Hobby welding at home

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120v 15A will be enough to MIG weld car body metal thickness (140 amp range). I have Lincoln & Everlast welders and for the price the Everlast Chinese units are cheaper then the Western welders with good reliability and good local support (Hamilton). As your skills/interest develop you can start looking at getting a quote to run 220v to your garage and looking at heavier duty welders.
 
Trials said:
Yes, and you are spinning your wheels with a 120volt stick welder, they lack the voltage control that you need to control penetration rate of your weld. Welding rod does not come in enough different sizes that you can adjust the heat of your weld to suit the type and thickness of the material, by simply using a heavier or lighter rod.
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A miller 120 volt stick will weld 3/32 rod, good for 3/16 thick steel and under $1200. it will also tig weld but not aluminium. A lincoln 120 volt mig will weld 1/8 and under $400. There is also battery back up welders that run on 120 or battery $5000 will burn all rod sizes.
 
gsxr guy said:
A miller 120 volt stick will weld 3/32 rod, good for 3/16 thick steel and under $1200. it will also tig weld but not aluminium. A lincoln 120 volt mig will weld 1/8 and under $400. There is also battery back up welders that run on 120 or battery $5000 will burn all rod sizes.
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I posted that before he said what he was actually shopping for.
Did not mean to infer the small stick welders can't weld or use different sized rods, but that if you don't have good voltage control and range of power you can't control your weld penetration very effectively ymmv. I rarely weld anything thinner then about a quarter inch.
If you want to weld up a bulldozer track or excavator bucket you can't be making bubblegum welds. Mine is 220v 50 amp service, runs AC only, can effectively weld 1 inch square steel onto a half inch plate or pretty near anything else I could ever break. 120 volt welder is near useless, on a farm or for heavy equipment.
;) even a bunch of car batteries can 'burn' welding rod, the object is to actually produce a good weld.
 
Gary said:
Auction alert.
Here's some (page 3) brand new 120/240V welding machines, and a couple plasma cutters:
Machines Auctions - 192 Lots | HiBid Auctions | Ontario
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Damn, 200A chinese welders that comes with stick and tig and are apparently readily available at auction but nowhere else. Amazon has a different but similar unit for $280. Make sure you unplug it when you aren't using it and have a fire extinguisher handy. That is way too cheap to be any good. It will be interesting to see hammer price on those. I guess if you could get them for cheap enough, it might be worth a shot.
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