Will Mig / Flux Cored work for my needs?

[WJH]

I used to have a cheap HF mig welder that caused me to fear, and hate welding... Was never happy with the splatter all over my workpiece... Yes... I needed to have some one show me how to weld...
Fast forward a decade later... I spent a few hours in a friends shop using his Tig welder to weld up steel tubing to make a frame, and used up half his argon bottle in the process... I got much better results with tig, but certainly nothing I really wanted to show off to people.
Even though I enjoyed the Tig process, I am thinking of giving MIG / Flux Core another go...
I was looking at the Lincoln 140, and Hobart 140 welders for doing mild steel. This is just for my locomotive project, not something that is going to be used every day. Low duty cycles is not really a concern for me.
I will however be welding material, up to 5/16th, but most of it will be 1/8" or less, and lots of 12 gauge sheet for this project. Other consideration, I have to pinch pennies, and if I do not have to buy gas, and get away with fluxed cored wire, the better! Most of these welds will be hidden, and I can grind the bad looking ones down. Theres only a few welds really where I am welding 5/16", and I can bevel the edges in these places to build up the bead.
My workshop only has 110v, however the circuit box is located in the workshop and it would not be impossible to add in a 220v circuit if really needed.
With my work schedule, unless I have a personal mentor to show me the ropes, there is no way I can attend classes at a local college. So I am thinking I will just buy some angle iron and practice my craft with it.
The Hobart which is made my Miller, and the Lincoln, both look to be good quality, any preferences between the two?

[Russ Hanscom]

First. let me speak to the machine - Lincoln - only as that is what I have. The Lincoln 140 comes in multiple models - I have now have a 140C which is the commercial version. It has a few more adjustments, better duty cycle and a bit heavier, at more $$. Check the various 140 models and compare features.

I normally work with fluxcored, and the 140 should be able to do 5/16" - I have done 1/4" without problems, just a bit of weaving should do the trick. 12 gauge should be easy once you find the right feed and voltage combination. I also suggest using a quality wire and not the HF stuff.

Spatter seems to be a fact of life with MIG. It is much more messy than stick welding in my experience. There are compounds you can apply to the adjoining area that are supposed to reduce spatter sticking - might look into them.

[redneckalbertan]

Spatter is not a fact of life with MIG. It is, however a fact of life with gassless wire.(What you are calling flux core. While flux core is not wrong, flux core wore covers a much broader range of wire than gassless.) I have used the lincoln that you speak of, however I am an unashamed Miller fan. If you can try out the two welders before you buy, that would be great! Some of the welding supply shops up here have a few machines that you can try. Miller and Lincoln both have, or at least had, demo trailers that made the rounds to different trade shows where you could try various machines, that may be another option to try before you buy. The lincoln machine is head and shoulders above the few import boat anchors that masquerade as welders that I have tried. I would assume that the Hobart machine would be comparable to the Lincoln.

If you are dead set against a wirefeed with gas I won't waste my breath, but you do get better looking welds and less clean up, although machines are a little more money.

The antispatter spray does help, I have heard others comment that Pam cooking spray works as well, but I have not tried it.

I find the abilities of 220 volt machines better than 110 volt machines, but that may be more to do with the quality of the machine than voltage, but I have used Millers little dual voltage inverter stick machine. It operates on both 220 or 110 and I like it better on the 220, it seems to have a more stable arc. Although with the inverter design that should be all but eliminated. That also may be me being biased.

Seeing as we are slightly further apart than a daily commuteable distance, I can't offer to visit and help you out. If you post pictures here I would be happy to do my best to give you constructive criticism on your welds.

[WJH]

I'm not dead set for or against anything, if a small stick welder is the way to go, I'll get that! The Lincoln welder 140 is the one that's around 500$ and comes with a gas regulator, so I could use gas. I have no idea how much gas costs, but if is within reason, I'll do that. I am really an open minded guy about all of this.

[Russ Hanscom]

If you are going to do thin work, MIG should be superior to stick - Stick is very hard to do thin work without burn through.

I have the Lincoln 140C that I bought a year ago after playing with my son's mid range Lincoln 140. My other welder is a Linde UCC 305 stick TIG machine it gets all of the heavy duty jobs (I rarely use the TIG function) and the MIG gest the light stuff.

Which reminds me that you should shop around a bit. I was looking for a buzz box for my son a number of years ago, on ebay, and I caught an off day when no one was interested in the Linde machines and got one for less than I was expecting to pay for a buzz box. I kept the big Linde and gave my son the smaller one.

