Inexpensive MIG or arc welder.

[Flybynightwelder]

I had an old Hobart stick welder that finally gave up. We have an older HF 220v mig welder that has long served its purpose. I am no professional welder, only weld occasionally to make something small (like brackets or braces) or to make minor small repairs Usually on very light steel). Now I want to get to make a couple of larger things, like a grader ( land plane), and carry-all. My son does more welding than me, usually for / on his truck.

my question is: should I get a slightly better mig or a stick welder? I don’t know if it is even possible at a budget around $500. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Old Irish]

check out Prime Weld and Yes Welder for economy machines. I have 2 Prime Weld machines that are plasma, dc stick and dc tig but rarely use them but they do weld just fine. the plasma is rated at 50 amps but performs about the same as a 30 amp thermal dynamics machine I use at work, also the tig torch that comes with it is clumsy feeling to me. I have a yes welder 205 mig that I have only put a few hours on but it welds really well so far and I believe it has a 60 percent duty cycle. I also have a 165 amp stick welder from yes welder, it has hot start and dig functions and both work well. it has a really smooth arc and I really like it, it runs well on my generator and does a good job with scratch start tig. it also has a 60% duty cycle I think. all of these machines will run on 120 or 240 volts. building out of material heavy enough for a land plane duty cycle would be really important to me, we have a little 110 volt 140 amp wire machine of a well known brand at work that we use off of a engine drive machine and it is a mortal pain to use on any project above a simple repair taking a few minutes. Most of what we run into is 1/4" or better and it seems that for every 5 minutes of welding we spend 15 minutes waiting for it to cool enough for re-set and every time we re-set it the time it takes to cool off increases. I have had the same experience with 180 amp machines running on 220 volts because they were only 20 or 30 percent duty cycle machines.
a transformer machine like a Lincoln 225 or Miller thunder bolt I have ran all day in july and august with the temperature over 100 degrees without a hiccup. for a little higher end machine I have a power mig 180 but I have driven it past it's duty cycle once or twice as well but in it's defense I was pushing it pretty hard on a project where it got no rest and it is pretty much a hobby machine. 500 dollars for a mig machine is probably mean going used or chinese built but I am pretty sure 500 dollars will still get a Lincoln or Miller stick machine, I prefer Lincoln because that is what I have got the best service out of but the Miller ( and Hobart I think ) have infinite amperage adjustment where the Lincoln has steps in 10 amp increments if I remember correctly.

 

[Flybynightwelder]

Thanks for the reply. I will definitely look into the ones you mention. It is always a tough choice to go used or new cheap Chinese. Hopefully I’ll be able to find something within the budget, might have to wait a little while longer and get something a little bet. Thanks again.

 

[PILOON]

A Hobart stick welder that gave up?
Heck all that is, it's a heavy transformer.
Unless it caught fire and melted I'm sure it can be put back into services at reasonable cost.
In fact that is my main machine and, OK my on/off switch bit the dust so I did a DIY switch replacement.
All to say, don't give up on it just yet, good machine!

On mine I modified a bit and actually used 220 VAC circuit breaker as my 'switch' since I could not find the original replacement.
Works just fine!

 

[Bearskinner]

Most of the light duty welders, have a duty cycle, so they would be ok for small projects. Bigger and better is always nice, especially for lots of welding. For lots of little welds short duty cycles won’t hurt a thing. Do lots of reading up on possible problems with some of the less expensive models.

 

[PILOON]

Most of the light duty welders, have a duty cycle, so they would be ok for small projects. Bigger and better is always nice, especially for lots of welding. For lots of little welds short duty cycles won’t hurt a thing. Do lots of reading up on possible problems with some of the less expensive models.

Hey, the majority of my projects usually demand 1/8 rod so duty cycle never is a problem, besides by the time I'm onto the next weld I have never come close to 'duty cycle'.
Heavy rod and long welding seams (like splicing plates) would be a different story. but even building, say, a trailer with angle and or tubing would probably never approach most duty cycles on the majority of stick machines.

