Don"t Buy a Cheap Welder
Cheap MIG Welders.
Today everyone wants a welder and the word is out that MIG welding is the easiest welding process to learn.
The belief is that all you have to do is point the gun, pull the trigger and a finished weld just happens.
The next part of the urban legend is that each home person who wants to weld starts talking about buying a MIG welder just to use for small projects around the house.
While it is true that MIG welding is the easiest of the welding processes to learn it is not true that all you have to do is point and pull the trigger to get a quality weld.
Welding requires that the correct heat be selected for the thickness of metal being welded, then the filler metal must be added at the correct rate.
There are some basics to understand and learn before obtaining a quality weld from a MIG welder, also called a wire feed welder.
The other misunderstanding is that you can buy a suitable product for $200 that is going to provide quality welds.
The heat must be constant and stable.
The wire feed assembly must supply the filler wire at a precise speed.
When the wire drive motor starts and stops the arc must still remain constant.
Cheap products have small feed motors, small feed assembly wheels, and often use the same power source that supplies the arc.
Each time the feed motor starts and stops the arc intensity varies.
The wire feed on cheap machine is not smooth and constant.
When the wire starts and stops it gets stuck to the puddle.
Cheap products are cheap because they are built with low quality parts and old technology.
Another poor practice is buying a welder that operates on 110VAC input power.
The lower the input voltage the higher the amperage.
A machine using 110VAC will require twice the current of the same unit running on 220VAC.
Stay away from cheap wire feed welders that use 110VAC.
They are nothing but trouble.
They won't produce satisfactory quality and they will cause a lot of frustration.
Invest in the major brand names of MIG welders such as Miller, Lincoln, ESAB.
The welders will produce quality welds and it will be a pleasure to work with them.
Spend a little money for a quality product that produces a quality weld, you will be glad you did.
Today everyone wants a welder and the word is out that MIG welding is the easiest welding process to learn.
The belief is that all you have to do is point the gun, pull the trigger and a finished weld just happens.
The next part of the urban legend is that each home person who wants to weld starts talking about buying a MIG welder just to use for small projects around the house.
While it is true that MIG welding is the easiest of the welding processes to learn it is not true that all you have to do is point and pull the trigger to get a quality weld.
Welding requires that the correct heat be selected for the thickness of metal being welded, then the filler metal must be added at the correct rate.
There are some basics to understand and learn before obtaining a quality weld from a MIG welder, also called a wire feed welder.
The other misunderstanding is that you can buy a suitable product for $200 that is going to provide quality welds.
The heat must be constant and stable.
The wire feed assembly must supply the filler wire at a precise speed.
When the wire drive motor starts and stops the arc must still remain constant.
Cheap products have small feed motors, small feed assembly wheels, and often use the same power source that supplies the arc.
Each time the feed motor starts and stops the arc intensity varies.
The wire feed on cheap machine is not smooth and constant.
When the wire starts and stops it gets stuck to the puddle.
Cheap products are cheap because they are built with low quality parts and old technology.
Another poor practice is buying a welder that operates on 110VAC input power.
The lower the input voltage the higher the amperage.
A machine using 110VAC will require twice the current of the same unit running on 220VAC.
Stay away from cheap wire feed welders that use 110VAC.
They are nothing but trouble.
They won't produce satisfactory quality and they will cause a lot of frustration.
Invest in the major brand names of MIG welders such as Miller, Lincoln, ESAB.
The welders will produce quality welds and it will be a pleasure to work with them.
Spend a little money for a quality product that produces a quality weld, you will be glad you did.
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