Is the Lincoln Electric AC/DC 225/125 Welder good for a beginner?

[badazzelanore]

Is the Lincoln Electric AC/DC 225/125 Welder good for starting out? I found a new one on craigs list for 250.00 and they retail from the Home depot for 434.13. I want to learn to weld and I dont know where to start. Please let me know know what you think I have a budget of about 250 so that would be great if it was a good deal. Thanks

mark

[MarkBall2]

Yes.

AC 225's are the absolute bottom to learn with. AC/DC's are good because you get to learn the DC stick welding too. $250 is about average used prices I've seen on CL.

Jump on it, then get some rods & a good hood. Start sparkin!!!!

[badazzelanore]

how much should I look at spending on a good helmet?

[MarkBall2]

That welder might come with one, if not check out Harbor Freight's auto darkening ones. I've read mostly good reviews on them & they go for less than $100. Sometimes on sale around $50.

You can spend a heck of a lot of money on a good hood. But if you are learning, it might be best to start with the auto dark. Later you might want to learn the hood nod to drop a hood over your face with a fixed shade helmet. If it comes with a hood, it will probably be a fixed shade. With that, you will learn the hood nod quick.

[DSW]

Those ac/dc machines are great for beginners in that price range.

As far as helmets, you can get a good fixed shade helmet cheap, say less that $40 at most. I forget what I paid for my jackson years ago when I started. From there you can spend up to $300+ if you want. Some recomend the cheap HF auto dark helmets. Personally I feel safety gear is NOT the place to go cheap. Is it good or not, I won't take the gamble personally. This is one topic that usually gets beat to death on both sides. Just do search on the topic and save us all the BS again.

[MarkBall2]

I agree on the safety issue, but most "inexpensive" places sell the auto dark hoods. I was thinking of cost to start.

[badazzelanore]

I want to spend as much as needed to be safe but no more than needed for starting out. I understand you not wanting to get an argument started on somthing such as that helmet war.

[DSW]

I will say the auto dark helmets make it much easier to learn, as you can always see whats going on. Cheap and safe, the old fixed shade helmets fit that well.

One of the bigest things is how well it fits. If it's not comfortable, the best helmet in the world is junk as far as I am concerned. I just got one of the new Miller Elite AD helmets. I had an old fixed AD Lincoln that was on it's last legs. I went around and tried on as many helmets as I posibly could. Tried a buddies Speedglass and I just didn't like the feel of it. Great helmet, but not for me. I still have my old Fixed shade Jackson that I use depending on what I have to do.

[farmersamm]

Every project I've posted on this site since I joined had been made with a Lincoln AC 225, or recently with a Lincoln AC225/DC125.

THEY'RE GOOD MACHINES


Helmets........... Get what fits, and something with a fixed shade. Auto dark is not the best as far as I'm concerned, but I'm kinda a throwback.

A hood that goes pretty far down towards your chest is really nice. Not the ones that end just under your chin. Longer ones prevent the light from bouncing offa your chest and up under the hood. Look at some of the hoods they were wearing back during the 40's.

Nothing more annoying than having to weld at night, and being distracted by the light from the arc bouncing off of your chest. The big Homer Simpson type hoods are the best in my opinion.

Plus, it's kinda retro

[farmersamm]

Ok, I'm a creep

It's easy as pie to learn to strike the arc somewhere in the neighborhood of where you wanna weld, and use the light to actually guide your hand to the joint that you really want to weld.

There's very little deposit on the metal where you originally lit the rod. P##cker tracks mostly

[Aquafire]

Badazzelanore- You can't go wrong with the Lincoln AC225!!! I have owned a couple of POS-welders that weren't even useful as boat-anchors. The AC225, especially for the price, is a great, great welder. Lots of power to do bigger stuff and in short- you'll be very happy. I'll never part with mine.

