Welding Tips and Tricks

I am new to welding, and want to start with home or decorative items while I am learning. Later on I plan on getting and learning with a Lincoln 225 stick welder. For the time being for my first welder, I am going to go with a mig. I have been watching many videos on the different brands. Some of them are out of my range, Miller, Esab, etc... I have been looking at the HH140, Forney 140, Lincoln 140, Everlast models, etc
What are your opinions on a good first welder? Also, it doesn't have to be one of the top 3 big companies. Thank you for your opinions.

Bramic71 wrote:I am new to welding, and want to start with home or decorative items while I am learning. Later on I plan on getting and learning with a Lincoln 225 stick welder. For the time being for my first welder, I am going to go with a mig. I have been watching many videos on the different brands. Some of them are out of my range, Miller, Esab, etc... I have been looking at the HH140, Forney 140, Lincoln 140, Everlast models, etc
What are your opinions on a good first welder? Also, it doesn't have to be one of the top 3 big companies. Thank you for your opinions.

Do you have access to order any welder we talk about? Location is so unbelievably important, it's worth mentioning it.

Do you have a ballpark price range that you'd like to stay under? Will you have 230V power available? Those two things are critical to know before anybody can really make any recommendations.

On the Lincoln stick welder, the AC/DC models are vastly superior to the AC only 225A versions. There are times when AC is the right choice for stick welding, but probably 95% of the time DC will be much, much better...it's like night and day.

G-ManBart wrote:Do you have a ballpark price range that you'd like to stay under? Will you have 230V power available? Those two things are critical to know before anybody can really make any recommendations.

On the Lincoln stick welder, the AC/DC models are vastly superior to the AC only 225A versions. There are times when AC is the right choice for stick welding, but probably 95% of the time DC will be much, much better...it's like night and day.

I forgot to mention the price range. For my first mig welder, I feel comfortable somewhere around $550. Later on when a get a stick welder, I already have a 240v plug that I use for my compressor.

Oscar wrote:

Bramic71 wrote:I am new to welding, and want to start with home or decorative items while I am learning. Later on I plan on getting and learning with a Lincoln 225 stick welder. For the time being for my first welder, I am going to go with a mig. I have been watching many videos on the different brands. Some of them are out of my range, Miller, Esab, etc... I have been looking at the HH140, Forney 140, Lincoln 140, Everlast models, etc
What are your opinions on a good first welder? Also, it doesn't have to be one of the top 3 big companies. Thank you for your opinions.

Do you have access to order any welder we talk about? Location is so unbelievably important, it's worth mentioning it.

I dont have any issues ordering a welder. I am in western Florida

What happened to the Hobart welder we discussed in your other thread? That looks to me like something I would jump on. I mean it is shown with a piece missing that you can pick up for $2 and that piece would absolutely cause the problems the seller is complaining about.

BugHunter wrote:What happened to the Hobart welder we discussed in your other thread? That looks to me like something I would jump on. I mean it is shown with a piece missing that you can pick up for $2 and that piece would absolutely cause the problems the seller is complaining about.

I am still thinking about that one. I would just hate to get it to find out that it has a bad board or something that is costly to repair. Seems like a low price if I can get it to work though. I would also like a quality machine with a good warranty. My daughter graduated welding school a while back. I would gift the first one to here for her home.

Bramic71 wrote:I am new to welding, and want to start with home or decorative items while I am learning. Later on I plan on getting and learning with a Lincoln 225 stick welder. ..........
What are your opinions on a good first welder?

you have it about right to start with.
learn with a stick welder.
a basic 140 amp inverter stick welder will work just fine.

there is a few migs around now that also have stick function.