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Hi Fellas,

I need to buy a welder. What welder would you suggest I buy being a beginner and needing to do light welding on patch panels and floor pans.

Thanks,
Cody

What welding experience do you already have, if any?

I am a novice welder. I bought a Clarke 130 MIG welder but I think it had some issues. A year later I bought a Lincoln MIG 135 that uses home voltage. I use shielding gas rather than FLUX core. I'm very happy with my welder and it can do any sheet metal job I want it to do.

I would stay away from the Harbor Freight welders. Buy Lincoln, Miller or Hobart. I have never tried stick welding. Results improve with practice.

If you are patient, you can usually find a good deal on Craigslist.

None nada zero welding experience.

I agree with Lugnutz on sticking with name brand. I originally bought a Campbell Hausfield flux core welder running on 120V, but upgraded when I got into my AD truck project to a Lincoln with MIG capabilities, which is what you want to use for sheet metal welding. A 120V machine will be fine for sheet metal, but if you ever want to weld something thicker, you'll be better served by one running on 240V with more power. The limit on 120V units is typically around 90A, which means multiple passes on thick stuff.

Setting up a new machine will cost you more than just the machine price, as you'll need a CO2 bottle, and want a cart for the whole deal, and a bunch of miscellaneous accessories like workpiece magnets, butt weld clamps (HF ones are cheap and work OK), a good (autodarkening) hood, and some good gloves. If you can find a used machine on CL with all that stuff, even better.

Before you start in on your patch panels, get some scrap sheet metal and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. There are lots of YouTube videos that will help, but some are so-so and some are pure junk. Read the manual that comes with the machine a couple times so it sinks in.

Good Luck

P.S. If you run into trouble, PM Robert (username MP&C here on Stovebolt.com). He's an expert and willing to help out. If you can find some of his threads on the GarageJournal, you can see some of his awesome metalworking skills.

Thanks fellas! What are wire welders used on?

Windyville, wire welders are mig welders. They are used for light to medium duty welds. My Eastwood 135/120 volt is only good up to 3/16 thick metal.

Ah.... thanks fellas.

If your local junior college or Vo-Tech center has a welding class, I highly recommend it. Then get yourself a name brand welder as mentioned in other comments and practice all you can!

All great advice by above members.

Brand name MIG. highest amp 110V you can afford. (like Miller or Lincoln) with Gas. Take a class. Read.
Thin metal is hard for beginner. Use .030 wire and back up weld with copper pipe flattened out.

If I could say this a 100 times I would:
Clean the metal nice and shinning clean near weld on both sides. Clean a good ground spot on both sides for ground clamp. Have really good lighting and a good auto darken helmet. Buy some old cheap fenders or hood off of any old vehicle. Cut a bunch of real thin slots with a angle grinder (.040 or .060 blade) and weld them up again. Do 50 of them over several days or weeks. Use all kinds of feed and amp settings and tip angles until you see what it takes. Then cut out pieces and weld them back on (butt weld). In other words: Practice.
It is best to "spot weld" a whole bunch or spots all along the seam. Don't do two near each other. When you are done it's basically a bunch of connected tacks. Wait for cool, spot way away from previous and cool each with air nozzle. Go SLOW, I say REAL SLOW. If you think you are slow, slow down some more. Take all day if you want. If you warp the panel. You have cost yourself 100's of dollars. It will not warp if each spot is cooled before next. Hammering on the weld is another topic.
Grinding the welds is almost as dangerous as welding. You can warp your fine welding job in a New York minute.
So grind a little, move around and blow air on it.

Stick is not hard to learn. It's for big stuff and is 220V. It's a lot of fun too. No cleaning of metal, no warping.

I took a community college welding class as mentioned by F18.
Tons of YouTubes on it.

Just to add to what has already been said, my kids gave me a Harbor Freight 110V MIG welder (Flux core) and it is really difficult to work with. It will tack weld fine, but the wire doesn't feed at a consistent rate, so longer welds are more difficult. I talk to several other amateurs on a budget like myself and they all wish they had spent the extra to buy a name brand welder.

