Beginner welder advice/selection

[ElJimo]

Hello,

Been getting back into the e30 lately (bought it 10 years ago, sat for the last 7) and it's been fun. Finished the mechanicals last weekend and hopefully will have a first drive this upcoming week (fingers crossed). As I've been getting work done it's made me realize some other projects I would like to do, many of which require fabrication skills. I haven't welded since high school, and even then the only experience I have is stick (SMAW) welding.

I'm looking for an entry level welder I could use at home in my garage (110v). Main project would be body work rust patching and modification. Eventually I would like to be able to weld aluminum with this same welder, i realize this is a higher skilled welding discipline but am mentioning it in order to better frame the type of welder I am looking for.

Anyways, i've just started my search today, and was wondering if anyone had any "my first welder" recommendations on make/model, or any specific types to stray away from. Thanks.

[McGyver]

Preface: I'm not a "welder", but I've used several MIG machines and have been teaching myself TIG

If you're going to be welding aluminum, and only want to buy one machine, you're going to need an TIG with AC (which will also do DC). The DC side is for your steels, the AC is for your Aluminum. TIG machines will also be able to stick weld. Make sure the machine can do High Frequency starts (to avoid having to scratch or lift). Make sure you get a machine that lets you adjust settings (amps, pre/post flow, ac balance, etc).

I bought a Everlast 255EXT, which allows me to use either 120v (120A @ 100% Duty Cycle) or 240v (200A @ 100% duty Cycle). It was about $2,000 and is way more than I need, but I want something I can grow into and subscribe to the "Buy once, Cry once" train of thought.

There are many entry level machines for way cheaper that run on 120V:

• Everlast PowerTIG 185 DV $799
• AHP AlphaTig 203XI $725, 223Xi $750
• Longevity Welders (their website is broken)

I suggest watching some videos from The Fabrication Series, he does a bunch of reviews and is very informative:

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFabricatorSeries/featured

Good luck!

[E30auddie]

I have an Everlast PowerTig 315LX and so far, for the money, it has been excellent on both aluminum and steel. If you're wanting to eventually work into doing aluminum, imo, I would definitely suggest a TIG machine vs a MIG w/ a spool gun.

If you think you're still a couple years out on welding aluminum, a friend of mine has the highest Lincoln MIG you can pick up from Home Depot. I think its a 180 or 185. Out of the box it comes wired for 110v, but he wired a 220v plug on it and that thing is a freakin' monster. I've always been a huge Miller fan, but that thing has been EXTREMELY impressive on how well it welds.

ETA: What's your budget/price range?

[MrBurgundy]

How much do you want to spend and how serious are you about using this long term?

We all know what the good brands are, but at 110, everything is going to be relatively cheap anyways. I would recommend MIG and not fluxcore tho. I would stay away from tig, unless you really want to learn something new.

A mig/fluxcore machine has two knobs and can be taught to anyone pretty quickly

[E30SPDFRK]

Agree with most of the above; for what you want to do, just go straight to a TIG. You'll get much better results for the bodywork that require less post-welding work to look good, and MIG aluminum with a spool gun (extra money still) is basically only for very thick material.

[McGyver]

Agree with most of the above; for what you want to do, just go straight to a TIG. You'll get much better results for the bodywork that require less post-welding work to look good, and MIG aluminum with a spool gun (extra money still) is basically only for very thick material.

Tig will be cleaner for visible panels, but will also be harder to learn.

ETA: What's your budget/price range?

He^ makes a good point. I started with a Lincoln Sp-125 Plus about a decade ago when I was patching my exhaust to pass safety inspections. I ran it with flux core instead of buying a gas bottle. I think I spent $150 on it (which was a ton of money for me at the time) and it took care of all kinds of small projects.

If money is tight and aluminum may be a few years out, just buy a used mig. Make sure it's set up for the wire you're using (DCEP or DCEN) and it's the easiest thing in the world to use to stick two pieces of metal together. I would highly suggest skipping flux core and welding mig with gas because the welds won't need the post-process cleaning of flux core. That being said, flux core can also make nice welds.

Just remember the old adage, "Grinding and paint makes me the welder I ain't"

[ElJimo]

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.

I wasn't sure on budget. I think Ideally, If i was going to get something really capable that would last me and do everything I wanted i could spend up to 1K and feel good about it. I feel like before I make such a large capital investment though I need to make sure I'm serious about it. Don't want to buy the best system and then realize I'm uninterested and it just sits.

I think currently i'm leaning towards just picking up a cheap used MIG setup if I can find one. I can at least jump into the process and learn some things on areas that aren't important and then if I stay with the discipline in a year or two I can treat myself with something nicer when i'm more serious/capable. Anyone have experience with buying used welding equipment? Anything to watch out for/avoid?


Aluminum is probably still a couple years out. Ideally id like to learn just doing some minor patchwork stuff in my floor pans. Non-visible, steel, ezpz. Then move to some exhaust work, again non-visible, steel, doesn't have to be great. Maybe fabricate and weld on some brackets into the frame/engine compartment for various items or just recreate stock items that have worn with age.