 

[dstig1]

Yeah I'm with Piloon. Not much to go wrong. Unless it got run over by a truck or dropped in the ocean, it is probably fixable. Open it up and take a look to start. Post photos.

 

[Don_]

I cast another vote for Prime Weld products.
I just torture tested my AC Tig/stick machine with 20 + pounds of 5/32" rods around 175 - 180 amps, no problem keeping up.
I was having issues with my Hobart 187 not getting enough heat for 35 solid wire. I even called tec support. Yeah, first time for me.
What I wound up doing is getting a new torch, a "Yes" brand off of Amazon for about $70 bucks. My work clamp (ground) had seen better days with tape spots etc. So I replaced it with 15 feet of 4 gauge and a new, strong, copper toothed clamp and I am burning 35 wire again. It was just enough improvement to change my mind about replacing it.
There right, just an old transformer, like my Lincoln 225, hard to hurt them.

Don_

 

[Flybynightwelder]

A Hobart stick welder that gave up?
Heck all that is, it's a heavy transformer.
Unless it caught fire and melted I'm sure it can be put back into services at reasonable cost.
In fact that is my main machine and, OK my on/off switch bit the dust so I did a DIY switch replacement.
All to say, don't give up on it just yet, good machine!

On mine I modified a bit and actually used 220 VAC circuit breaker as my 'switch' since I could not find the original replacement.
Works just fine!

I have not had a chance to dig into it yet. My son was using it (hard) when it quit. We were thinking it was a thermal overload cutout, but after it cooled for quite a while (about an hour), it still won’t fire. Hopefully this weekend we can tear it apart.

 

[JKR]

I had an old Hobart stick welder that finally gave up. We have an older HF 220v mig welder that has long served its purpose. I am no professional welder, only weld occasionally to make something small (like brackets or braces) or to make minor small repairs Usually on very light steel). Now I want to get to make a couple of larger things, like a grader ( land plane), and carry-all. My son does more welding than me, usually for / on his truck.

my question is: should I get a slightly better mig or a stick welder? I don’t know if it is even possible at a budget around $500. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

$500 is a tough budget. A used Lincoln 225 stick can be had for about $150. New about $330

 

[SIO]

I bought my Lincoln Idealarc 250 at an industrial surplus place for $200. Welds beautifully. Quite common to find machines like that for under $400.

 

[welding seabee]

I have a little side line where I buy and sell used welding equipment. Buy at garage and estate sales and off Craig's List. Seldom find stuff that is complete especially in O/A sets. Common to pick up buzz boxes both AC and AC/DC at the auction for $25-50. Clean them up (some look like they have been buried in the chicken house). Depending on appearance and what I add to the package they then sell on C/L for $100-150. Some are junk that I salvage the leads and cords from, scrap the rest. New 100% copper lead wire is not cheap. I am not into changing out parts on them so do not save anything from inside the box. O/A stuff is actually more lucrative. There I save most pieces unless beyond repair. Have a brass & copper scrap box for junk pieces. I throw a lot of hose away but have a kit to install new fittings. I always put together full kits bay mixing and matching and even adding some Amazon knock-off parts. Gauges on regulators are the biggest problem, OEM parts are priced like gold. I can buy 6 old regulators for what a set of 2 gauges cost like from Victor.

Ron

 

[Aczlan]

On the stick side, we have a Everlast PowerArc 200STi and have been very happy with it. It replaced a AC only Lincoln 225 "Tombstone" (which actually went to a friend who is starting out on his own), much nicer welds with the inverter. IIRC that was around $300 new.
On the MIG side, you will have a hard time finding a 240V MIG in working order for $500 (at least around here anyway).

Aaron Z

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would love to hear from Flybynightwelder on progress of finding what was wrong with his Hobart stick machine. Did he fix it or find a new machine.