Taking a welding class is excellent advice.
I'm mostly self taught but have also taken a couple classes, always learn something, and confirmation that what I thought I knew isn't all wrong.

WOW! You guys are great!

I wish I could download all of your information into my head but alas.... I must do it the old fashioned way. Study.....and practice.

Probably why I don't chime in. The welders I have always used have been shop 220v Miller and Lincoln units. Machines that would take up decent real estate in a garage. Current machine is similar to the Miller 252. I have a Millermatic 200 that I set up with .025 to do sheet metal with but it doesn't get used much and I'm thinking of converting it back to .035. The Millermatic 252 has always had .035 and is used on everything, including sheet metal. With no issues. Once upon a time I had a Harbor Freight style 110v gas MIG in my home garage, but it died a quick death and went away quickly. My vote is for a welding class also. But, like Bartamos said, find yourself some scrap and practice, practice, practice. And I don't care what the metal or how new and fresh it is, clean, clean, clean! Yup, that even means cleaning the scale of the fresh steel. When you cut a piece of steel, see that shiny edge? That's the kind of surface you want to be welding. Scale and other crap just make for a poor weld. This is especially important on aluminum! Start with a good machine that can do most all jobs and before you know it, you'll have new friends asking you to make them stuff.

Later on, you can learn about how metal moves when you weld it, why you're getting lava craters in your weld, how to get penetration and not make the weld look like bubblegum and how to weld vertically and overhead.

Holy moley..... I just added three years to my project.

No you didn't. Buy a good unit. Bring it home. Set it up and play with it and all this jargon will start to make sense. MIG is pretty easy for most folks right out of the box. Don't let all the welding advice scare you. Go back and read all this after you get a welder and try it awhile. If you don't want to take a course, you don't have to. The help is right here. The course will go over all kinds of welding. Lecture on Arc, mig, Oxy Acetylene, theory, safety, and after weeks, finally some welding and then sweep the class room before you leave. It's not mandatory for you to take a class. If you get really interested in the whole thing you may decide.
We were just enjoying helping and spewing our experience.
Just burn some metal and have fun. Don't get nervous about it.

Whew… thanks for the recharge.

There were some local classes that were incompatible with my work schedule. I would really like to attend a class in the future.

That's funny! That's kinda what I tell my guys when they get bubblegum welds. I usually say, "You're going to fast! Slow down and enjoy the puddle! Stare at it for a while! Nothing to be afraid of!"

Lots of good advice here. If you're serious don't buy a crap machine. Get a Lincoln or Miller. You can get a good 220 Lincoln machine for $500 at home depot depending on where you live in the USA.

I learned to weld in HS on a stick machine and pce of 1/4 inch steel 6"x6". We just ran beads side to side in slightly overlapping rows, like you would spray paint a surface. With a mig this will be much easier. Suggest starting without gas while you are learning and save a dollar or two. When we where finished the 1/4" steel was about 2" thick. Weld 4-5 rows, clean slag, take a look, improve, repeat. Finish one side cool it off in water, turn it over, rotate 180 degrees, repeat. Get a nice comfortable position where you can focus on the puddle and your arm movement/position. Don't skimp on a helmet, you only get one set of OE eyes. Enjoy !!

Just yesterday, I repaired a pressure washer frame and made a 6 ft chemical stirrer for mixing chemicals in a 55 gal barrel I use to clean my vinyl fences. I'm bad at golf, and don't enjoy playing it. I'm bad at welding, but still get huge satisfaction at building heavy stuff out of steel. Like Jerry says, first you make it effective, then you make it pretty.

"If you don't want to take a course, you don't have to. The help is right here. The course will go over all kinds of welding. Lecture on Arc, mig, Oxy Acetylene, theory, safety, and after weeks, finally some welding and then sweep the class room before you leave. It's not mandatory for you to take a class."