The only downside of that welder (or ANY good buzzbox welder) is the power you need: Firstly, you need 225 Volts and an outlet with the correct plug (it's not the same as your dryer). Not only must it be 225v, you need wiring that will handle the amps that it will draw at the higher settings. I had to rewire my shop with a new electrical panel and a 60 amp circuit for my Lincoln AC225. And of course, for the 60 amp circuit, you need very heavy-gauge wire. If this doesn't describe your intended welding area, figure on adding some money to the bill (a LOT of money if you need an electrician to do it).

[JC'sWelding]

Harbor freight has the "Blue Flame" auto darkening helmet on sale now for $37

[badazzelanore]

Im kinda dissapointed right now, I live in an appartment complex where I have a nice garage but no outlet and no way of rewiring. I really want to start learning to weld and was going to start taking classes at the local college. I dont know that it would be worth me taking the class if I dont have any where to practice aside from class.

I am gonna be living here for the next 2 years before I get out of the navy and I hate to waste that time I could be working on my future profession. What do yall recomend?

[MarkBall2]

Move. If that's not an option, look to see if there is anyway you could add an outlet at your own expense. It would require an electrician and permission, but might be an option.

Every house I've ever rented, I've always left it better than I received it. I've added outlets, electrical circuits, new tile floor, or other improvements. I figured the owners expected me to treat the place like I owned it, which meant making it "livable" for me. I've never had a problem receiving a refund on deposits either.

Depending on the electrical service, an outlet should only cost a hundred to two to get wired in.

[kepe]

Originally Posted by badazzelanore

Im kinda dissapointed right now, I live in an appartment complex where I have a nice garage but no outlet and no way of rewiring. I really want to start learning to weld and was going to start taking classes at the local college. I dont know that it would be worth me taking the class if I dont have any where to practice aside from class.

I am gonna be living here for the next 2 years before I get out of the navy and I hate to waste that time I could be working on my future profession. What do yall recomend?

Do you have a washer and dryer in the garage or close to the garage? If so, then you can check the electrical panel and see if the breaker for the dryer will support the amperage needed by the welder. If it will support the welders needs, then you should be good to go.

[DSW]

Originally Posted by badazzelanore

Im kinda dissapointed right now, I live in an appartment complex where I have a nice garage but no outlet and no way of rewiring. I really want to start learning to weld and was going to start taking classes at the local college. I dont know that it would be worth me taking the class if I dont have any where to practice aside from class.

I am gonna be living here for the next 2 years before I get out of the navy and I hate to waste that time I could be working on my future profession. What do yall recomend?

As I asked in the other post of yours, have you looked into what rec facilities the base has? I know the sub base used to have a fully equipped auto shop, but don't know about welders as that wasn't my thing back then. Also if you ask around a bit I'll bet you can get access to any machine you want or need if you ask nice to the right guys in maintenance and repairs. Either Keyport, Bangor, or Bremerton should have more machines than you can shake a stick at. Depending on what your job is you may find it super easy to get some basic instruction on base for no money. Welding on nuclear piping or sub hulls would get you good money later on if thats the way you think you might go. If you talk to the right people they can probably show you whats what with out having to change your specialty. You won't do it as work, but learn it as a hobby.

As far as the apartment. I used to weld in my drive at several apartments. I made up a long extension cord that plugged into either the dryer or stove outlet and ran off that when needed. You don't HAVE to have a welder to take a class, infact most won't have access to one outside class. Having one means you can practice and get the most from the class rather than spend time making repetitious welds, you can practice at home and show the instructor what you have done and concentrate on correcting errors in class and learning new stuff.


Again I can't stress enough what an excellent opportunity you have being in the Navy out there with access to all the weld and machine shops. You just need to look for ways to get access. Show an interest, talk to a few of the old timers, Ask questions anytime you see a guy with leads and a helmet. You just need that one lead to get you in to the right people. Also if you get bit hard you will need metal to practice on. I remember how much scrap was available for the asking, if you knew where to look and who to ask. Same thing with rods. All the rods for sub work will have a limited open life for those sorts of welds. After the package has been open past X time those rods will get junked. Nothing wrong with those rods for practice and small projects, the standards just say not to use rods that have been exposed to air past a given length of time. Find out who to ask and you'll have more rod then you know what to do with.

