well, i've taken a welding night class at the local voc ed school.
now, i have a big lowes gift card burning a hole in my pocket. right
now, all i can see myself doing is car body repair (and i fully expect
to make a mess of it). so; should i buy the more expensive 110 volt
wire welder or the least expensive 220 volt wire welder? my garage has
110 volt 15 amp and the box on the welder or the website don't say
anything about whether it wants 20 amp or not; the garage also has a
220 socket (but i've never actually checked if it's live). while the
110 volt machine will be able to drag around and plug in more places
(if doesn't require 20 amp) is the 220 volt much more capable?

thanks for suffering through my ignorance.

well, i've taken a welding night class at the local voc ed school.
now, i have a big lowes gift card burning a hole in my pocket. right
now, all i can see myself doing is car body repair (and i fully expect
to make a mess of it). so; should i buy the more expensive 110 volt
wire welder or the least expensive 220 volt wire welder? my garage has
110 volt 15 amp and the box on the welder or the website don't say
anything about whether it wants 20 amp or not; the garage also has a
220 socket (but i've never actually checked if it's live). while the
110 volt machine will be able to drag around and plug in more places
(if doesn't require 20 amp) is the 220 volt much more capable?

thanks for suffering through my ignorance.

well, i've taken a welding night class at the local voc ed school.
now, i have a big lowes gift card burning a hole in my pocket. right
now, all i can see myself doing is car body repair (and i fully expect
to make a mess of it). so; should i buy the more expensive 110 volt
wire welder or the least expensive 220 volt wire welder? my garage has
110 volt 15 amp and the box on the welder or the website don't say
anything about whether it wants 20 amp or not; the garage also has a
220 socket (but i've never actually checked if it's live). while the
110 volt machine will be able to drag around and plug in more places
(if doesn't require 20 amp) is the 220 volt much more capable?

thanks for suffering through my ignorance.

well, i've taken a welding night class at the local voc ed school.
now, i have a big lowes gift card burning a hole in my pocket. right
now, all i can see myself doing is car body repair (and i fully expect
to make a mess of it). so; should i buy the more expensive 110 volt
wire welder or the least expensive 220 volt wire welder? my garage has
110 volt 15 amp and the box on the welder or the website don't say
anything about whether it wants 20 amp or not; the garage also has a
220 socket (but i've never actually checked if it's live). while the
110 volt machine will be able to drag around and plug in more places
(if doesn't require 20 amp) is the 220 volt much more capable?

thanks for suffering through my ignorance.

z wrote:
well, i've taken a welding night class at the local voc ed school.
now, i have a big lowes gift card burning a hole in my pocket. right
now, all i can see myself doing is car body repair (and i fully expect
to make a mess of it). so; should i buy the more expensive 110 volt
wire welder or the least expensive 220 volt wire welder? my garage has
110 volt 15 amp and the box on the welder or the website don't say
anything about whether it wants 20 amp or not; the garage also has a
220 socket (but i've never actually checked if it's live). while the
110 volt machine will be able to drag around and plug in more places
(if doesn't require 20 amp) is the 220 volt much more capable?

thanks for suffering through my ignorance.

Don't buy a welder at Lowe's! Those are cut-rate welders. For example,
Lincoln makes a whole bunch of lower quality MIG welders, the result
of them buying up companies like Century, who sold welders at hardware
stores and auto parts stores. Don't buy a "pro-mig" or a "weld-pak"
or any Lincoln except one that starts with "SP". The SP-140 and SP-180
welders are just great.

You can start out with a 110 volt MIG welder, sure. But surely this is a
real good time to find out if your 220 circuit in your garage is live?
If you don't have a voltmeter you should - those are dirt cheap these
days. The 220 MIG welder isn't much heavier than the 110 if any, and
most places you will be welding will have a dryer plug. You can get
a lot done with a little 220 MIG welder and a couple of 50 foot extension
cords.

