I’m asking 180 but obviously I’ll never get that. Make an offer man. I’m in Troy. And yes, it is a top of the line helmet and honestly a thousand times better than a Harbor Freight cheapo (I’ve owned several)
Mig, go on CL and look for a used 140-180 amp machine. Millermatic 140/180, Lincoln 140, Hobart handler 140/180… WITH a gas setup; regulator and hose hooked up. I have seen them with a small bottle for $250-400.
you cannot use solid wire without gas.
Read, read, read. Watch youtube. then pick ONE metal and ONE fitment (butt, overlap, T, etc) and just go to town. Go to the metal supermarket on RailRoad Ave off -i90. they have a rack of MSC short pieces for dirt cheap, get a bunch of steel for $20 and burn it up.
I say pick one type and fitment becasue new people love to wonder around and not focus on getting good at something until they try something else. People think they can MIG becasue they made 2 pieces of metal stick… thats not necessarily a good weld at all. Even ones that “look” good, aren’t good strong welds. Every different fitment welds differently. Where you focus the heat, what angles, push or pull, thicknesses, differences in thickness (3/16th to 1/4" for example) the list goes on. Master ONE fitment. then try to alter it a bit and see how it changes and you need to adapt the technique. then move on to other types.
There are a million ways to “weld” something. Good welders understand what is going on with every little detail behind a joint they are about to weld and know how to adapt to do it right… where other people who think they can weld just grab the pieces and spit some material in there and think they just welded it.
TIG: take everything said above and multiply the HTF, “how the fuck” factor by 5. Things you can “get away with” on a MIG weld, dont have a shot in hell to TIG right if at all.
Cleanlyness; even grease, sweat, oils from your fingers on the filler rod or base materials will ruin a weld. What you thought was clean for a mig weld, is a STARTING point for tig. Example, I usually scotchbrite my aluminum filler rods, I was lazy after 3 hours of straight welding in all different positions on a ladder rack I built last week and skipped cleaning my rods… started noticing halfway down my rod my welds got dirty… turns out I had electrical tape holding some together at one point and the glue was left behind!
Machine setup: +/- 5 amps on say 16ga stainless steel will ruin a weld. Lots of the features sound cool, but many aren’t used 90% of the time. But when they are NEEDED they are great to have and UNDERSTAND how to set/use. there are 3 basic tungsten’s to choose for each metal to weld. of those 3 there are 2-3 choices of thickness’s to choose from for each metal/weld. (for stuff under 1/2" thick) Then there are gas nozzles, standard or gas lenses, sizes (5,6,7,8, 10, 12, 15) air cooled or water cooled torches, then all the prior options change again…
Filler rods: many to choose from, not much overlap. You need to use what the job calls for, simple as that.
and we didnt even turn the machine on yet! Everything that is about to be tigged must be setup correctly first. then you can get to the technique to actually do the welding! And I wont even go there yet.
MIG is like a family doctor; good at many things and can get most of the jobs done but refers you 90% of the time to the specialist.
TIG is like a hospital full of brain surgeons, orthopedic doctors, gynecologist’s, etc. Each one does only one task, and one task well.
/\ OHH, and I would still consider myself a noob… every time I flip a switch on one of my machines I learn something new.
I have a lincon 140 at the home garage and love it for small stuff.
thanks for the info everyone! and LKSi im PMing you
my welder is a hobart 140 distributed by “weldmark” if you wanted it pm me a “realistic offer”
PMing when i get off work tonight, on a real computer not this smartphone.
lincoln sp135 (or 140) is a very good DIY welder, definetly get one thats gas capable so you can get a bottle/regulator down the road. Pretty sure ive got either a 135 or 140 around here if your interested. Shoot me a PM so i have it, im not on here much. Also any questions feel free, my career is welding aswell as my own business on the side.