Buying a stick welder

[grumpy]

Originally posted in Spot weld section Jan 7 07-by error

Stick or electrode welders are the most versatile of a all machines. They are favored because they are reasonably priced which usually is the major reason for purchase.Some will operate off a standard 10 amp power outlet.

The downside is that they are only capable of light work .it probably true that in most cases that a 6mm thickness is their upper limit. For a $100 or so most diyers can have a machine that is capable of work ranging from sheet around 1mm or so to steel that is 6mm or so.

If heavier work is desired a welder with a 15 amp supply plug may be purchased. That may lift the capacity to welding 10 or 12mm thickness. If money is not tight you may wish to go to a small inverter machine.

Inverters are a whole new ball game.Simplified ,you get more power,more controllable arc, light weight and get to pay much more for your machine.If you are going to spend the money on an inverter do not buy an Ebay welder unless they can gaurantee spare parts and a repair facility.If instead you go to a welder retailer ,you may get to try the machine to see that at least it does what you want.

Stick welders are reliable ,cheap to run and simple to operate and maintain.
grumpy

[grumpy]

Posted in error in spot welding section Dec24 07

Dobre wrote

< But nearly always they want the bloke who owns the welder to do the job for them and then that becomes thirsty work no matter how small the job might be...>
I have been down that road and found that the brown ale tender system wanting.
I prefer them to barter with a skill or activity that better serves my needs
take building for instance .I weld a mates fence and he helps put down a slab of a different and more permanent kind.

Grumpy

[dobre]

Very good, i wish i had a teacher like you when i was a at school. The barter system also works well within a reasonable time of each other. I dont like been in a position of ''you owe me one mate'' months and months down the track. In the long run you were better off paying them because sometimes you seem to give more than you get back or people try to balance the ledger. And there is always the good old love job and we wont go into that, tends to get the wife a wee bit angry.

dobre

[dobre]

Hi all,
on the topic of buying a stick welder and therefore looking for a cheaper alternative to get into some welding for your general domestic jobs it is a good choice. Doing those small jobs that dont need too much skill or cost can be achieved by using a stick welder. They can be fairly easy to use with some practice and lots of fun once you get the hang of it.
There is a lot out in the market to pick from and vary in price from the typical copper wound transformer type to the latest inverter dc format. The copper wound transformer ones are usually very heavy and very robust and as for the inverters they are half or even less the weight. They are far more compact and and therefore easier to handle and even hang over your shoulder if working above ground level. They are generally a bit more expensive and worth it for their size and amperage output.
Having said all that you will pay for quality product welding machines and there is a cheaper way and that is the path of the chinese units which have improved hugely of late, eg a 240v (15amp plug) 160 amp welding power running 3.2 general purpose rods can be picked up for around $450-500. Less amperage output units can be cheaper again. For the home diyer this is a good way to get something that is a good welder with good warranty for those jobs that you thought you could not do. I guess the point is that it's not too expensive to get involved in the hobby welding game.

[dobre]

Hi all, if you have bought a new arc welder recently or even borrowed one to do a small job put up a post on what type it is and what it was like to use. Comments on different brands can help others in narrowing down the decision on what size and brand to buy. Feed back is always good on whether you like it or not and the reasons for it.