Type of welder

The Hobart plasma is a bit light on it's feet for the price I'd say. Much better options out there for much less money. Just not a HyperTherm. Good machines but the consumables are way over priced. I had one and sold it. The HF Titanium 65 is much less cost wise compared to both Hobart and HT and the important part, the consumables are dirt cheap.

I have no doubt that Hobart, Miller and Lincoln to name a few of the big names are great machines and have an adequate service area. However, many folks just use a welder occasionally and dont have deep pockets to afford these $2-4K machines. I use the HF Vulcan OmniPro machine in my welding shop and have had absolutely no problems with it. It has the smart set that automatically sets the machine to the metal thickness, tells you how to hook the leads for MIG, stick, FCAW and even the spool gun that I use to weld aluminum with it. All this for under $1000.

Years ago I bought a Titanium 125 FCAW machine to play with when I was considering getting into the wire feed welders. A friend who owns a Hobart 140 came over and welded with it to repair a bush hog which required a lot of welding. The little machine so impressed him that when he went to work with an electrical contractor and they needed a welding machine for a job, they bought the Titanium125. They have been using it for a year with no problems. Even on a commercial job, the machine has never overheated and shut down. It is a tough little machine and can be bought for under $150 with coupons. It cant do MIG but for the price, it works. I keep one in my shop just for use offsite if needed and I cant roll out my Vulcan. Since the Titanium runs on 120V and I have run it on 150 feet of extension cord welding on some fence post bracing and it welded fine. It weight about 10 pounds so it is very portable. A very handy machine to keep on the back shelf.

I'm 100% sold on the Vulcan Pro-Tig 205 myself. The arc with TIG is extremely smooth and it's HF start so no touching the Tungsten to the workpiece (which caused inclusions). The foot pedal is very linear as well. Only thing I don't like about it (and I did replace it) was the TIG torch. It's heavy and the head is rigid and it's hard to deal with so I replaced the Vulcan TIG torch with a CK worldwide water cooled TIG torch, series 2 and it has a flexible head. The issue with the stock torch when welding aluminum or even steel at high amperage is the torch (stock) can and will get very hot, hot enough at high amperage to actually melt it.

The Pro-Tig is 100% digital readout, has 'fan on demand' cooling and it remembers the last settings you had and returns to those settings when you power it up. The digital display is very intuitive as well. Easy to set up, easy to use other than TIG welding does take skill to master, unlike MIG which really takes little skill.

The CK Worldwide water cooled torch always runs cool because it has coolant circulating in it constantly. Of course you need to add a water cooler, which I did, bought an Everlast cooler for it and bought specific coolant for a water cooled torch. I got the torch and the coolant from Weldfabolous and I also get my argon filled bottles from them. They have really good prices on filled bottles and free shipping on everything and no tax either. There is a bit of 'plumbing' involved and you also need to by a gas through CK DINSE connector for the machine. The CK Series 2 torch takes specific gas lenses and gas saver diffusers which they also sell. Nice thing about the water cooled torch is, I can run at maximum amperage as long as I want to and the torch never gets hot. We do a lot of aluminum here but it's also good for heavy gage steel.

I did purchase the HF extended warranty on both the plasma cutter as well as the Pro-Tig. Like their warranty. If for any reason the machines fail, HF replaces them with a new machine. Helluva warranty and worth it for me, simply because they are solid state IGBT machines.

The Pro-Tig and the plasma cutter will run on 110 as well but I only power them on 220.

Bought the CK water cooled torch with 25 foot leads and I also extended the HF ground clamp out to 25 feet as well. Bought a 25 foot roll of Number 4 stranded copper cable from Spartan Cable to extend the ground clamp and the stock HF ground clam is very nice with it's solid copper contacts and braided copper lead that connects the upper clamp to the lower clamp.

