Welders

[archer379]

Does anyone have any experience with 110 volt welder I have used may 220 but never the 110 wondering how well they work for light duty work

[Old Man]

MIG or Stick? Most 110 welders will do light duty work, but if you're use to a good 220, you'll think it sucks.

[Skipper D]

I have a 110 & 220 , i like them both , with the 110 keep the power cord as short as you can and you'l weld up to 1/4" all day .With 110 welders buy the one that will allow you to add the bottle of gas , this will make for the best welds you can make with a 110 machine .

Edited September 22, 2012 by Skipper " D "

[16sailor]

A 110 buzzz box as I call them are ok the mig is ok for tacking and welding no more that 1/8" but stick can go thicker 3/16"

But like old man says if your use to a 220 that 110 is going to suck I have a 250 miller tig/ stick all digital controlled I love it I cans weld all types of material. tig is by far the best way to go if your going to be welding little things and different materials too

Edited September 22, 2012 by 16sailor

[outllaw]

find an old lincon buzzbox 220. they had copper windings.

[archer379]

The one I am looking at is a stick. It is a Lincon. Just want some thing that I can do a bit of body work and light stuff. I don't have 220 in the garage or have the space for a big unit

[Skipper D]

Just some thing i thought i'd share for in this thread ,,,,,, Back in our do da days , the early 80's my brother and i became interested in dirt track stock car raceing and went to work on building a car that we raced . We did'nt have much money back then but we pooled it together and were able to buy a new 110 Miller Crickit XL that used welding gas AND 023. wire , thease things were new and just out at the time and it cost us 1200 , i guess it was the best money would buy then . Any how we built the car and all the welding was done with our 110 welder , once it was completed we were off to the Cornwall Speedway in eastern Ont . Ha ... raceing is no differant then any thing eles in life and there too the new guy is gona take a pounding til he learns every thing he needs to know . We both knew that and wounderd if the car would stay together because we had welded it with 110 instead of a 220 welder . Out on the track At Cornwall each time it took its hits and to our amasment it stayed together and did'nt break . Later in the season while still having a blast and thinking we were knowing our stuff we decided to go over to the States one night and race at the Mohawk Raceway , , what we learned over there was , you don't try to win , thats right you don't try to win , and if yrou do our good native freinds there have a way of fixing it so you dont and in such away that you wont want to come back and try it again ..... , our good freinds boxed the car in on the back side of the track and sent us over the enbankment where to car went end over end at least eight times putting us out of the race for the night ,,,,,, and still after all that none of the welds broke , we still have that little welder in the shop today and it still works perfectly .

[SlowPoke]

The one I am looking at is a stick. It is a Lincon. Just want some thing that I can do a bit of body work and light stuff. I don't have 220 in the garage or have the space for a big unit

 

 

You don't want a stick welder for bodywork.

Lincoln, Hobart or Miller are brands to watch for.

140a range 110v with gas is what you want.

[smally21]

im with slowpoke, all the way here. brands, sizes, mig vs. stick.

 

like anything, if you buy a 99$ unit from PA you will have a bad experience.

 

i've had a small hobart and a small lincoln both worked great if you didnt ask too much of them.

 

i can build almost anything with a small 120v as i could with my Miller 250, i just wouldn't.

 

but there is nothing handier than having a little machine in the garage

[Luke V.]

I have a cheapo buzz box from PA. It's nothing compared to my Hobart handler 210. Like others have said. U don't want to use stick for sheetmetal/body work. You'll be ok welding up to 1/8 with a 110 unit. Going with a fluxcore wire will help a bit with penetration, but it's not as pretty. For body work I use 023 wire and 75/25 gas. Everything else is on the bigger machine. 035 wire and 75/25 gas. U don't need a name brand machine to do little odd jobs. But if you expect it to last dont go cheap. Miller is the best on the market, but buy a Hobart. Made by miller basically the same machines.

[aplumma]

The big thing to look at is what is the amp draw and what is the duty cycle. A 120 volt 15 amp with a 20% duty cycle is horrible if you are trying to weld something together. The duty cycle is what percentage it can be run continuously so for a 20% cycle it means weld for 20 seconds and rest for 80 seconds. The higher the voltage and the better/more the windings is in relation to how fast it can get rid of the heat the longer the duty cycle is. A fan cooled unit is good but a radiator cooler with a fan is better. The radiator version is rarely found in a home owner environment due to cost and overkill. Choose a welder that is running at 50% of its range for the most often setting you are going to be welding at.

 

 

Art

[archer379]

Well thanks for all the info guys the one I was looking at sold but have my eye on a Lincon mig at Canadian tire what are your thoughts on gas vs flux core

[Fisherman]

I bought a Linc110 from Costco a number of years back with the option of the gas kit. I'm not building skyscrapers or the Titanic. Up to 3/16ths is quite doable with just the flux core, just learn to take your time and get good penetration. Practice, practice and more practice. If I was to do body work, I would get the gas bottle and .023 wire.

[SlowPoke]

Well thanks for all the info guys the one I was looking at sold but have my eye on a Lincon mig at Canadian tire what are your thoughts on gas vs flux core

 

GAS for sure.

Flux core is fine for welding the underside of a wheelbarrow provided there are no short people around.

Kijiji has 100's listed... complete setups with bottles/gas. Most people buy them for a job and sell them when they've been sitting for a while and are rarely used. You'll be able to tell by the condition. You'll probably get a mask and gloves with the deal too.

[SlowPoke]

The big thing to look at is what is the amp draw and what is the duty cycle.

