JusBud wrote:
I'm not looking to build a Golden Gate bridge.
I also drive a 13 year old rv by a manufacturer that went out of business but it serves the purpose for our intended use.
I'm looking for something for the occasional repair and I can bring it to my friend when I get home who has all the right stuff.
You obviously do not have an understanding at all about welding.
Cheap low amperage MIG welds and using Flux core wire = GARBAGE WELDS PERIOD.
You need to look at the bigger picture.
Cheap low amp MIGs will have severely limited 10% "on time (Weld)" at max amperage. That means at max amperage you weld ONE MINUTE then you HAVE TO STOP AND WAIT TEN MINUTES for the welder to cool.
a better brand will have LONGER "ON time (weld)" typically 20 on/ 80 off or 20% and possibly even higher ratio.
Additionally having a higher amperage, you CAN ALWAYS TURN IT DOWN increasing your weld time.
Higher amperage also gives you BETTER weld penetration, a very important item which means your welds WILL BE STRONGER.
The "prettiness" does not come into play, even some of the uglyess welds can be strong as long as you have melted deep enougn into the parent metal.
A 90A Mig is pretty much maxed out with 1/8" steel, 140A welder will be able to weld 1/4" steel.
Then there is the heat level vs the wire speed.. Many cheap welders have notched heat settings, often the amperage you need is IN BETWEEN those notches..
Wire speed control IS critical in getting the proper amount of wire delivered to the weld, too little and you gouge out holes, too much and you build birds nests of wire..
Cheap welders have lousy speed controls, lousy wire drives, lousy wire liners causing you to fix wire jams, poor welds and a lot of frustration in trying to get it right.
Shielding gas IS critical to making a good weld, shielded core wire places the shielding gas in the CENTER or the wire which is the exact opposite of where it NEEDS to be.
What happens with shielded core is the shielding gas MUST escape to the OUTSIDE of the hot metal.. This causes the hot metal to literally explode. Creates bubbles, rocks, pebbles and weak welds.
Yeah, I had a cheap $199 85A Campbell Hausefeld (SP) that was a real pain, wasted a lot of wire, caused me to spend hrs waiting on the thing to cool down..
Cheap MIGs are not the place to start learning welding, fortunately for me, I had a lot of welding experience, Oxy/ac, brazing, stick welding. There is a learning curve to MIGs, getting the heat and wire speed correct for the material can be difficult if you have never used MIG before..
After getting the Miller Autoset, I would never recommend using the cheap MIGs..
By the way, sold the cheap one for $75 less than half of what I paid, my Miller WILL have considerably higher resale value if I wanted to get rid of it..
Shielding gas can be a a pain to get, most places want to rent the cylinders, there are some places like Rural King which will sell you a cylinder from $200 and up, then exchange when empty for $20 or so.
I am not a professional welder, only a hobby welder, I do have a Brother who does have quite a few welding certs and he agreed with my choice of the Miller when I asked him.. He had bought a Lincoln MIG but when I showed him the Miller autoset, he wished he had bought the Miller Autoset instead..
