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A couple of years ago I bought a 110 volt wire welder from Tractor Supply.

JobSmart 125 Amp Fluxcore Welder - For Life Out Here

It has done a good job for me. I would buy another one if something happened to the one I have.

A week or so ago I ordered a 110 volt Plasma cutter from Northern Tool. I used it several times in the last few days and I am impressed with it as well.

FREE SHIPPING — Klutch Plasma 275i 115V Inverter-based Plasma Cutter — 20 Amp Output | Plasma Cutters| Northern Tool + Equipment

I many times build things or repair things that I need these things. It is kind of amazing to me that something like this works so well considering the price.

I am still old school. Still using a acetylene torch set. Everything I see and read about a plasma cutter it is the way to go. Can you just heat something up with a plasma cutter or weld, or is it just for cutting. For my small shop and my age I find I am getting by just fine with my torch set and stick welder for any repairs I am doing. If a person is doing a lot of steel work they would surely need something different in tools then I have.

reynoldston said:

I am still old school. Still using a acetylene torch set. Everything I see and read about a plasma cutter it is the way to go. Can you just heat something up with a plasma cutter or weld, or is it just for cutting. For my small shop and my age I find I am getting by just fine with my torch set and stick welder for any repairs I am doing. If a person is doing a lot of steel work they would surely need something different in tools then I have.

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No the Plasma just cuts like the torch does. It just does it without gas our oxygen. It does not weld either.

I know in a pinch before I got my acetylene torch set I would cut steel with my stick welder by turning the amps. high. It was a very poor quality cut but it worked. As I understand the Plasma cutter works some what the same way ? but dose a very smooth job. Never used or seen one so don't know very much about them.

Plasma cutters will give extremely clean cuts when used right. Much less heat is transferred to the work piece, but really only effective up to around 1/4-3/8. pretty simple to use as well.

When old man Dillion demonstrated his low pressre low volume oxy torch I was hooked and have one of the very rar genuine Dillion torches.
It will cut just as good as a plasma in any meal up to 2" thick.
The same kit can weld alumilium foil ( the stuff the missus uses in the kitchen ).
Been using it for 40 years.
Better than working with no gas. This works with no electricity.
Now days they are owned by a US company Henrob & made by another mob called Cobra because Australians refuse to support anything that is designed & made in Australia.

I want to start welding. I've done it once and I sucked lol. The weld was ugly. The guy showed me how to do it (webbing motion), but my hand was shaky and I didn't do well.

He told me that 120 v welder wasn't good enough/strong enough. Is that true? I would love to buy a welder and just start welding and practicing. So usefull for quick fixes and building.

There is also the problem of welding at your house. Commercial welding is illegal here. I guess I could weld with the garage door closed.

It's not that a 110v isn't good/strong enough, it's just limited to thinner material. It would be a good a good unit to learn on, if your garage isn't wired for 240v then it's hard to justify the investment.

Don't have 240 volts so I would need the 110 volts. I could get one when I am down in the US.

RoperGuy said:

It's not that a 110v isn't good/strong enough, it's just limited to thinner material. It would be a good a good unit to learn on, if your garage isn't wired for 240v then it's hard to justify the investment.

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Tractor Supply has the little 110 volt wire feed welders reasonable. One of the key things to make a decent weld, especially with these little welders is to make sure both pieces you are welding are throughly clean. Even new metal needs to be cleaned till it is shiny with a grinder of some sort. I have not welded much in a lot of years but that is rule of thumb on about anything you weld and anything you weld with.

RoperGuy said:

It's not that a 110v isn't good/strong enough, it's just limited to thinner material. It would be a good a good unit to learn on, if your garage isn't wired for 240v then it's hard to justify the investment.

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Welding is a high energy application.
It gobbles up AMPS
so a 110V unit will gobble up a bit more than 2 times the amps of a 240V welder which gobbles up more amps than a 3 phase welder.
The thicker the material, the more power needed so the more amps required but you are limited as to how many amps you can pull through a domestic power outlet.
The wires get hot which increases their resistance which eats up yet more amps.
Thus the lower capacity of 110V units.

