I hear you. The welder absolutely couldn't keep a pool hot at the lower wire speeds. After I cranked it up it was absolutely blazing on that beveled 3/16th steel.

 

this looks like a good deal...how does this compare to your 211 passport and how much does your pass port cost? would u rely on the lincon 140 to weld 1/4 such as shackle relocating brackets n what not (stuff that will take a beatin?)

 

I paid 900 for the passport, and it's worth every penny in my opinion!

But I was quite surprised how nice the licoln welded. With a premium quality innershield wire it will handle 1/4 plate no problem. Seriously I was stackin dimes with thAt machine all day!

 

yea the passport is slightly outta price range right now but the licoln sounds good to me honestly i just need a little stonger more trustorth welds because im about to have to fabricate various suspension parts so the 140 would be trustworth you think? and thanks for advice it is much appriciated

 

The welder is plenty up to the task, the real question is do you have the knowledge and skill required to use the machine properly? Any ******* can run a nice bead with a welder that has been set up proper.

 

We use the Lincoln power mig 255c and precision tig 275 machines at work. Great machines if you have the cash.
The newest 255 model costs around 3k .
The tigs are like 6k.

Do your self a favor if you plan to do any amount of welding and get your self a gas shielded welder. They are pretty much fool proof and can do lighter gauge materials.

 

That's the beauty of the licoln powermig 140, comes with everything you need to run hard wire.

 

yes i feel relativly confident on my knoweldge granted i need to learn more but i wont learn without doing however i got enough basic priciples to get a good start then go from there so thanks for the help now my decsion on buyin the welder or a few diffrent jeep parts is on and i cant decide what to do!

 

What would the parts cost if you were to purchase them, I would venture to say the average quality made bumper would cost more than a licoln or miller 110v mig. If you going to build a rig how can you not afford to owna welder.

The amount of money I've made doing side jobs is staggering, yes tools are expensive but a clever person can get someone else to pay for them!

 

Get your self some scrap plate and practice running beads in various directions, weld some t joints butt joints etc and see what happens when you make adjustments and weld the different joints.
That's the only way you are going to learn and you can get the scrap cheap or even free. Sure it will eat up some of your consumables but that is unavoidable.Get your self a couple of rolls of wire and extra tips,nozzles so you have spares.

I have never been trained to weld,Im not an expert by any means but I was in a new job they needed a welder I told them I knew a bit about it and have done some at home.They said lets see what you can do and now I am one of their welders.
Some of the experienced welders out there would consider me a hack just because they are stuck up and forgot when they started and was in our shoes but screw them, who cares what they think man.
All the more experienced welders at my job have been great and are always willing to answer my questions and help me out when I have an issue that I cant figure out.

Follow the recommended settings on your machine ( they are just a starting point btw ) and go from there. As was said before I believe, keep your stick out short 1/16th" to maybe 1/8".Dont try to go too fast,this is a common mistake when learning.
I would say just to start our and get a good feel for your machine get some heavy plate like 11 gauge or heavier set your machine up and just run some flat beads on it pulling the weld towards you. Just run a strait bead and try to keep it even and strait and use a slow travel speed.
Not every application requires you to use a specific technique ( triangles, circles ,horse shoe etc) Just practice running strait beads until you get comfortable then play around with the fancy stuff.

I would just keep the welder that you have for now until you get the hang of things.If it is set up right and you get a little experience under your belt, you will be able to run some nice welds with it.Once you get more comfortable with what you have then I would start looking for a more higher end machine.

Welding for me is fun.I enjoy the challenge of trying to make my work as a "hack" welder look good as well as be strong and functional.Once you build a few things and get nice welds you will feel unstoppable lol.

There's my rant, sorry I'm a chatty cathy lol

 

oh belive me i wish i could get people to "pay for" my tools but unless i could sell stuff on here there is no one around me that would come to me there are to many shops around here but no i definatly agree with what ya say ...i mean my cheap little welder has already paid for itself more than a few things on just the stuff ive built for my jeep

 

ha good story bout you becomin a welder that cool stuff...way to get the promotion haha...but yea im more than comfterbal on my welder now i just cant decide if the cost of a new welder out weighs the benifits for me right now because i can always ballow buddies welders if i need so idk if i wanna spend almost 600 on a new one just hard decsion

 

I hear ya on that.I would say that if you are only going to use it a few times then it is not worth the expense especially if you can use a buddies welder here and there.
If you have a lot to do or are planning on getting into welding then
it is just a matter of your own personal budget, but would be worth investing in a higher end welder.

 

If you buy a cheap welder it will fail you eventually and let's be real, how durable is a $90 welder going to be?

500$ for something that will literally last you a lifetime doesn't seem expensive to me, my first welder was a crazy lookin old school licoln ac/dc arc welder from the 50's! This thing is 60 years old and still lays down wicked beautiful beads with 70-18.

You think your grandson is gonna learn to weld with that HF turd in 2070?

 

Very true but you are speaking from the perspective of a full time welder and by the sounds of it you do a lot of welding out side of work.That's what you do so you need a good welder.

Not everybody needs a welder that will last multiple generations.A hobby welder is just that.Need to build your self a bumper for your jeep and then rarely if ever need a welder again, well a cheap hobby welder will get it done,and you're not out any money.
If you plan to do a lot of welding then it is a good idea to get a higher end welder like I said.
To go out and buy a top of the line welder just to do a couple of jobs is stupid unless you got it like that then more power to ya.
I personally dont own a mig because I feel I need a decent one and dont have $800 for the one I want right now.I can also do my welding at work if it is needed so I have even less of a reason to go out and blow the money for my own.
I also have an old "buzz box" mine is just the AC model that I inherited from my grandfather crazy how those old things last eh? Cant do much light metal welding with it though lol.

Everybody's situation is different and not everybody will have grand children lol