the keg on its side and place the fitting in the hole (the fitting should be facing up at this point), take your solder and make a ring that goes around the fitting with a little overlap. Remove the ring of solder from the fitting, put the liquid flux on the fitting and keg face, place the solder ring back on and then heat the fitting with a MAPP torch from the INSIDE of the keg. This will heat the fitting and after a minute, you should see the solder boil and then the ring of solder will melt and suck right next up to the keg and fitting.

This makes it easier to keep the fitting level and the solder to run properly.
 
Dear God run far FAR away from anything that has to do with Chicago.
You need a special set up (machine and gun) to run aluminum
As far as I can tell, that welder is not set up for gas, you can only run gasless flux cored wire, which is ok if you are welding a little thicker metal, but its VERY dirty and nasty, smoky, spattery.
I also wouldn't weld thinner metals like car body panels with flux core, warping and penetration would be a huge issue and I would use .023/.035 hard wire with c02 for that.

Now if you had gas you could run dual shield wire (flux core (inner shield) with a gas shield (outer shield) also known as dual shield, beautiful stuff

In the end you REALLY get what you pay for, don't go cheap, but don't spend thousands of dollars either.

This is the wire feeder I use at home, its a Lincoln sp135 plus, fantastic 110v with gas hookups, look for something with adjustable volts and wire speed, not just high and low.

SP135P_zpsb1cea0ae.jpg


Don't skimp on the welding hood either, specially if you think saving money there will be a good idea.
This is what I use, miller elite shell with Jackson nexgen electronics (kind of Frankenstein, cost about 450$
2012-07-12_19-30-50_599_zpsa4690e24.jpg
 
Juicy Jay, Is that welder do MIG? Can you do stainless steel with a MIG? Some one on this thread mentioned you cant and need TIG
 
In my opinion Lincoln for stick welding, Miller for MIG or TIG.

You can weld stainless and aluminum with many Miller MIGs, but it requires a spool gun, different wire, different gas mixture and changing the polarity on the machine. They are set up to accommodate that, but it's not optimal. If you really want to weld SS or alum, get a TIG.

I use a Miller MIG and a oxy/acetylene rig in my garage.

Otherwise, to the OP, for putting some fittings on beer equipment, soldering is fine.
 
JuiceyJay said:
Dear God run far FAR away from anything that has to do with Chicago.
You need a special set up (machine and gun) to run aluminum
As far as I can tell, that welder is not set up for gas, you can only run gasless flux cored wire, which is ok if you are welding a little thicker metal, but its VERY dirty and nasty, smoky, spattery.
I also wouldn't weld thinner metals like car body panels with flux core, warping and penetration would be a huge issue and I would use .023/.035 hard wire with c02 for that.

Now if you had gas you could run dual shield wire (flux core (inner shield) with a gas shield (outer shield) also known as dual shield, beautiful stuff

In the end you REALLY get what you pay for, don't go cheap, but don't spend thousands of dollars either.

This is the wire feeder I use at home, its a Lincoln sp135 plus, fantastic 110v with gas hookups, look for something with adjustable volts and wire speed, not just high and low.

SP135P_zpsb1cea0ae.jpg
Click to expand...


My neighbor has that welder. It gets him thru many of his small projects. He borrows my Miller quite often too.
 
No spool gun required with either a Miller or Lincoln MIG gasser when doing stainless steel, just for aluminum (it's too soft for the full length wire-feed setup). But you do want to use a fresh/uncontaminated-by-non-stainless-wire sleeve and tip, and you do want to run tri-mix gas, when welding stainless with any MIG system.

From my experience with sub-$1K rigs from both companies, they are virtually interchangeable wrt performance and utility, and switching polarity is a two minute deal worse case...

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
No spool gun required with either a Miller or Lincoln MIG gasser when doing stainless steel, just for aluminum (it's too soft for the full length wire-feed setup). But you do want to use a fresh/uncontaminated-by-non-stainless-wire sleeve and tip, and you do want to run tri-mix gas, when welding stainless with any MIG system.

From my experience with sub-$1K rigs from both companies, they are virtually interchangeable wrt performance and utility, and switching polarity is a two minute deal worse case...

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I do believe you need different wire if I'm not mistaken you can't use the same wire for stainless...

I've never been able to successfully weld stainless with my LE...

That's why I suggested the heliarch setup...
 
pcampo said:
Juicy Jay, Is that welder do MIG? Can you do stainless steel with a MIG? Some one on this thread mentioned you cant and need TIG
Click to expand...

M.I.G. (metal inert gas) is just the fancy title for wire feed welding.
The welder I have can run stainless wire and COULD run aluminum if I had the right gun.

If you were wanting to weld fittings for brewing than I would go the TIG route and would get a miller personally.
You would also need to use food grade stainless rod.

Miller has another option for aluminum guns, its not a spool gun, but has feed rolls built into the handle that pulls the wire, but since I have small hands I don't like it, too uncomfortable.
I did a little bit of pulse welding with the aluminum mig, that was crazy to me.
 