One of my greatest regrets is that I didn't take advantage of the fully equipped dive locker Keyport had when I was out there. Those guy's were running the cutting edge of deep dive equipment and I could have learned so much that is hard to get now days. Hell I was even introduced to most of the guys in the locker at the time, and just didn't take advantage of the opportunity.

Good luck, Go NAVY!

[badazzelanore]

Yeah, the garage/driveway are not attatched to the apartment and the apartment has the hook ups. The largest outlet in the garage is the one that the garage door opener is ran through, the rest wont even handle a fridge. I will start asking around/looking for people to make conections. I am gonna go talk to my nieghbor, he is always cutting and grinding stuff so I am assuming he probably has a welder in his garage. Thanks

[weldbead]

a more expensive option is an inverter welder which uses lots less electric than a transformer machine. some of them will run on 110v and 220 v.

[99trxrider]

that is the machine i learned to weld with. My high school has one in there shop. I think its been there 4 years. Ive used that machine more than anyone in my school. very good machines.

[badazzelanore]

What about this one? Mig Welder with 80 cu ft bottle of Argon - $350 its for sale on CL and it comes with

Clarke 130en Mig Welder

Upgraded full, auto dim face shield

Clarke we7000b Mig Welder Cart

80 cu ft bottle (half ful - argon)

Dual gauge regulator

.023 MIG wire/.035 fluxcore wire

Extra contact tips

Wire brush/hammer

[farmersamm]

Junk......

[farmersamm]

Originally Posted by farmersamm

Junk......

Quoting myself now

Look man. It's not a good welder. A one word reply isn't fair. Lemme give you the reasons

Clarke welders come from many different countries. You never know where one's made, and the quality it carries. Parts are hard to come by.

Any kind of semi automatci process involves a pretty complicated machine. Lots of things to go wrong.

If you are gonna abandon stick welding as your starting point, at least put the money you are willing to spend into a decently made machine. Hobart is at the low end of the price scale, and it's a decent wire welder.

Buy one that has a solenoid valve, and guages. Gas capable. But start out with flux core. You can upgrade to bottles later. Flux core is a good way to learn to use the machine.

It's also a good way to figure if this type of machine is for you. You may discover it ain't got enough oomph to do what you need it to do. At least you haven't sunk the farm in a machine that's too small. You can keep it, and upgrade to a more powerful machine, be it stick or wire.

Bein' as you started out with a question about a very good stick machine, and are now talking about a cheap wire machine leads me to believe you will wind up buying something cheap, imported, and crappy. See that so many times here

I suppose a lot of folks ask questions, already knowing the direction they're goin', and not lookin' for solid answers

It's ok, gives us all somethin' to do on a Saturday nite

[badazzelanore]

Nope, your answer is why I asked. I dont want any fluff, so for that I thank you. I honestly have no idea where to start. I know I am gonna go ahead and wait a while to invest in any welder until I get a couple classes in and figure out how much I enjoy it and if i will be honestly using it often or not. I think i will stick (no pun intended) to the lincoln electric if and when I decide to buy.

Like another member said I will probably start buying the safety equipment while I am in the classes.

[popeyeus]

I converted a Lincoln 225S ac to dc. Pictures can be seen at

http://picasaweb.google.com/11161594...9/WelderImages

Added 15,000 mfd. capacitance at 250 vdc rating and it brought the out put from 80 volt ac to 70.1 volts dc through a reactor coil or choke coil and then the capacitors raised it to a peak voltage of 115 volts dc under no load. I shut the welder off and it held a charge in the capacitors, that i discharged with a screw driver and it made a large spark and loud crack. Think i will add a discharge resistor across the capacitors to help discharge them shortly after shuting the welder off. Would be nice to have voltage regulation on it so as to crank it down to about 80 volts dc, less a shock hazard.

[llamafur]

I say get it, those tombstones have very smooth arcs. There a joy to weld with.