Getting the right welder

yeah I keep trying to find me a decent deal on craigslist or something, but I haven't got quite that lucky yet.

I'll put in another vote for the Hobart Handlers. They are made by Miller and actually come with a lot of Miller parts in them. I believe the gun is actually all Miller. Most of them come with the everything you need except the tank and solid-core spool, and they are also supplied with flux core wire.

Darkangel wrote:

yeah I keep trying to find me a decent deal on craigslist or something, but I haven't got quite that lucky yet.

Just hang in there and be patient. I got my miller for $300. Thats less than half price. I also got a gargantuan argon bottle for $100 seperately. The Hobart welders are also a good value. Basically Miller's value line. The same Hobart as my Miller just lacks the infinately adjustable wire feed and voltage in trade for tapped controls. It took me a month of searching for the welder and another two weeks for the bottle.

just be sure you have the power available to run the welder. my 140 lincolin draws enough power that it will pop my 20a breaker very easily on the higher settings. wish i had got a 220v instead. just my 2c worth.

I've got a Lincoln 140 also. Works great. Came with the gas set up, just need a bottle.

I also got a an auto darkening helmet. It's a cheapie that was on sale for 50 bucks. It works good too.

wes_scooter wrote:

just be sure you have the power available to run the welder. my 140 lincolin draws enough power that it will pop my 20a breaker very easily on the higher settings. wish i had got a 220v instead. just my 2c worth.

X2 My Lincoln 135 kept popping the 20A that runs my garage. Eventually I ran a dedicated 30A just for the welder/power tools. Been fine ever since.

Tony wrote:

I've got a Lincoln 140 also. Works great. Came with the gas set up, just need a bottle.

I also got a an auto darkening helmet. It's a cheapie that was on sale for 50 bucks. It works good too.

Auto darkening helmet is the only way to go in my book. Just that change improved my welding by 50%.

hey has anyone every tried Northen Tools welders?

both lincoln and miller both make a small inverter style welder that plugs into 110 or 220...you can tig and stick weld with it...the miller has the ability to usa a remote(think pedal)
they are dc only I think...but for this stuff they are great....reletively cheap....and work really well....I had the linc....but they are both great little machines!
oh and they are the size of a lunchbox!

The welder irishwill is recommending would also do everything you need to your bike. You just gotta figure out your buget Let us know what you end up getting

just be aware that runing a 30a circuit for a 20a rated tool dosent meed code.... and if done correctly wont even plug in since the 30a receptical is differant. same is true for other amperages. contact a electrician for specs in your area.

wes_scooter wrote:

just be aware that runing a 30a circuit for a 20a rated tool dosent meed code.... and if done correctly wont even plug in since the 30a receptical is differant. same is true for other amperages. contact a electrician for specs in your area.

I should clarify: I installed a 30A breaker in my panel, and ran a couple outlets in the garage dedicated to that breaker. I did this to mitigate overloading the existing 20A garage circuit. No electrical or building code violations