Now no body has mentioned anything about arc welding. How about an arc welder? They seem to run at lower prices, and I wouldn't have to buy a gas. I found a Lincoln weld pac 100 for $250 (I THINK this is an arc welder).
 
acafro said:
You are NOT going to be able to weld aluminum or stainless with that. (It even says it right in the description) You CANNOT weld alluminum or stainless with ANY MIG welder unless you turn in into a heliarch... which is BIG MONEY!!

As far as flux core goes its great for welding thin metals (like vehicle body panels) but if you are going to invest in a welder you really should buy a welder that uses shielding gas and higher amperage, you will be far happier with it. Those can also use flux core wire without gas. I'm not suggesting an expensive welder but remember you get what you pay for... seriously.

You will certainly be able to make things hold together but making a stand that holds 10+ gallons of water or beer is another. And all of that depends on your skill. The last thing you would want is to build a stand and loose and entire batch because it broke...

You will certainly be able to learn to weld with it and build stuff after you learn the skill. But use caution, that welder does not produce much heat you will be lucky to properly weld 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch steel with it. And flux core welding has serious limitations.

Just an FYI, I paid 125 dollars for a Lincoln electric (expensive brand) 90amp welder from Craig's list. And that will weld up to 3/4 inch steel. Have some patients and shop around.

I would have to agree with MC, that Chicago electric would be a waste of 90 bucks...
Click to expand...

You info is waaay incorrect, for one a mig CAN weld SS and alum, you just need the right gas mix for stainless and the SS wire obviously. And you need a spool gun for welding AL because the wire is too soft and gets kinked in the long lead, you also need the specific gas in this case 100% argon.

There is no way to turn a MIG into a heliarc (the dinosaur name for TIG) they are two completely different processes and power sources (CV vs CC). You can turn a CC power source like a stick machine into a TIG but not a MIG into a TIG and vise versa unless you run a suitcase MIG welder off a CC power source.

And to the OP, your not gonna learn anything trying to weld with a $100 HF welder, your just wasting your time and money. Your just setting yourself up for failure. Craigslist is your friend for finding a good deal on a used welder if your heart desires.

FWIW I'm a code welder and weld x-ray joints with all processes for a living.
 
acafro said:
TIG is a completely different animal, stick with MIG welding. TIG involves a heat gun and a filler rod that you manually have to feed into your project. I have spent many years MIG welding and I have a hard time with TIG. MIG is the way to go unless you are going to get into specialty welding (BIG $$$)

Though TIG is how you would weld alumuinum and stainless.

TIG stand for Tungsten Inter Gas welding, a tungsten tip is used to create an electric arch that heats metal to a specified temerature anf then you add a filler rod into the metal / arch mix to creat a weld. TIG welding will weld aluminum and stainless

MIG stands for metal inter gas. a wire is fed and makes contact with metal that is grounded and makes an electric arch that heats the metal to a specified temperature (thats is where the amperage comes into play) while simultaneously feed filler wire into your heated metal and makes a weld.

MIG is much easier to being with, it is far simpler and by far cheaper that a TIG welder.

hope that helps a bit
Click to expand...

It's making me lol how little you know about welding, so please don't offer advice to people because you sound like you know what your talking about, but really have zero clue.

A heat gun? Lol, tungsten inter gas? It's a TIG torch and its tungsten inert gas because you use an inert gas for shielding just like MIG.

And Flux core welding is not just for thin body parts like you said, it's a very deep penetrating process similar to stick welding that can weld any thickness up to the machines capability. Its a very versatile process that can be used out in the field just like stick welding without having to worry about wind blowing away your shielding gas like MIG and TIG, lots of beautiful code welds are made everyday using flux core.
 
sr20steve said:
It's making me lol how little you know about welding, so please don't offer advice to people because you sound like you know what your talking about, but really have zero clue.

A heat gun? Lol, tungsten inter gas? It's a TIG torch and its tungsten inert gas because you use an inert gas for shielding just like MIG.

And Flux core welding is not just for thin body parts like you said, it's a very deep penetrating process similar to stick welding that can weld any thickness up to the machines capability. Its a very versatile process that can be used out in the field just like stick welding without having to worry about wind blowing away your shielding gas like MIG and TIG, lots of beautiful code welds are made everyday using flux core.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would never use flux core for body or thin sheet metal, that's where hard wire comes in handy, not a ton of penetration.
 
sr20steve said:
It's making me lol how little you know about welding, so please don't offer advice to people because you sound like you know what your talking about, but really have zero clue.

A heat gun? Lol, tungsten inter gas? It's a TIG torch and its tungsten inert gas because you use an inert gas for shielding just like MIG.

And Flux core welding is not just for thin body parts like you said, it's a very deep penetrating process similar to stick welding that can weld any thickness up to the machines capability. Its a very versatile process that can be used out in the field just like stick welding without having to worry about wind blowing away your shielding gas like MIG and TIG, lots of beautiful code welds are made everyday using flux core.
Click to expand...

My bad on they typo, and heliarch reference, I was under the impression heliarch was something different and I apologize for the incorrect information. Thanks you for the correction but I really don't appreciate the condescending approach you have chosen to take. Maybe next time you could use an opportunity similar to this as a teaching moment and enlighten those of us who are not as fortunate to have such expansive knowledge on this subject matter.

