Do you want the , what I told my wife price, or actual?
So I did a ton of research and personally decided this was the best deal for me. It's a refurbished Hobart Handler 190. $540 plus a whopping $7 in shipping. It looks brand new. I did have to put my name on a waiting list as they don't always have them in stock. I bought directly from Hobart. After talking to my friends that weeks for a living, the consensus seemed to be that the refurbished units with as well, and I'm most cases, better than a standard new unit. Possibly because the refurbs go through a more in depth hands on testing, tuning than the new ones. What I didn't realize was the expense of all the extras. Gas tank, hood, grinder, table, clamps, etc. Plan on $1000ish just to have the basics. My garage is a woodshop, and I have tool....... problem? Basically nothing transfers to metal work. I'm still incredibly excited to learn a new skill and start building things in a new way.
That's good advice. I'm looking for a scrap source. And my welder is sharing space with my woodshop. That's safe right? Time to look in to dust collection. And fire extinguishers.
Do you want the , what I told my wife price, or actual?
It's a MIG/flux combo. I think it's a great unit for what I'm planning to do. Welds up to 5/16. As far as used, you never know if it was used all day every day in a shop, or twice a year by a lady making bird houses. My used market had a very limited selection of decent used welders and sometimes the cost of getting them in good working order was more than what I paid. Please take everything I say with a grain of salt. While I've spent countless hours doing research online and talking to professionals I literally have zero experience actually welding. This unit is what I think is the best choice for me and the projects I have planned. I will say that Hobart is made by the same company as Miller and some of the basic parts are interchangeable. Parts do wear out and having a local source for them is also important. I think I made all that clear as mud.
So my 1962 Delta Unisaw is drool worthy? Jokes aside, that is some fantastic advice. It just makes sense. Especially heat vs moisture. I think I'm going to be ok. Thanks.
That is significantly less tip movement than I thought. Thanks for that. I've seen pictures of your welds and that is what I'm working towards. I plan on burning through a couple spools and bottles before I touch my Jeep. I'll post some pictures of the welds in the next week or so, and if you have time to give any suggestions I would appreciate it. Thanks again and happy Father's day to you (?), and/or other dad's around you.
It is best to learn speed first. As you get better and in more positions where you need to accomplish something, the small bit of tip movement will come naturally. What you want to avoid is expecting tip movement to compensate for bad habits over speed and control of the weld puddle. You want to move the tip at a rate that fills the weld profile and then we can use that to give you tips about heat and speed. The key to learning how to weld is learning to identify the mistake you are making via weld appearance and then adjusting to correct.