Windy,

Obviously taking a class is not mandatory. However taking a class has benefits. The main benefit is that you will see correct technique demonstrated. So right off the bat you will know what you're trying to do. I invite anyone who doesn't believe that to try tig welding aluminum or play a musical instrument without any instruction. The instructor will observe your technique and make suggestions.

Welding safety is important and things you would never suspect as being dangerous are. The safety part of a class takes 2 or 3 class sessions only and is well worth it.

The other benefit is being able to try a variety of equipment of varying cost and ability. For example inverter tig machines are claimed to have more capability. They definitely have more dials and they cost more but I find a less costly square wave tig machine easier to use and just as effective in making a "stack of dimes" bead. Others disagree and swear by inverter machines. Trying them will give you your answer.

An old buddy of mine bought a mig welder that is restricted to flux core wire (no shielding gas). He also tried to teach himself to use it. The results were so bad that he got discouraged and quit. If he had gotten a machine set up for shielding gas and gotten a demonstration on how to use it he'd be welding away happily now. I couldn't help him because we live about 450 miles apart now.

Repeat, you don't need a class and don't sweat it. For several of us it seemed like the right way to start and was near our home. I didn't even get to Mig in my class because I didn't finish the stick and Oxy weld strength tests in time to get in the queue. Without a class you can call it a stick, you don't have to say electrode or GMAW or GTAW or SMAW. Buy and play and see how good you are naturally. Read the manual/internet and watch some Youtubes. Now-a-days, Same as a class. If you don't get gas with your new or used unit, make sure it's gas adaptable. If you run into a specific problem. Post or google. Of the dozens and dozens of things I do on may truck and around the house and on other people vehicles, I always find several videos of the exact thing. No matter how weird or special it seems, it's on the web. A huge percentage of regular college classes are on line. Without the web I wouldn't have the nerve.
They pound into your head to watch the "puddle". But it's so funny, nobody ever says watch it do what?
I say it's like pretending watching a stream of water and you are tilting the table to get it to flow either towards you or away from you. Slowly. By moving your tip, with a tiny side to side at the same time. But watching the puddle HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIN METAL PATCH PANEL REPAIR. Zap 2 seconds as you lift away a hair, and let it cool.

"Repeat, you don't need a class and don't sweat it. For several of us it seemed like the right way to start and was near our home. I didn't even get to Mig in my class because I didn't finish the stick and Oxy weld strength tests in time to get in the queue."

Bart,

The class you took was totally different from the one I took. I originally took a welding class in 1968 and learned oxy-acetylene, stick and tig. Then in 2008 I got a tig machine and in the 40 intervening years had totally lost the technique.

I went to my local community college and explained my situation to the welding instructor. He had no problem at all letting me go right to tig in his class that was very conveniently scheduled in the evening.

Some of the other students complained that it "wasn't fair" to let me bypass the other course materials. So he said "OK, try tig" to them. They then found out immediately why tig is taught last.

I've also taken community college and evening adult education high school classes in motorcycle mechanics, auto body repair, machining and woodworking and found it to be time very well spent. But if others disagree that's totally cool.

Not a pro welder, but have done a bit over the years. Took a good welding class back in 1969, taught by a guy who was selected to weld together the Picasso sculpture in Chicago! I was good with stick, loved TIG (which was sort of new back then), MIG was OK. I currently have an old Lincoln Big Red Box stick welder, and a 220 volt spot welder. Borrowed a friends MIG machine for a while, and it worked ok, but I have found that I can weld anything I need with the stick welder, as long as I use the right amp setting and the right stick. Just welded together a cast iron intake manifold for my tractor. As everyone else says, practice on scrap, use tacking welds on sheet metal, and you can do anything!
Tim

I don't disagree at all. Just easing the mind of Windy. Possibly he got the idea that a class was mandatory for learning MIG. All options are always open.