I will still stand strong, regardless of what you say, that he needs to get a MIG welder. He is not going to want to start off with a TIG or stick welder.

And my descriptions are right on when talking to someone who has never heard of either trying to give them and idea as to how they work. I know those are not the technical descriptions you would get from say Lincoln electric. But my descriptions of course will not be suitable to someone like you with superior knowledge.

As far as flux core goes everyone has there opinion, you like it, I don't. To each there own. I understand it it used in other process, they build ships with it, but not an appropriate Application for what this thread was originally made for.
 
pcampo said:
Now no body has mentioned anything about arc welding. How about an arc welder? They seem to run at lower prices, and I wouldn't have to buy a gas. I found a Lincoln weld pac 100 for $250 (I THINK this is an arc welder).
Click to expand...

Arc welding is stick welding ie: 6010, 7018 rod which you really don't NEED unless you are in an area where wirefeed isn't a great option, very diverse welding platform but I'd rather wire feed if I had the opportunity
 
Stick welder wouldn't be a bad choice if your just trying to weld on the cheap. Only problem I see is it would be difficult to learn on thin material like tubing you would use for a brew stand (I used 16 gauge square tubing but I TIG'd my frame). The wonderful thing about stick (aka arc welding, SMAW) is even if you don't really know how to weld that well, it still usually makes a very strong weld compared to Mig because of how well stick penetrates (but in turn makes it easy to blow through thin material).

If I were gonna stick weld a frame I'd go with some 3/32 6010 or 6011 and run it downhill which helps allot on thin material. Another beautiful thing about stick is you can also weld stainless just as easy. Aluminum is another story don't go there.

And acafro, don't take it personally I'm just a ******* welder, lol:)
 
Stick can be very beautiful too, allot of folks think stick just looks ugly because the process can be very difficult to learn. But here is a stick weld I did, this is 7018.
fa82afec.jpg
 
My maintenance crew at work has MIG, TIG and stick. They use stick the most. It's very utility and strong. I wish I had one, but don't really need it.
 
Most of what I've used my MIG for is armor and suspension links for my (and my friends) Landcruiser. I've made a number of front and rear bumpers for guys around here. My LC weighs 6500# empty and those suspension links take a lot of abuse when I wheel it. They have to be strong.
 
^^ 7018 is a good rod.
This is what I used to do at my last job, built intake exhaust and radiator tube for cat, peterbuilt, and kenworth trucks, using .063" thick tube and thinner
for anything thinner I would still use .035 hard wire
2012-08-29_20-50-16_524_zpsba985936.jpg

IMAG0133_zpsf0e1a180.jpg

IMAG0114_zps9d906fab.jpg
 
The choice of welder really depends on the application (and budget).

If you want to make a brew stand out of mild steel, you would be fine with either a Stick, Flux Core, MIG, or TIG (in order of cost from lowest to highest). My preference on this would be MIG. TIG is nice, but it takes considerably longer to make the weld and even more skill.

If you want to weld fittings onto a stainless or aluminum pot (ie. somewhat cleanly), you will have a hard time with anything other than a TIG (or soldering, as others have mentioned).

You get what you pay for (most of the time). MIG is by far the easiest to learn and control (I think you can train a monkey to MIG weld). It's also a very handy machine to have around if you're into other hobbies (ie. automotive).
 
For the $$, Craigslist is your friend. My first MIG was from Craigslist. A Snap-On 110v MIG for $300. I used it for a while to learn, then sold it for $300 on Craigslist. At that point, I bought my Miller new.
 
ryan_george said:
You get what you pay for (most of the time). MIG is by far the easiest to learn and control (I think you can train a monkey to MIG weld). It's also a very handy machine to have around if you're into other hobbies (ie. automotive).
Click to expand...

I agree. I think pretty much everyone should have a MIG around. Handy and easy to learn.
 
I found a Lincoln weld pac 100 for 200 bucks on craigs list. What do you guys think of that welder?

By the way, I decided not to weld stainless for now. It will be for mild steel projects at home, one being the brew stand. So I think Ill learn off a flux core for now.
 
I got by just fine with a Lincoln Weldpac 100, a Lincoln AC225, and Victor Oxy/Acetylene rig for several years before I finally sprung for a larger machine (MillerMatic 180). You could do a lot worse than that little Lincoln. Adding the gas conversion kit, if it is not already equipped for gas, provides much cleaner welds and makes it possible to weld thinner material than what you can do with flux core.

Trying to weld aluminum with the Weldpac 100 could be very frustrating as I do not think they make a spool gun that is compatible with it and your are sure to have feeding problems with aluminum wire in the machine.

Soldering those fittings to the keggle/kettle is, as far as I kinow, the least expensive and most practical way of accomplishing the job without resorting to a TIG machine. Flux core for the mild steel frame is an excellent choice.

Stick, MIG, and TIG all employ an electrical arc to get the job done. So by definition all three are "arc" welding machines.
 

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