Eventually I would like to turbo the car, and that's where things might get more demanding.
I love the thought of fabing my own SS exhaust or doing modifications to an intercooler/piping to get it to fight just right. But that's all long-term plans.

Also McGyver , i really enjoy that youtube channel, so thanks for that.

[MrBurgundy]

You should be able to get whichever mig you want AND an aluminum spool gun w 1k.

[E30auddie]

If your budget is $1k, like said above, you can pretty much get what you're looking for w/ spool gun for under that, even brand new.

The Lincoln welder from Home Depot I mentioned above is $699 new, and spool gun for it from HD as well is $270.

If you're not stuck on getting a more well known name brand and don't mind ordering and waiting for it vs picking it up, Everlast has a Cyclone 200 for $639 and spool gun for it is $190.

As far as used welders go, I probably would've picked one up from FB marketplace if there had been some decent ones on there at the time that I bought my Everlast, but, there was not a whole lot to choose from. Be prepared though to potentially need to go through and replace (if getting a used MIG) rollers, maybe some wires/leads, gas regulator, among other things. And that's not to scare you away from finding a used one, just things to be aware of!

Also, as an aside, see if anyone local to you here on the board has a MIG and/or TIG that you could potentially try out to make sure you do actually want to pursue it!

[McGyver]

As far as used welders go ... Be prepared though to potentially need to go through and replace (if getting a used MIG) rollers, maybe some wires/leads, gas regulator, among other things. And that's not to scare you away from finding a used one, just things to be aware of!

When I got my mig used, the guy "didn't need it" and was complaining about the wire not feeding well. Turns out he had the wrong rollers installed for the wire he was using.

Also, there's not much to break in a mig, so if it makes an arc when you test it, it probably won't break right away.

I would definitely look into a used lincoln/hobart/Miller, maybe even a new Harbor Freight mig, just make sure you CAN run gas even if you're starting with flux core. It would suck to have to buy a new machine just to be able to use gas.

[bmwfan52]

I started with my dad's lincoln 150 or something it's a good portable welder.
When i got tired of asking to barrow it i bought myself a millermatic 150 from an auction this thing wieghed about 250lb but boy did it weld, later i found a millermatic 200 and put the 150 up for sale, I never imagined so many people were out there looking to buy a 30+year old welder.
everyone I talk to only has great things to say about this old school wire-feed.
I ended up selling the 150 to an OG welder dude for 750 bucks and he thought me a lot about the welder.
even though you can weld aluminum with the millarmatic 200, Its is always recommended that you have a separate gun or machine if you plan on welding both metal and aluminum.

So when I came across the Miller syncrowave 210 a multi-functional welder that does tig mig and stick welding I thought it was the perfect solution.
bought my spool gun and haven't stopped welding aluminum since. The machine runs on 210 and 110 and has an inverter that saves power and lowers the cycling time between weld work, my vocabulary may be off so excuse me for that. I'm no pro welder but the three welders I mentioned above will weld almost anything in a timely manner.

[e30davie]

There is plenty of information on the types welds you can do with TIG/Stick/Tig. But the 5c i will add in is that for me personally i have found TIG to suit me very well, and the main reason for this is that tig is extremely controlled, does not throw any sparks and it means i can weld in my garage at night after the kids have gone to bed.

I tend to prep anything i need to weld during the day in the back yard (so the sparks dont mess up the workshop) and then i have my welding bench with my welding chair and just TIG away into the night. Obviusly hugely dependant on what you are welding. but if you are fabricating little brackets and things like i tend to do then TIG is brilliant.

Arguably for car stuff MIG is probably the best all rounder, but its a bit agricultural compared to TIG. way faster and easier though, but does tend to throw sparks etc. Certainly no where near as controlled as TIG.

Bear in mind the learning curve for tig is quite high, but with some practise and some advice from someone who can assist you i picked it up reasonably ok. you wont be making any instagram stacked dimes, but you can get some reasonable looking welds fairly quick.

Unfortunately TIG and MIG require different Gases, else it would make perfect sense to get one of each and use the same bottle.

note: stick welding on the new DC inverter solid state welders is actually very good these days for smaller than you think. I have quite successfully welded 2" square tubing with 1.6mm rods on my little inverter welder. it wont win any awards but its how i built all the benches in my workshop. best part about stick welding is no gas required...

[bmwfan52]

I agree with Davie molten balls of metal sucks when it lands between your watch when your wearing short gloves.

btw the miller synchrowave is discontinued and if buying one check and make sure the model numbers are no of those that were first produced. you can search the miller site for info.

We can recommend you models and brands all day but new stuff is coming out everyday and prices change with newer technology most of the time. Best bet is do your research independently cause at the end of the day only you know what your needs are.
Gl and have fun welding.

[e30davie]

I agree with Davie molten balls of metal sucks when it lands between your watch when your wearing short gloves.

The other month i was tig welding with a t shirt on, and then a long sleeve shirt over the top to protect form the UV from the TIG (VERY important, the sunburn is real) - and then some longish gloves . and Im tigging away and i dunno why but poked the end of the filler rod into my shirt to get a better grip. Melted through both shirts and i got a rather nasty burn. Idtiot. Experience is gained directly after it was needed.

[eco325iX]

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