I pretty much exclusively work with wood, but my wife wants to get started in metalworking.

For Christmas, I was going to get her a beginner plasma cutter and stick welder. Any good recommendations for equipment that will work adequately but also not break the bank? It seems like the entry level plasma cutters especially are all over the place with price and features, and it's got me second-guessing myself while I'm researching. I had kind of honed in on Grizzly as the budget option and Forney as the not quite so budget option.

For reference, I'd expect her to start out with little fun projects like rebar people, coat hangers, that sort of thing. She has said she'd eventually like to get to where she could make a new smoker, utility trailer, etc. I don't need to size the equipment up to that size of project out of the gate, but if something affordable would work across that range of projects, that would be great.

I'd like to keep it in the ballpark of $1K for both machines, but that may be flexible if yall say there's a big benefit to going up a little bit.

Also, we've got a Husky 20gal air compressor that looks like it would be good enough for the plasma cutters I've looked at, but any words of warning or wisdom pertaining to matching the compressor to the cutter?

Do you already have a torch? If not, get her one and save the plasma for her birthday or something if she still wants one. With the type of work you described she'll need a torch anyway and you can cut metal with a torch, but you can't do all the other stuff you can do with a torch, with a plasma

Congrats on choosing stick over wire feed/mig.

Good ac/dc 240 stick machine, portatorch with a selection of tips, good auto darkening hood, good (milwaukee/dewalt/etc) grinder, gloves, rods, flapper/wire wheels and you'll be knocking on that $1000 mark and she will have a really nice starter setup (not starter as in she'll eventually upgrade, these are "starter" items that you'll keep in the garage and continue using forever, even if you upgrade with stuff like plasma and mig/tig)

If she has never welded she will struggle with a stick machine, mig is way easier and more forgiving. If she intends to bend metal, a torch is the way to go. Plasma is great for making cuts, but you can't use it to heat and bend. Be sure to get good protective clothing, including a full face shield for grinding. I have found that Bosch grinders hold up better than most other brands, and I've tried most of them. On the air compressor, if you go with a plasma cutter, make sure you have a dryer on the line, wet/moist air will kill plasma consumables. Speaking of plasma consumables, make sure that the machine you get has them readily available. The best plasma cutter is Hypertherm, but they are way over your specified budget. FYI, if you don't mind ordering things, take a look at Baker Gas and Welding. I like to buy locally but sometimes the difference in price is considerable. BTW if you're local to College Station, you're welcome to bring her over and she can try my machines.

I've been using a LoTOS branded DC inverter combo unit I bought off Amazon for about 4 years and it works pretty well. It has a Tig option, a stick option, and a plasma cutter option in one unit by swapping leads out.

Plasma cutter will cut 3/8 steel pretty easily. I've welded similar thickness with the stick. Does require a 30A. It's like a 520 model or something like that. There's another almost identical brand that is the same machine with a different label on it. Yeah, made in China probably but not everything is crap. Sometimes you do get "cheap but good enough."

h1ag said:

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I pretty much exclusively work with wood, but my wife wants to get started in metalworking.

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You may want to double check your communication with her. Are you sure her questions about steel were not just a way of saying your wood was not hard enough for her needs?

Agree on MIG vs stick. In a MIg figure out what you think you need and buy 2 sizes bigger. Those small 140 or 160 MIG's are great for thinner metals but 1/4 inch or over not so much. Their duty cycle is also limiting. I have a Lincon 140 for thin metals 1/8 and thinner which I primarily use for spot welding auto body sheet metal and because it's 100V and a 220V Lincoln 255 for most other stuff. Check the duty cycle on any make you're going to buy. If it's 20% at low amperage you can theoretically weld 2 minutes out of 10 but falls off at higher amperage settings and your weld turns to caca unless your willing to wait for it to cool down. The higher the duty cycle in the higher amperage ranges equals more $$$$$$ but if you spend a $1000 on something that's not going to fulfill her needs your going to have to buy a larger capacity machine in the future.......and use 75/25 gas with whatever you buy

txags92 said:

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h1ag said:

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I pretty much exclusively work with wood, but my wife wants to get started in metalworking.

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You may want to double check your communication with her. Are you sure her questions about steel were not just a way of saying your wood was not hard enough for her needs?

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The only thing I know for sure is I'm not sending her to any OB houses for "welding lessons"....

(I do appreciate the offer from the pit man, but we live across the country now)

Thanks to everyone for the help. Turns out I was in the right ballpark with what I was looking at, but there are some changes to the plan that I think are in order after this thread and doing some more research.

Portatorch will be taking the place of the plasma cutter for now. She has some experience with stick welding from her applied materials workshops in college, so stick v MIG is still under consideration, but I appreciate the thoughts and guidance from everyone.

Mig will spoil a new welder, and when they find themselves having to use a stick for some reason, they'll be pretty bad at it. On the other hand, it makes easy pretty welds and doesn't discourage a beginner.

Plasma cutters are pretty awesome. Even the cheap harbor freight ones work pretty good.

If she really want's to upsize projects, start with a Lincoln Cracker Box 225AC. It will get you a long way down the road before needing to upgrade. If set on buying new do that for about $450. If ok with buying used, see about if you can find the AC/DC model used. They're easy to work on if they need it (I've honestly only seen one that needed to be truly reworked and it was made in the 70's), and not hard to just swap cheap parts in as a novice. Flux core MIG will give a lot of false confidence and pretty cold welds that won't be worth a damn.

Don't be afraid of her learning to stick weld, women are more manually dexterous than men and were always easier to get going than the boys in my classes.

Thanks for all the help with this. The welding Christmas was a success!

I've enjoyed my YES multi process welder/plasma cutter. Reasonably priced, takes a bit to figure out how to set it but works well. 120v and 240v.