Buying a Welder for Newbie

the aldi combo units do alright and if you set it up to run gassless gives you some great flexability (comes with the kit to run gas inc regulator)

if you get something inverter driven, make sure you power it off of something that produces its power from proper swinging magnets not frequency chopping.

Choose your own weapon. Good welders are good, bad ones will have you cursing the day you bought them.
Also worth noting, the standard 'gasless' wire spec - E71T-11 is recommended for single pass only... build this fact into your weld joint design.

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Originally Posted by Homestar

Also remember that although MIG is easier to get going with, getting good penetration on thicker steel is harder than with stick so if you’re doing anything structural with decent size material, stick is better idea - easy to strike an arc with the amps turned up too. [emoji106]

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Spot on!

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Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Spot on!

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no, you need a spot welder for that.

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Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

no, you need a spot welder for that.

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And don’t forget to buy a packet or two of spots if you’re doing this.

Ozito 120 Amp Inverter Arc Welder | Bunnings Warehouse

I bought one of these about 2/3 years ago to take with me on my travels as my 3kva Honda genset runs it easily.
It was as cheap as chips ( I recall it was less than $100 on special at the time) and I really didn't expect it to last long But all I needed at the time was a small lightweight unit in case I needed to make a repair in the middle of nowhere.
Surprisingly it has stood up to being used plenty of times and has come in Very handy and it makes a reasonable weld, At the moment my BIL has the unit and has just finished building a Huge outdoor Steel pagoda with without any problems whatsoever.[thumbsupbig]

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Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Just remember if using mig or tig outdoors to set up wind protection. My old TAFE instructor used to stress this and constantly remind the class that "the beat of a butterfly's wing will disturb the gas shield".

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Agreed. The gas is pretty cheap though so you can just turn up the flow rate.

Too high a gas flow will just draw atmosphere/air into the shielding gas flow.
So turn it up, but probably no more than 20LPM.

I agree, there is an optimal flow depending on the nozzle. If you up the flow you blow porosity into the weld and its just as bad as having too low a flow. We run 200-270 MIG torches at about 13l/min. You just have to stop the air movement around the weld when you're welding. Its really stick for outside, TIG and Mig for inside.

Just to throw another option in the wings

If you bought a BOC/CIG/whoflungdung inverter MMA with lift TIg capability

You can have a nice lightweight MMA unit for larger steel work on all conditions and all positions.

And then when you want to expand your game for a few bucks in torch and tungsten and a Bunnings Argon bottle you can then have a play welding mild and stainless steel using lift TIG process.

This gives you the ability to weld much thinner and cleaner components than MMA alone.

10A Welder for example:

BOC Smootharc 131 VRD MMA Welder | BOC Gas

In my experience cheap MIG units will lead you down a path working through several bigger and better units until you spend big on a 350A Lincoln and then upgrade your power supply to feed it!!!!!!!

If you are just starting in welding get proficient at MMA and lift TIG then when you change up to different methods you will have a strong foundation and know how to read the puddle.


Steve