I'm a novice when it comes to welders and welding, but I want to learn and do more. I like the thought of a wire feeder but a stick would be acceptable. The caveat is: I really want a portable welder that I can use at home, in the shop, and out at the farm. It wouldn't need to be super industrial since I most likely would be using it to build things like pipe fence, cattle pens, deer blinds, pole barns, fire pits, etc.

Because of my portability requirement, I don't think an engine driven welder is an option. I could buy an electric welder and a separate generator. The Hobart Trek 180 battery powered welder caught my attention.

Has anybody used one?

Are there any other recommendations that fit my requirements?

Buy an engine driven welder and use that to build you a trailer to tow it to all the places you want it to go.

Generator will not run a welder, even a small one. The fluctuations in the output of the generator will mess with your arc.

Engine driven is best. They make small ones that easily fit in the back of a truck, but mounting one on a small trailer is the best bet.

Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04

Todd, don't know what you're budget is but an engine driven welder is an awesome tool for welding on site. I can't remember what Miller Bobcat 250s sell for now but they are really popular. You can weld stick, have 110 & 220 power, and buy optional wire feed attachments. Get that on a trailer w/ you're bottles and you're good to go. Just remember that wire feed is sometimes a challenge on site work. You can't unroll 120 ft of lead;s o you have to be close to your work or have a spool gun in your hand. Welding in the wind outside requires flux core wire too. Not bad, just an inconvenience.

Just don't do like me. I wanted an old Lincoln SA-200 really bad so when I found one it needed a trailer... Then that grew into it's own truck. There went a year of my life on a welding bed rig. But... It's really cool!

I have never heard of that Hobart but I doubt a battery powered welder is going to be much of a welder.

I have a Miller Bobcat 240V, 50 amp, AC/DC crackerbox stick welder. It has been a great machine with almost 20 years of service with no problems. It does require a 240V, 50 amp service. I have about 70 ' of leads on it. It will run a 1/8" 7018 rod all day with no problems. I think I paid around $400.00 new 20 years ago.

I have a buddy that has a engine driven machine similiar to the Hobart Champion 4500. It is also a good machine but you have to pay attenetion to the duty cycle on a machine that small or you will overheat it.

There are many good cheap migs out there that run off of 120V but they definitely have limitations.

You might want to look into getting an electric machine that you can hook up in the barn and/or the garage. You can rent one for doing the remote work.

Miller Bobcat if you can afford it. The small wire feed welders that you could run on a generator are a PITA when welding pipe and farm type stuff. You will want a stick welder eventually or a bigger MIG and no standard generator will supply them enough juice to do the job properly.

For farm work go with stick welding, its much more forgiving than mig. Rust? Paint? Arc will burn right through it.

[This message has been edited by big ben (edited 2/7/2011 11:40a).]

The ability to use the long leads (mine are 35' ground, 65' stinger) offsets the benefits of a nice wire welder. But I need to buy a small unit for just using in my shop, as my son took an early inheritance and permanently borrowed my AC crackerbox welder.

As mentioned earlier, my Bobcat 225, mounted on a trailer with acet/oxg rig, and a toolbox for all the equipment, is perfect for a multitude of jobs, plus it can be my backup during any power outages.
10kw output; I have a 50amp circuit setup for the house, and a seperate tap for the well and barns.

Anyone know of a good online tutorial on welding? I've got an old plug in (240V?) stick welder that my grandfather used on the farm that I need to learn how to use. Among other things, I've got a bunch of sucker rod panels that have had welds let loose that I need to repair.

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/improving-your-skills/

For Log and others.

Im a welder. Its how I make my living. Try and find an older Miller bobcat. You should be able to find one for less than 2000.00 used. I know where one is for 1500.00 with low hours in excellent condition.

As far as crackerbox welders go, most are A/C only and you should use A/C rod with those. You can find those as well pretty cheap

Might want to check out the ready welder. I've used one with 2 batteries and it really cooked.

http://www.readywelder.com/

Hobart is the generic version from Miller. They're great welders.