 

 

It's pretty hard to pick a 110v unit by duty cycle; not many to choose from. In fact, I don't think you'll find a 110v machine with much more than 25% DC.

Duty cycle is not a huge factor for bodywork. My Lincoln SP135 had a 20% DC and it would perform tacks, plugs and stitch welds as fast as I could work the metal without warping it. Heavier jobs would benefit from a 40-50% DC and I wouldn't recommend a 110v machine for that. That's not to say a 110v machine won't do the job; you're just going to have to do a lot of stitch welds.

[largemouthtrout]

110 welders work fine .... i,m on my 3rd one ... not necause the were bad ... i sold the others when i needed money .

 

If the power to your house is around 100 amp service or better , you will be fine ,,, i would not recommend a welder to an older house with 60 amp service .

 

stick with the big 3 ,, lincoln ,, miller ,, hobart ... ( i think lincoln makes the century welder .. which i have ... it works alright . ) mine uses flux core wire ... no gas

you will definately find a difference between 110 and 220 .... mostly the cosmetics of the weld ( quality )

but for small jobs 110 is fine

 

car bodies , yes .... car frames , no

[Rattletrap2]

Just a couple more notes on "Duty Cycle". It is important, but really only comes in to play when you would be running at the full rated amperage of the machine, and for a long continuous period of time. If the machine is rated at a 20% duty cycle and is rated at 225 amps, this means you should only run 2 minutes out of every 10 minutes. This should not be confused to mean that you can run for 12 minutes out of an hour! It does not work like that! The machine needs cool down time between welds.

Now, let's put this into perspective. most SMAW (stick) welding is done at 125 amps or less. This means you are using 1/8" diameter electrodes or less. You can roughly base this on 1 amp per thousands of diameter. 1/8" = 1 divided by 8 = .125 = 125 amps. This does not always hold true, but it is a good place to start. You can always go up or down as desired.

So, if you ran at approx. half the rated amps of the machine, you could double the duty cycle.

For most welding at home, this is way more than adequate. Don't think you HAVE to go out and buy a huge industrial unit for home.

 

As others have already pointed out, most automotive work should be done with a GMAW (MIG) machine. Easier to use and can go down quite low for sheet metal work with .023" wire. I would agree that having a gas option is best, but remember this with gas. The bottles usually are leased annually and the cost of this lease adds up. A cylinder of gas is about $50 to $60, plus the lease. Another issue is that it does not work well outdoors. If there is any wind or breeze at all, the gas shield will be disturbed and result in poor welds filled with porosity. The use of flux cored wire without shielding makes this more versatile. If you only plan on occasional usage, you might find the use of gas too expensive or not justifiable. It is nice though for indoors.

 

When it comes to welding machines, yes, Lincoln, Miller, or Hobart would be my first choices. It is hard to ignore the Everlast ( www.everlastwelders.ca )machines though. Aside form the political view of buying "offshore" equipment, they are real good and offer a lot for the money. They are sold out of Burlington, ON and have great support. Something to consider?

 

I have a Hobart 210MVP (MIG, Flux Core) which means it has a multi- voltage plug. It runs off 115 or 240. The amperage rating is lower with 115, but it is convenient. I run AllMig (91% Argon, 5% CO2, 4% Oxygen) gas which is a tri gas-blend. It is similar to 75/25 (75% Argon,25% CO2), but I can go into spray transfer with the tri-gas. You need a minimum of 80 to 85% Argon to cross over into spray transfer. All of those small 140 amp MIG welders are limited to short circuit transfer and shallower penetration. Still good for most home projects though. I have mine wired to a 50 amp 240 volt plug.

 

I also have an older Miller 225 amp stick machine for heavier stuff.

 

Just realize that any of the welders from PA are disposable. Most of them will not have parts available for them. There is also a big difference internally between the 140 / 180 amp Lincoln machines from CTC and HD than what is available from your LWS (Local Welding Supplier). They look the same, but there are considerable differences.

 

Anyways, good luck with your purchase, be safe, and have fun!

[Rattletrap2]

Just some thing i thought i'd share for in this thread ,,,,,, Back in our do da days , the early 80's my brother and i became interested in dirt track stock car raceing and went to work on building a car that we raced . We did'nt have much money back then but we pooled it together and were able to buy a new 110 Miller Crickit XL that used welding gas AND 023. wire , thease things were new and just out at the time and it cost us 1200 , i guess it was the best money would buy then . Any how we built the car and all the welding was done with our 110 welder , once it was completed we were off to the Cornwall Speedway in eastern Ont . Ha ... raceing is no differant then any thing eles in life and there too the new guy is gona take a pounding til he learns every thing he needs to know . We both knew that and wounderd if the car would stay together because we had welded it with 110 instead of a 220 welder . Out on the track At Cornwall each time it took its hits and to our amasment it stayed together and did'nt break . Later in the season while still having a blast and thinking we were knowing our stuff we decided to go over to the States one night and race at the Mohawk Raceway , , what we learned over there was , you don't try to win , thats right you don't try to win , and if yrou do our good native freinds there have a way of fixing it so you dont and in such away that you wont want to come back and try it again ..... , our good freinds boxed the car in on the back side of the track and sent us over the enbankment where to car went end over end at least eight times putting us out of the race for the night ,,,,,, and still after all that none of the welds broke , we still have that little welder in the shop today and it still works perfectly .

 

Funny story Ron! I guess you got the hint? Glad you were not seriously hurt!