HF has really stepped up it's game far as welders are concerned. Right in there with the big players now and with their extended warranty and replacement guarantee, the stepped above the big players. You don't need to ever worry about finding a service center should your machine fail. Just return it to any HF store with your warranty papers and get a NEW one. No questions asked. None of the big players like Lincoln, Miller, ESAB or Hobart can even come close.

I know the warranty is golden as I purchased the Vulcan welding cabinet, got it home, did the minor assembly and went to unlock the side door and the pin lock key would not fit, so I called the local HF store where I purchased it at and they had me return it and replaced it with a new, in the box cabinet, no questions asked.

I'm 100% sold on HF welders, not that I'd ever sell the 2 Hobart 210 Migs I own simply because they are excellent machines and have never given me any issues in the 15 years I've owned and ran them.

2-4K is light. The Lincoln Square Wave TIG, weld pak I sold cost me new, 5 grand and the Hyper Therm 75 amp plasma cutter I also sold was just north of 4 grand. My issue with the Hyper Therm was the insane cost of consumables. The HF Titanium plasma cutters actually have reasonably priced consumables at HF and while the Titanium plasma won't do the Hyper Therm 'Fine Cut' consumables nor will it gouge, I rarely ran the fine cut consumables anyway and it I do need to gouge off a weld, I have my OA rig to do that.

FRYEDADDY said:

I worked for the railroad for over 30 years and we used MIG welders almost exclusively. The welds are just as strong or stronger depending on the wire and gas used. You will be amazed at the speed and there is very little waste. I have never used a Lincoln MIG. We only had Miller with a few Hobart and Lincolns. Migs are great on thinner material and filling in gaps.

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I've used a MIG on the farm for over 30 years, and have welded 3/4"-1"+ steel, with no problems. I've even welded cast iron with the same wire, ER70-S7. I discovered this when my dad tipped over our Harbor Freight drill press, and broke the table crank off. I did the usual double-V grind prep for him to braze it back together, and on a whim, thought I'd try to tack the two pieces together for him to braze. That looked so nice, I decided to do the base pass. It went so well, I decided to weld it all the way up, and it never broke in these last 30-some years.

I even welded an exhaust manifold on my neighbor's 390 Ford pickup truck. It had a huge gap, so we heated the area with a rosebud, and I started making filler passes until it was closed up. It was still working great when he sold the truck over 10 years later. I found using a very low temperature worked the best.

RonG said:

Folks many moons ago I welded roll cages in race cars using a stick welder and an asbestos blanket to for protection.
I am 77 and would like to get into bending, welding and building my own go-carts and mini bikes.
From what I have seen from these wire feed welders I wouldn't trust the welds, now I am pretty sure it's the welder that doesn't know how to use one.
What type of welder would you nice folks recommend.
Thank you. RonG

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I love my Miller 211 or Hobart 210 MTV great machines ..210volt or 110volt just by changing the quick change plugs on the end included with the machines..I've pointed so many people in this direction only to be thanked over and over again! I myself don't bother with gas ..I like the fluxcore wire ..never had a problem with it in any of the welds i've done .. but then I'm 68 years old and have been welding since 12 .. just stay away from the off brands ..if ya want a good miller or hobart ..even a lincoln try the market place on facebook ..there are always some there at an affordable price ..best of luck ..god bless!

RonG said:

Gentlemen, I appreciate all the replies, since I stated the question my wife was diagnosed with Alzcheimers and that took care of any ideas I had of my new hobby.
This was going to be a hobby not production.
When I was 15 I built a mini bike and go-cart and my dad took them away from me stating that I had to insure them to drive, he hated me.
I always wanted to build for myself these two items before I passed.
I haven't given up yet.
Thank you for all your generous replies.
Ron Gooden

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I've welded 3/8"-1-1/2" thick steel with a MIG welder, using ER70-S7 0.035 wire, for a potato hiller, which has held up fine for over 30 years. I used a Miller 250-amp wire feed welder, which I've had since 1991. It's all about the welder, and the wire.