If you can stomach the extra cash, and a trailer to carry it, get a nice engine driven stick welder.

Wire feeds weld like **** in the open (wind) and we do a lot of welding on cattle pens, etc. So we bought a big Hobart (can't remember the model) for about $1500 off CL 6 months back. With 50' leads.

Its hard to find a good one, but when you do, jump on it.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
-Thomas Jefferson

Wire feeds on gas weld like crap in the wind as the shielding gas is blown away. A wire feed using flux core wire welds fine outside.

Anything with gas (tig or mig) won't work in the wind. I had a love/hate relationship with building welding tents back when I was a fitter's helper in the plants. Hated doing it, but it was nice after since you had a good hiding place to sit back and relax when your work was done and it was the welder's turn to make production.

I learned how to weld just by watching welders. Given the choice between MIG or stick, I'd take MIG unless it was a big job with heavy gauge metal. A MIG machine, or at least a good one, has far more flexibility than a stick - you can run gas, flux core, stainless or aluminum. The caveat is that you generally are limited in how thick your base metal is.

If you are just looking for a recreational/odd project welder, don't invest several thousand in engine machines. Yeah, they are great, but unless you are using them to make a living, have the storage space or want to double them up as a field generator, then you are spending way more than you need.

Lincoln and Miller are the two brands to look at. Stay away from the Home Depot line of Lincoln's as they aren't really Lincolns and don't have interchangeable parts.

110v is going to be your most useful in MIG, but make sure it's a 30amp rated unit. Anything below that and you have a hard time with anything over 1/4" parent metal. I've welded up many a different item on the jobsite with a 30amp Lincoln wire feed.

If you are going stick, 220v. If it absolutely has to be portable, either get a big enough generator to give you relatively constant current or spend the extra cash on an engine unit.

Thanks for the input.

I'm not sure I'm ready to invest several thousand dollars into a welding machine for the few projects I have now. That's why I was hoping to find something smaller and more affordable that would do the trick.

I'll give some consideration to the larger rig, but I just don't think a trailer would be all that great for the one reason that it limits my ability to pull an additional trailer to the farm with materials on it.

Check your local community college for welding classes. Mountain View has a good welding program. That's where I learned. Started with oxy acetylene and was getting pretty good with stick by the first semester. You could move on to mig and tig from there.

Great way to get your feet wet and learn the basics. Plus after the prof saw you knew what you were doing would let you work on your projects.

You can also rent a welder for a reasonable price from any of the big rental outlets, RSC, Ahern, United, etc.

Seriously Todd, check out the Ready welder, it surprises many people. It's about as portable as it gets! If you grow in the future and buy a different welder you can always use it as a spool gun.

Edit to correct name of welder!

[This message has been edited by WheelinAg (edited 2/9/2011 3:39p).]

Get one that speaks English!

Nice one rook.

Because I've needed/wanted a welding machine for years and have been too cheap to get one, and have a couple of projects that I've been putting off forever, and this thread, odds are this weekend I'm running down to TSC to grab one.

I'd tell you that for what you sound like you want to do, get either:

Hobart 140
Lincoln 140

Both are solid machines that are extremely versatile and run off of 115v power. Just make sure you use them on a circuit with a 30a breaker.

Look on craigslist as well (just don't take big ben with you). There were some pretty good deals on some of the machines listed in the houston section, but they were more than i needed or wanted to spend. They had a couple of Millermatic 35's for right around $1k, and that is as solid a wire feed/mig welder as you can get.

Todd where do you live?

If any of ya'll live in the BCS area, I can let you try out a couple of different machines. I have access to a couple of welding machines.

XMT 300 power source that can do TIG, MIG, and stick welding (DC) with high freq unit for TIG

Lincoln cracker box (AC)

Hobart handler 175 MIG (DC)