My uncle told me wanted to learn to weld

Date 08-29-2010 12:52

Hey grizzly,
That is an honorable gesture to teach your uncle to weld. Yes, being retired can be boring if you aren't exercising your brain & body parts. Now that I am retired, I am working more than when I was employed.....love it!

You have to determine the extent of the material parameters he may want to work on. I would suggest a MIG such as the Miller 130 that you can use either f/c or gas. MIG is quite easy to learn with some practice & your assistance. I picked up a mint one on the local Craigslist for $135. Gotta do some shopping to find a good deal....they are out there.

Denny

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 08-29-2010 18:51 Edited 08-29-2010 18:57

Grizzly
I agree with Denny Go for a MIG setup that is ready to use gas. Those little bread box migs (110v+cheap) are very limited, and most seem to never be able to be hold consistent current vs wire feed....in other words they are frustrating for the most part. If you bide your time you can find a good used small setup for the right price. Most novice/aspiring welders purchase wire feed setups and probably about half figure out they did not really want it or need it. You can get a good 220 AC or AC/DC Lincoln tombstone pretty cheap but stick welding is much harder to learn...but cheaper to start with and run all the way round. At least if you get a known quality machine it will have value if he ever wants to sell it....the little off brand (Chinese) welders do not even make good paperweights.

Check Craigslist, local large newspaper, State run auctions, or the LWS that does machine repair...sometimes they have trade ins collecting dust you can get for a fair price.

By 522029

Date 08-29-2010 19:56

What is your uncle's location?

Griff

By 522029

Date 08-29-2010 22:54

Too far away for me to help!

Griff

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 08-30-2010 00:27

Machines like that don't have much to go wrong. The biggest problem I have seen with those are that the leads need to have the ends cut back a few inches, then they are ready for more years of good service.

I have a 115 volt MIG that I use flux core [self shielded] wire in, but it isn't squat compaired to My 230 volt solid wire machine. The only advantage is that the little machine with sef shielded wire is easy to take with Me on small repair jobs.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 08-30-2010 07:11

Those typically will run for a couple of generations or more, like Dave said not much to go wrong. BUT that is AC only......yea it will run most rods.......

A lot of rods will run so different "so much better on DC" that it is a real consideration. Lincoln quit making the AC/DC machines for the most part. One thing I can say is they are terribly reliable.....I have not seen one blow up or fail yet. If you find a 250 ac/dc it is old and you can get it for less then the price of that AC only machine. IF you are going to start and limit your uncle to a CC power supply AC/DC is an important consideration. Really it will not change the price much but in my opinion the performance ability is well worth the effort of looking and or spending!!! PLUS if you add a high freq generator to those older AC/DC lincoln tombstones they become VERY capable Tig welders for aluminum and stainless steels. They might not be the cock of the walk compared to the latest and greatest machines but it is very surprising of what they can do. So to get to the point. If your going to get a tombstone lincoln CC welder go ahead and look around and find yourself a 225 or 250 AC/DC machine. It is worth twice what the ac only machine is. You can get leads...unless they have 100's of feet that should not consider in the price. 10-20 ft of whatever lead is really nothing....don't let them try to price you that way.

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 08-31-2010 02:22

Following on all that Tommyjoking said, the Idealarc 250 AC/DC is a much more capable machine than the 225 AC or the 225 AC/DC.