[TheForge] Welders

Tue Jan 8 13:24:01 2002

Hey Jeff,
I disagree with the majority opinion about welder size and quality.
Several friends of mine went the little cheap route and later regretted it.
One of them went thru 4 machines , from a 110Volt mig all the way up to a
250 amp miller mig.
And regretted the smaller units short comings and the waste of money
upgrading.
I consider my ESAB 250 amp mig the entry level machine. I can do anything
with mine that the smaller units can, but I can also use cheaper 40 lb
spools of wire, have a much bigger selection of different kinds of wire;
like the ESAB 7000 dual shield wire in .035 & .045 diam., that Ralph Sproul
recommended, It makes the nicest welds on hard to weld steel and hi alloy
steel.
I also get cheap replacement consumables from ZAP PLASMA THERM.
There are many machines and tools,  used very occasionally, that buying a
cheaper lower quality model will suffice. But there are also some machines
that I use on an almost continual basis. i.e.. welder, plasma cutter belt
grinder etcetera, that pay for themselves many times over in reliability and
versatility.
The more you use those machines the more ways you find to use them. These
are the machines where you buy the best you can afford.
Chuck

----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Harding <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 4:00 AM
Subject: [TheForge] Welders

> Thanks for the input guys, all good stuff
>
>    allow me to narrow the field a little... I really want to get a 220
> v welder, I have 220 and know how to "get" 220 almost anywhere...I can
> safely tap 220 from any house that has it, I wouldn't leave the tap on
> for someone else to use, but it's safe and up to "code" for it's
> purpose.  I would like to have gas....
>
>    So... 220v, gas equipped...   and if I'm understanding the "spool
> gun", that sounds interesting, would that mean, just change the "gun"
> on the end and adjust heat and feed to change metals?
>
>    anyway... I'm willing to spend a little, but still don't need a rig
> that will do "professional" duty...
>
>    Am I still looking at the Lincoln/Hobart/Miller/"homeprofessional",
> kind of  lines?... a friend once had one named "solar", anyone heard
> of that?  I think it was a "body shop circuit" welder salesman
> purchase originally.  What would be the obvious things to look for in
> a used welder as far as problems or potential problems.
>
>    Thanks for all of your help, as I said, I've done enough
> fabrication to know how to do this, but it was a "he set the torch, I
> used it" deal ... I never had to identify metals and set the welder...
> Yeah..made me lazy, wish I'd paid more attention...
>
>    Jeff   ><>
>
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