GWE

Grant,

I did not know Century made the cheapo's How long has that been in
place? Definite junk if from Century. Even the chargers made after 1990
suck I had one catch fire in the pit at Rt66.

Rob


"Grant Erwin" <grant@NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote in message
news:N8UGj.4568$L92.1587@trndny07...

z wrote:

well, i've taken a welding night class at the local voc ed school.
now, i have a big lowes gift card burning a hole in my pocket. right
now, all i can see myself doing is car body repair (and i fully expect
to make a mess of it). so; should i buy the more expensive 110 volt
wire welder or the least expensive 220 volt wire welder? my garage has
110 volt 15 amp and the box on the welder or the website don't say
anything about whether it wants 20 amp or not; the garage also has a
220 socket (but i've never actually checked if it's live). while the
110 volt machine will be able to drag around and plug in more places
(if doesn't require 20 amp) is the 220 volt much more capable?

thanks for suffering through my ignorance.

Don't buy a welder at Lowe's! Those are cut-rate welders. For example,
Lincoln makes a whole bunch of lower quality MIG welders, the result
of them buying up companies like Century, who sold welders at hardware
stores and auto parts stores. Don't buy a "pro-mig" or a "weld-pak"
or any Lincoln except one that starts with "SP". The SP-140 and SP-180
welders are just great.

You can start out with a 110 volt MIG welder, sure. But surely this is a
real good time to find out if your 220 circuit in your garage is live?
If you don't have a voltmeter you should - those are dirt cheap these
days. The 220 MIG welder isn't much heavier than the 110 if any, and
most places you will be welding will have a dryer plug. You can get
a lot done with a little 220 MIG welder and a couple of 50 foot extension
cords.

GWE

I don't know when Lincoln acquired Century, but they surely did. I find it
very interesting and illuminating that when you go to lincolnelectric.com
and click on PRODUCTS and then navigate down to their MIG welders, that
their Weld-Pak line isn't even listed, indicating with great certainty
that the Weld-Pak stuff isn't made by Lincoln.

I'm less sure about the Pro-MIG line. I do know a couple of guys who bought
those and were very disappointed. Every SP I've used though has been great.

Grant

Rob Fraser wrote:

Grant,

I did not know Century made the cheapo's How long has that been
in place? Definite junk if from Century. Even the chargers made after
1990 suck I had one catch fire in the pit at Rt66.

Rob


"Grant Erwin" <grant@NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote in message
news:N8UGj.4568$L92.1587@trndny07...

z wrote:

well, i've taken a welding night class at the local voc ed school.
now, i have a big lowes gift card burning a hole in my pocket. right
now, all i can see myself doing is car body repair (and i fully expect
to make a mess of it). so; should i buy the more expensive 110 volt
wire welder or the least expensive 220 volt wire welder? my garage has
110 volt 15 amp and the box on the welder or the website don't say
anything about whether it wants 20 amp or not; the garage also has a
220 socket (but i've never actually checked if it's live). while the
110 volt machine will be able to drag around and plug in more places
(if doesn't require 20 amp) is the 220 volt much more capable?

thanks for suffering through my ignorance.


Don't buy a welder at Lowe's! Those are cut-rate welders. For example,
Lincoln makes a whole bunch of lower quality MIG welders, the result
of them buying up companies like Century, who sold welders at hardware
stores and auto parts stores. Don't buy a "pro-mig" or a "weld-pak"
or any Lincoln except one that starts with "SP". The SP-140 and SP-180
welders are just great.

You can start out with a 110 volt MIG welder, sure. But surely this is a
real good time to find out if your 220 circuit in your garage is live?
If you don't have a voltmeter you should - those are dirt cheap these
days. The 220 MIG welder isn't much heavier than the 110 if any, and
most places you will be welding will have a dryer plug. You can get
a lot done with a little 220 MIG welder and a couple of 50 foot
extension
cords.