[hammermill]

the real killer to 120v machines is they get plugged into 120 volt branch circuits that can not keep up with thier energy needs.
hence the poor performance. 220v welders usually are connected to heavier and dedicated circuits that can do the job with better results all around.

if you need a 110 ten welder use a 10 guage extension cord and get as close to the pannel as posible.

in my shop i have a 100v lincolin, a 220 lincolin and a miller pac welder dual voltage . the investment in better machines will pay off quickly.

[WJH]

Hmm, most of the 110 circuits in my house I think are 15 amp, even in the garage. If I need to run a better circuit from the box, might as well just be 220v! I am open to going with a 220v machine. I don't see myself welding much stuff under 12 gauge... I've never done stick before, so I do not know what it is capable of.

[redneckalbertan]

Ok here is try number three for this message... The stupid iPad lost the other two just before I was done writing them...

I just happened accross this on Millers website, I hadn't been there is a while. It's a fair bit more than the $500 than the Lincoln and Hobart tip the scales at, but may be something to look at. http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mul ... del=M00361

Don't rule out used welders, you may be able to get a larger machine for less cash. With transformer type machines there is little to go wrong with them that isn't seen if you try before you buy. Inverter type machine I would be more hesitant to buy used because intermittent problems are more likely with the electronics in them.

The shop I work at has their 'U' stamp, and part of keeping that is having their welders calibrates on a yearly basis. While that I was being done I stopped to talk with the guy doing it, His company also repairs and rebuilds welder of all sorts and shapes. His comments on the new 600ish amp inverters were a life span of 5 years, the DC600's that we have a large number of, bullet proof. I heard, at the shop where I am currently employed, that while rotating a vessel the ground cable got tangled up and pulled a lincoln DC600 off of its roughly 5' tall stand, the welder was stood back up and works fine, just a little bit of damage to the sheet metal body panels. I don't mention this story to scare you off of inverter type machines but rather to hi light the robustness of transformer type machines. If inverter machines are treated well and NOT abused they should last a long time as well.

Something else to consider is every stick welder can be used as a TIG welder. A TIG torch just has to be purchased that has a gas valve in the body so the machine doesn't have to be the one turning the gas on and off. TIG welds are prettier and are of better quality, generally. You can work with very thin materials with a quality TIG setup. I have seen razor blades welded together knife edge to knife edge, so that could mee your requirements for being able to work with thin materials. It can also be used to weld thick materials, but if you are using a stick machine for TIG welding I would switch to stick for heavier weldments. A good TIG weld with appropriate Rod is a very suitable choice for welding up a steel boiler. If you haven't welded with TIG before, but have welded or brazed with an oxy-fuel torch, the hand skills are similar and easy to make that transition. If you don't have oxy-fuel welding experience and want to learn how to TIG weld I highly recomend practicing with the oxy-fuel first. A great way to learn and MUCH less time wasted at the grinder sharpening your tungsten!

[WJH]

I have a few hours experience using a friends tig welder. Thinking maybe I should buy a used Lincoln tombstone buzz box and give stick a try, and like you said, get a tig torch for it

[NP317]

Having used professional Miller welders for stick, TIG, and wire feed at my work place, I settled on a Hobart 140 wire feed unit for my personal home shop welder. It was reasonably priced, and came with the gas regulator and hoses, but I've not used them yet. Probably someday.

The Hobart 140 has met my needs for building 7.5" gauge steamers and accessories. 1/4" thick welding is easy for it. It is a quality welder made by a major US manufacturer, with readily available replacement parts (even on Amazon.com) and little need to replace anything in the past 5 years of intermittent use. Since it runs on 110 Vac, it's duty cycle is lower than a 220 Vac or larger welder, preventing its use for large continuous welding jobs. But that has never been a problem for my usage patterns. If I wanted to weld boilers, I'd use a larger machine.

As stated before, only use quality welding wire, so you get the alloys you are paying for. This makes a big difference in the ease of welding, and the quality of the results. 'Not worth penny-pinching here.

'Hope that helps you understand the Hobart 140 welder. It's definitely worth considering for home-shop use.
~RN

[Russ Hanscom]

Yes, a transformer welder will rarely go bad - some of the ones at the RR are older than I am and still can do a full day's work. But they are heavy!

Ref doing TIG on a stick machine - in addition to the gas valves, you also need the high frequency unit which is necessary for certain types of TIG work. If TIG is a consideration, better to get a machine with the bits all built-in rather than attempt to add HF and other features.

[WJH]

Hmm... Can't argue with the Hobart 140 testimonial. Time to hit up craigslist