Also remember the earth connection to the metal must be good and clean as well.

Another reason why I like gas welding.
Filthy metal covered with paint / rust/ grease/ grass, etc no problems they just burn off.

Great to hear from you welders. I started many years ago with oxy/acetylene because that was supposed to develop the skill needed for heliarc, but I never could justify the $$ for a water cooled Miller. For those wanting to learn gas, but discouraged...some junior colleges still offer classes, but you must practice a lot. Start with mild steel as in many car exhaust systems. One other surprising thing was to find how good some Chinese gas sets are. Unless you can afford Victor (still the standard?) try a $120 Chinese set ( you must add the tanks). Besides cutting, the rigs are good for silver solder, bronze repair of cast iron, braze welding dissimilar materials and heat/bending. I have also played with some small heat treating projects which can be interesting. Wire welders and stick look interesting, but I just have not tried them.

I'd suggest that the first thing a rookie welder should buy would be a book about the fundamentals of welding.

Such as the one by Richard Finch: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/we...13-richard-finch/1111638585?ean=9781557885135

There are others equally good, I'm sure and maybe lower priced, too.

I don't have a plasma cutter; I just use my angle grinder or "skill saw" for cutting but I did buy a 120V flux core Northern Industrial welder a few years back and it has proved to be quite handy for small repairs and projects. The welds aren't pretty due to all the spatter but it's easy enough to clean them up. I've used it to put chain hooks on my front loader, put new expanded steel on my trailer gate, fix a broken bracket on my ZTR and to repair my York rake. It's way easier to to use than welding rods for an amateur like me. The auto-darkening hood I got further improves the experience I had welding in shop class in high school many years ago.

Yes, I have the Finch books. Very good.

I still have my dad's old Lincoln 220 amp buzzbox that he bought back in the 1950's. Still works great. Welded everything from 16 ga. to 1" with it. I took a welding class back in the 1960's that focused mainly on oxy-acet welding and cutting. I've got a set of Linde two stage regulators with a Linde convertible torch outfit and a Puroc burning torch. Brazing is probably my favorite type of welding to do.

Have an old Harris "aircraft" torch which is smaller and lighter. Fooey! They stopped making parts for it and cannot get tips with proper thread. This little guy is ideal for light sheet metal welding. For a while H Frt had a little gas torch which always seemed overpriced. A while back it disappeared from
their lineup. I have never had a two stage regulator, and so I must constantly readjust (mainly) the gas side.

The junior college courses typically charge around $200 which is for supplies. But if you are interested , small price to pay, and will repay you a thousand times over across the years. Yea!

Here you go: http://www.smithequipment.com/files/pdf/spec_sheets/Little_Torch.pdf

Smith isn't too expensive and I think you can buy just the pieces you want instead of the whole kit.

Well as mentioned earlier , I have a Dillon ( now called DHC 2000 ) and in 33 years of almost daily use have replaced 3 tips at $ 25 a piece.
Mind you I have bought a few new tips to expand its working range, but wrapping foil to railway line will do me fine.
Especially considering what I save on gas.

I do not want to encourage boot legged 220V , but FYI an electric dryer is wired typically 220, but with a different plug so that if you hang your clothes to dry you can fairly simply change over to a suitable welding plug if you can convince others that welding inside the house is great (fire?). Never run an extension on 220, and observe proper safety grounding. An electrician can check your service box and usually find spare room to install 220v.

cpurvis, thanks for the great Smith brochure . I forgot to mention them. That stuff looks great.

Linde , a major weld source used to offer FREE bound volumes of welding primers with projects in the back. Geared to rural and farm repair, but other also.

Welding....practice, practice, practice, practice...the teachers like their students to start out too hot and slowly back off.

HEY last nite the pres was bragging about a welder!!!

A forum, hobbymachist.com has a very good weld and beginners' section without trolls and such