Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello gang, I found a Lincoln Electric Flux welder pretty close to my budget, but I don't have a clue if it is the proper welder or if it is under power of what I need from the welder.
Lincoln Electric HD model# K2188-1, it seems is a DC unit but specs say is 80 amp, any help is appreciated..........AZ

Basically useless. Flux core welding sucks for sheet metal and with 80 amps, all you can weld with it is sheet metal. Reason there are so many used for so cheap. People buy then and quickly realize they need a bigger and better welder. But there is a sucker born every minute.

If you spent the same money on a stick welder you'd be able to weld thicker metal, if that's any attraction. Do you have a particular type if welding project in mind? If yes, then buy the welder that accomplishes that goal.

Not completely useless.

Those things make excellent power supplys for using ss wire to cut foam boards.

Franz© wrote:Not completely useless.

Those things make excellent power supplys for using ss wire to cut foam boards.

Lol, good example, for now all I am doing is fence with galvanized square tubes 1/16 thick 1×1 and 1×2, thanks for the information, I will save a bit longer to buy the gas/gasless Lincoln 140 HD or do you guys know of a better welder in the same price range of the 140HD? Thanks in advance............AZ

AZ, if i was in your worn out tire sandals I'd just wait till you get to the mainland and pick up a decent 240 volt machine.
I just heard on the news how you are shoeless, starving and without electricity down there, so you ought to be here by July.

Honestly, I've watched a lot of men follow the path you insist on walking, and probably 85% of them have a 110 volt "welder" tucked on a shelf in the garage/man cave collecting dust. Before you buy anything, go to a local welding supplier and have them give you a demonstration.
Once you see and feel the difference between a 110 volt machine and a 220 volt machine you'll be glad you didn't rush the buy.
There is a hell of a lot of difference in both capacity and performance.

BTW, if you can get to the airport, the Governor of NY is making another trip to spend time in the sun and bring you more bottled water.
He might also bring a few bucks he didn't grab for his coming reelection campaign.
Just don't get in range for him to pick your pocket.

From what little I have heard about the state of the electric grid in Puerto Rico I am wondering if 110 might be much more available than 220. In that case a decent 110 machine on flux core will do a fair bit. I did quite a lot of projects with a Lincoln 100. Ok as long as you know the limitations and don't get in a rush.

Thanks again for the information and your time, my local welding store offered me a NorStar gas/gasless inverter, he showed me where in the welder I can invert polarity also said I can connect to 120V or 240V the price was $500 I didn't look at it much because I never heard of that brand...........so I got no clue if it is a good welder or not...........AZ

Let me take a slightly different approach.

A man starting out with no experience is about to climb a mountain. Old bud of mine who worked for a manufacturer always said when the salesman finishes telling you how good a machine is scratch your chin and tell him to plug it in and hook it up so you and the machine can go dancing. Salesman either sets it up and hands you a helmet, or you walk away.

Nor~~~~ is made by a company called Coplay, and honestly I got no idea who they are. I can't even figure out where they are.
What I can see instantly is good and bad. Bad is the little darling looks to take only 2 pound spools, and frankly for that alone I'd be headed out the door. Wire kind of quadruples in price every time the spool shrinks, and that sucks if you're paying the bill. My little Lincoln carrys an 8 pound spool, and that's barely sufficient and way more expensive than 33 pounders in the bigger feeders.
BTW, don't bother thinking you can buy a 33 and wind 2s from it unless you have a lot of time to spend learning. Never take a spool of wire you know somebody dropped either, you don't need the problems.

OK, on the good side, switchable polarity. That feature is something you really need since fluxcore and solid wire work at different polarity.

Were I in your price range, and looking for a 120 volt machine, I'd probably buy HTP.
http://www.usaweld.com/MIG-130-Welding- ... /60130.htm
Their spec sheet is pretty squared away, and they don't talk puffery.

It's a pretty solid machine, made in Italy as I recall, with minimal electronic crap that will get you in trouble, and it takes 8" spools. You also get all the gas regulator with the machine.

Add in HTP will ship it to your door, and give you 90 days to see if you love it or hate it, and they will finance the machine too.

AAnother thing you can look at for comparison is a Forney reconditioned machine.
https://www.forneyind.com/products/forn ... efurbished

It's pretty comparable to the HTP, and has a longer gun and better duty cycle. Gas equipment comes with it, and it comes from a real welder manufacturer.
The Forney eats more electrons, and you NEED to have it fairly close to where the electric comes in the building.

Franz© wrote:Let me take a slightly different approach.

A man starting out with no experience is about to climb a mountain. Old bud of mine who worked for a manufacturer always said when the salesman finishes telling you how good a machine is scratch your chin and tell him to plug it in and hook it up so you and the machine can go dancing. Salesman either sets it up and hands you a helmet, or you walk away.

Nor~~~~ is made by a company called Coplay, and honestly I got no idea who they are. I can't even figure out where they are.
What I can see instantly is good and bad. Bad is the little darling looks to take only 2 pound spools, and frankly for that alone I'd be headed out the door. Wire kind of quadruples in price every time the spool shrinks, and that sucks if you're paying the bill. My little Lincoln carrys an 8 pound spool, and that's barely sufficient and way more expensive than 33 pounders in the bigger feeders.
BTW, don't bother thinking you can buy a 33 and wind 2s from it unless you have a lot of time to spend learning. Never take a spool of wire you know somebody dropped either, you don't need the problems.

OK, on the good side, switchable polarity. That feature is something you really need since fluxcore and solid wire work at different polarity.

Were I in your price range, and looking for a 120 volt machine, I'd probably buy HTP.
http://www.usaweld.com/MIG-130-Welding- ... /60130.htm
Their spec sheet is pretty squared away, and they don't talk puffery.

It's a pretty solid machine, made in Italy as I recall, with minimal electronic crap that will get you in trouble, and it takes 8" spools. You also get all the gas regulator with the machine.

Add in HTP will ship it to your door, and give you 90 days to see if you love it or hate it, and they will finance the machine too.

AAnother thing you can look at for comparison is a Forney reconditioned machine.
https://www.forneyind.com/products/forn ... efurbished

It's pretty comparable to the HTP, and has a longer gun and better duty cycle. Gas equipment comes with it, and it comes from a real welder manufacturer.
The Forney eats more electrons, and you NEED to have it fairly close to where the electric comes in the building.

Thanks for the tip, sorry didn't log in before but I am back. Lol I think I finished the AC to DC conversion....AZ