Your First Welder

A welder is a very useful tool for the diy-er. Anyone who fabricates very much equipment for himself soon finds the welder moving out of the classification of nice to have, and into the realm of a must-have. For the do it yourselfer who is contemplating the acquisition of a first welder, the plethora of articles to be found on the world wide web and print magazines alike on the subject of building your own welder from junk materials are a siren song. On the other hand, the popularity of wire-fed welders, seen everywhere from the local muffler shops to the diy shows on TV, are pulling in the other direction. And then there are the cheap, under $100 in some cases, arc welders that take their power from a standard 115 volt wall outlet. What is the poor neophyte to do?

None of the above, actually. Low amperage, especially home built welders simply require more skill to utilize effectively than the beginning welder will be able to muster. It will be so difficult to strike and maintain an arc, that the beginner is likely to throw up his hands in disgust, and give up on welding altogether.

A wire-feed welder is a good choice, and you will probably want one if you get seriously into welding; but it should be your second welder, not your first. For one thing, a decent setup will be relatively high dollar, around a thousand bucks. A $300 wire feed welder using flux-core wire is not gonna cut it. It will make a mess of sheet metal, and won't have enough power for structural welding. For your wire-feed welder, you need to spend at least $700 for the basic machine, and then you will need to buy a tank of shielding gas to go with it. Later, you may need to buy additional tanks of different gases, for welding different materials. Your first tank, too, can't be one of the tiny, cheap ones, because it will be the gas that you use the most of, assuming you did your homework before purchasing it; so it will need to be large enough to last for awhile.

But this article is about your first welder, not your second one; so let's move on to my recommendation: a 200 to 250 ampere arc welder of the variety that uses electrodes, also known as welding rods. These are available as AC and AC/DC machines; either will work, but the AC/DC machine is preferable if you can afford the extra $100-$200 they cost over the price of an AC only machine.

Using DC current allows you to make nicer welds, works better on vertical and overhead surfaces, and makes the arc easier to control. The chances are good that if you have the DC capability, you will never use the AC setting.

On the other hand, an AC only machine in this size is still easy to use and makes good welds; enough so that if you have any aptitude at all for welding, you will quickly get hooked and will probably want to weld everyday! And you are far more likely to find a good, cheap AC machine. They can occasionally be found on sale for as low as $200, and you may be able to find a used one for under $100 when someone upgrades to a DC machine. And if you are a dedicated do it yourselfer, it is no problem to add a set of diodes in the future, thereby converting your old AC machine to DC. The required heavy-duty diodes are readily available, because they do occasionally burn up, requiring replacement.

Before you bring the machine home, you will need to prepare space in your shop for it, and install a 220 volt line with the proper receptacle, if you don't already have one. Also, you will need to pay a visit to your local welding supply shop, even if you are going to buy your welder used or from one of the home-improvement type shops; because you will need to buy appropriate safety gear and consumables such as electrodes. Also, it will be a good idea to buy some longer, heavier gauge cables than the machine will likely come equipped with. Copper is expensive, so the manufacturers tend to scrimp on cables. If you buy a new machine, it will probably come with a welding helmet and gloves, but especially in the case of the helmet, buying better quality is very much worth the price. You will also want to buy your electrodes from the welding shop, as they are guaranteed to be fresh. I have had electrodes from big box stores that were literally unusable and had to be thrown away, because they were old and had absorbed moisture.

As for which electrodes to buy, I am going to break with the most popular recommendation of E6013 and instead recommend E6011. 6013 makes a prettier weld, but in my opinion it doesn't offer enough penetration, especially on dirty, rusted, or painted steel. 6011 will cut through all those things, and also has superior filling characteristics, which helps if you don't do a professional job of preparing the mating edges. 6011 is also very easy to maintain an arc with. So start with E6011 in 3/32 (for light stuff) and 1/8" (for heavier steel) sizes, and experiment after you get some experience.

This welder will suffice for all of your structural type welding, making brackets, etc. on 1/8" thick up to at least 1/2" thick steel. Then you can size your second welder, that wire-feed you've been looking at, for welding sheet metal and thin-wall tubing.