GWE

Ah. Lincoln acquired Century and Marquette in 2003. Thus one of the two
off-branded Lincolns (Weld-Pak and Pro-MIG) came from Century and the
other from Marquette.

ref: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/corporate/about/history.asp

Grant

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:36:39 GMT, Grant Erwin
grant@NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote:

Ah. Lincoln acquired Century and Marquette in 2003. Thus one of the
two off-branded Lincolns (Weld-Pak and Pro-MIG) came from Century
and the other from Marquette.

ref: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/corporate/about/history.asp

Grant


Ive been quite happy with the Weld-pak 100 that I keep in the big van,
but..its only slightly better than a HF machine.
As long as I remember its limitations, it does a good job on stuff .25
and thinner. Holding up good, so far.

The only issue I have with it..is operator error..in not tightening up
the spool drag all the way when I put it in the van, and a week later
finding out its unspooled itself and birdnested beyond repair.

Didnt take too many of those before I got out the permanant marker and
put a big REMEMBER on all sides of the machine.

Gunner

If your garage is wired correctly, your 220V. outlet could be used to
provide 110V power. Each 220V outlet has two 'hot wires (each separatey at
110 volts to ground) but are 220 volts across each other.

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:36:39 GMT, Grant Erwin
grant@NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote:

Ah. Lincoln acquired Century and Marquette in 2003. Thus one of the two
off-branded Lincolns (Weld-Pak and Pro-MIG) came from Century and the
other from Marquette.

ref: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/corporate/about/history.asp

Grant

Ive been quite happy with the Weld-pak 100 that I keep in the big van,
but..its only slightly better than a HF machine.
As long as I remember its limitations, it does a good job on stuff .25
and thinner. Holding up good, so far.

The only issue I have with it..is operator error..in not tightening up
the spool drag all the way when I put it in the van, and a week later
finding out its unspooled itself and birdnested beyond repair.

Didnt take too many of those before I got out the permanant marker and
put a big REMEMBER on all sides of the machine.

Gunner

Gunner wrote:
On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:36:39 GMT, Grant Erwin
grant@NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote:

Ah. Lincoln acquired Century and Marquette in 2003. Thus one of the
two off-branded Lincolns (Weld-Pak and Pro-MIG) came from Century
and the other from Marquette.

ref: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/corporate/about/history.asp

Grant


Ive been quite happy with the Weld-pak 100 that I keep in the big van,
but..its only slightly better than a HF machine.
As long as I remember its limitations, it does a good job on stuff .25
and thinner. Holding up good, so far.

The only issue I have with it..is operator error..in not tightening up
the spool drag all the way when I put it in the van, and a week later
finding out its unspooled itself and birdnested beyond repair.

Didnt take too many of those before I got out the permanant marker and
put a big REMEMBER on all sides of the machine.

Gunner

I gotta agree with Gunner that the weldpak 100 is a nice machine for 1/4"
and under . Might make a difference that mine dates from the late 90's
...I've only had mine cut out on duty cycle twice in 5 years of use . And
both times I knew it was going to happen ...

Gunner wrote:

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:36:39 GMT, Grant Erwin
grant@NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote:

Ah. Lincoln acquired Century and Marquette in 2003. Thus one of the two
off-branded Lincolns (Weld-Pak and Pro-MIG) came from Century and the
other from Marquette.

ref: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/corporate/about/history.asp

Grant

Ive been quite happy with the Weld-pak 100 that I keep in the big van,
but..its only slightly better than a HF machine.
As long as I remember its limitations, it does a good job on stuff .25
and thinner. Holding up good, so far.

The only issue I have with it..is operator error..in not tightening up
the spool drag all the way when I put it in the van, and a week later
finding out its unspooled itself and birdnested beyond repair.

Didnt take too many of those before I got out the permanant marker and
put a big REMEMBER on all sides of the machine.

Gunner

Suggestion: Fabricate a solenoid operated spool brake that requires the
solenoid energized to release the brake. If it's in the moving truck, it
probably isn't powered so the brake will be applied and all will be
well.