Posted by Joe Lorenzino on Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 8:05PM :
In Reply to: OT - 110v Arc Welder posted by David Collins on Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 10:00AM :
It all depends on what type (stick or mig) the welder is, and what you intend to use it for.
In my opinion, a 110v stick welder is not worth bringing home! They are too small to run anything but the smallest, low amperage (6011) rods, and do not have enough open circuit voltage to start a 7018. ( which is what you should be using if you want anything to stay together under Power Wagon Only operating conditions )
If you are thinking of buying a machine to weld sheet metal, get a 110v mig instead. I have a Lincoln 125 sp, 110 volt mig welder WITH the full “gas” kit, and it cannot be beat for doing bodywork. I actually rent it out to some other oilfield welder’s just for bodywork. They all have 220v migs in their shops, but want the Lincoln 110v for this task. It has an “infinite” control for both wire speed AND voltage which allows you to set it exactly for very thin (22 > 26 Gauge) materials, where most other machines do not have this on the voltage side. It runs very well on .023” wire, that usually won’t feed properly in the larger machines. The full gas kit lets you use solid and “metalcore” wires, and runs off of a regular mig gas cylinder instead of some overpriced “toy” tank. It is pretty much maxed out on 12 gauge though, and any material 10 gauge or thicker should be welded with a larger machine. J.V.L.
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