Welder recommendations for my son

[dylanvb]

My son's 18 birthday is coming up and he'll be attending MTEC's welding program in Utah this August. He already has a welding cert from a year long class he took in highschool, so knows his way around it a bit.

I do not. I know zilch about welding, other than I know there's tig, mig, stick.

I was thinking I'd look into getting him a welder for his birthday so he can hone his skills and maybe do some odd jobs in his spare time, and he would enjoy making various metals arts with it.

I'm unsure if I'd actually be able to find a way to get a dedicated 20-30 amp circuit in my house for a welder, but I'd try.

So.... If he is attending this https://mtec.edu/programs/welding-technology/ (you can see courses scrollling down and opening menu) what type of welder would be useful to him?

Is there a functional, decent welder that would be available for $200 or so that would function on a 20-30 amp circuit that would be useful to him ? Any recommendations?

What does this course offer him that he didn't pick up with the cert? If I were him I would be looking at getting into a shop and learning in the field and getting paid to learn vs paying a school to teach you basics. If he already has basics he should save his money. If he is going for a more specific type of welding or fab process then school is good but a lot of welders need apprentices that want to work and learn.

When I was in highschool I did the same, went to trade school senior year and learn the basics in welding, wanted to extend my knowledge by going to a "trade" school for more offroading applications that had a $26K price tag and luckily for me my dad had a buddy who owned a fabrication shop and he told me that if I new the basics like welding cutting and common sense in a shop environment he would hire me and teach me what i needed to know. He also told me the kids coming out of that certain school didn't have any advantage over someone who knew the basic process' of welding and fab.

If I read it right the school is $6k plus, that could buy him whatever machine he wanted.

 

[Cedarsavage]

I've got an electric clothes dryer on a 220 line in the garage.

Is it feasible to just unplug the dryer and use that outlet when he wants to weld?

Yes you’ll probably have to put a different plug on the welder or make an extension adapter

 

[Yoder]

Just an idea, for temporary you could run the welder off of a generator if you have one. They generally have a 200v 30a plug.

 

[isItFallYet]

Get him a nice grinder and some flap discs!

 

[jimh406]

I'd consider buying him a nice auto darkening helmet like a Miller.

On the welder side, it depends on what he wants to weld and will he weld inside or outside. For outside, flux core is probably better. Harbor Freight sells a few different types for less than $200. With an extended warranty, you can make sure they last for a while.

Fwiw, I have a Miller 220V. The issue with 220V is that you need a 220V circuit while 110s can plug in most outlets. That's quite a bit of convenience to give up.

 

[Beendare]

$200 doesn’t get you much in the way of a good welder. The little 120v wire feeds are OK for fence repair and such but worthless for fabrication, IMO.

Minimum would be a 220- 30A MIG unit like the Miller252 or Lincoln equal

 

[MallardSX2]

 

[TaperPin]

I've got an electric clothes dryer on a 220 line in the garage.

Is it feasible to just unplug the dryer and use that outlet when he wants to weld?

You may have to sit down when pricing out just the wire for an extension cord, but a good quality heavy gauge extension cord will always be useful down the road after welders have come and gone, and instead of unplugging the drier he’s in a shop, or unplugging his own drier.

I was helping a contractor build some steel handrails and he had a 220v 170 amp harbor freight mig and I had a small 220v Hobart. I was impressed the cheap as dirt harbor freight worked as well as it did, however, it did not like Lincoln wire for some reason and did noticeably better with harbor freight wire.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

To shed some more light on the 110 vs 220 question: a 110V welder is perfectly capable of making quality welds on material of the appropriate thickness (i.e., thinner stuff). The material being welded doesn't "care" what the input voltage to the welder is. What matters is the voltage and current coming out of the welder. Output from a 220V welder turned down to the lower end of its operating range will look the same as the output from a 110V welder. Below are volt-amp output curves for a 110V welder (Hobart Handler 125) and a 220V welder (Hobart Handler 210). Output from the 220V welder operating at the low end of its range (curves 1-4) is nearly identical to output from the 110V welder. The difference is that you can turn that 220V machine up and weld much thicker material, which is great if you need that capability but superfluous if you don't.


Duty cycle (i.e., how long you can continuously weld without overheating the machine) is another parameter to consider when comparing a 110 vs 220 welder (or when evaluating welders in general). A 220V welder will have a greater duty cycle than a 110V welder operating at the same output. In a professional environment, duty cycle is very important; you don't want a professional welder twiddling his thumbs waiting for his machine to cool off so he can get back to work. In a hobby/occasional use application, duty cycle is much less important. If you happen to trip the thermal overload switch on your welder, just take a beer break or work on some other aspect of your project while your machine cools off. I've outrun the duty cycle on my 110V Hobart on one project in 15 years of using that machine (building an aboveground tornado shelter). I simply changed my strategy a bit (welded in shorter spurts and worked on grinding/cutting tasks in between) and proceeded with the project. For reference, below are duty cycle curves for the two aforementioned welders: