Let's say I wanna buy some welders...

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A container?  Probably looking for a fermenter.  It's either that or a brew pot - depends on how many fittings he wants mounted to the side.  Most of our stainless tanks/vessels we purchase use "Sanitary tig welds" for all fittings, and some can be pretty damned complex.  The one pot I'd love to get my hands on runs over $400 bucks, though I think a lot of that cost is mere novelty and brand name...

Thing is, it's not all entirely necessary.  All my medals were earned using an aluminum turkey fryer.  Ideal?  No.  Sufficient?  Damn right...  Meanwhile I only started seriously using glass carboys for fermenting within the past 2 years or so - before that it was food-grade plastic buckets.

Now, what I'D love to use a welder for would be building my own horizontal brew-stand.  Something like that first picture I showed above, but not necessarily with all the fancy pumps and tubing and electronics.  Just something to hang a few burners on, run some simple gas lines with T-fittings, and get everything off the floor and at waist-height for less strain on the body.  I was doing a smidge of research and it looks like, provided I can get stainless filler for the MIG welder, I should be able to weld something pretty easily.  The one set of instructions I read called for .12 wall thickness on 1.5" square tubing.  Should be a piece of cake, right?

I think he was gonna use a heater element in it? Does that sound right, I have no idea, do you heat it up at any point? Maybe he tricked me and wanted to make moonshine instead, 
I built a lot of stands out of square tubing, not stainless though, did not know a MIG could do that. Its pretty easy. I did some stainless with the TIG, its cool, comes out so nice! If I build the beer brewing thing I need to fill up the container with gas inside also, so the other side of the weld gets protected.

1 Wild R/T, Nice, love the gate, I'm building a similar one for my house before the winter.

[ViperMan]

Heating element?  Well that opens up options but also concerns. A RIMS setup would let him pump mash through the vessel (presumably a small one) and heat it a little at a time.  An element inside a mash tun or kettle would be ill-advised, as it can scorch the proteins in the wort and create significant off-flavors.

ANYHOO...

So I was at Lowes today to get a cheap trestle for the hops I'm growing, and wandered over to the power tool aisle where I found a Lincoln Electric 140 welder. I'm familiar with the unit - already been researching it.  But what I noticed was all the consumable parts on the shelves, which made me realize something; on a weekend, when I'm going to have spare time to work WITH a welder, is also the two days of the week that most welding shops are closed. That means if I suddenly need parts, I'm SOL until a weekday.  If I get a basic LE 140, I can get whatever I need as long as there's a hardware chain nearby...

It's made me reconsider buying something like a Hobart which may not fit LE parts (though more research is required...)

[71GranCoupe]

Looks like you have gotten lots of advice, so will add some more.  Once upon a time I was certified and have many hours behind me. You need a welder to be specific to the job. Think I have 4-5 different machines and they are all good units, but are geared more to a certain application, versus a one size fits all. One is my Hi-Freq tig and aluminum and stick. Super machine but not very good for auto body.  Tig does look nice when you stack the "dimes" up, but not very useful on sheet metal. Tig has to be very clean for good welds, and with weld through prier will not work the best. I even have an AC/DC stick unit, works great for heavy stuff, but way too much for sheet metal. I did pick up a 175 Eastwood unit a couple months ago, but have not fired it up yet. It is 230 volt and does need larger wiring for it. Not sure why I even bought it, might have had a boring day, LOL.

The nice thing about the 120 volt units, you can use them anywhere and even use a good heavy extension cord will get you welding out in the driveway. Wind is an issue though, as it will displace the shielding gas. And with moving in the future, another reason for 120v.

Many will try to persuade you to consider the higher end millers with multi capabilities, but unless you are going to do welding on a daily basis, go with the Lincoln and use the money saved for 'parts'.  Most smaller units have 20% duty cycle, but will not be an issue. With the mig, you drop a few tacks, then re-position and start all over again.


My unit I use for auto body is a Lincoln SP135. It has been a great welder, as it can handle very light and some heavier stuff up to 1/4, but as mentioned, it will take a couple passes to get good penetration. I put my 135 to the test last year and built a welding table and was welding 1/4 with little time between beads.

Yes, the box stores will have parts on the weekends and does come to play, nothing worse than running out of wire. Tips can be cleaned to get you by if you have some tip cleaners, but you should always have some laying ready for use. I suggest to go with the 140 you are looking at. In the very unlikely event, you are not happy with it, it will be an easy sell, as people are always looking for the small machines.

Speed-glass is a very good helmet, and you can get cheater lenses if needed too.  Once you get it set up, buy the bigger reels of wire, the larger diameter spool keeps the radius of the wire larger and will glide through the whip with ease.

Practice until you can weld consistently before you tackle the replacement metal. Hope this gives you some more insight on which unit to go with.   

[1 Wild R/T]

Wire & tips are the two main things, gas your going to a welding supply anyway.... I buy mostly 10 lb spools but currently I have a 30 lb spool.... Lasts a long time.... Lower sells 2 lb spools.... For close to the price of a 10 lb spool...

Tips... Most welders come with a Tweeko gun....  So the tips are very common....  Liners are another consumable but unless you weld allot or abuse your equipment you'll probably never need to change one...

[ViperMan]

Looks like you have gotten lots of advice, so will add some more.  Once upon a time I was certified and have many hours behind me. You need a welder to be specific to the job. Think I have 4-5 different machines and they are all good units, but are geared more to a certain application, versus a one size fits all. One is my Hi-Freq tig and aluminum and stick. Super machine but not very good for auto body.  Tig does look nice when you stack the "dimes" up, but not very useful on sheet metal. Tig has to be very clean for good welds, and with weld through prier will not work the best. I even have an AC/DC stick unit, works great for heavy stuff, but way too much for sheet metal. I did pick up a 175 Eastwood unit a couple months ago, but have not fired it up yet. It is 230 volt and does need larger wiring for it. Not sure why I even bought it, might have had a boring day, LOL.

The nice thing about the 120 volt units, you can use them anywhere and even use a good heavy extension cord will get you welding out in the driveway. Wind is an issue though, as it will displace the shielding gas. And with moving in the future, another reason for 120v.

Many will try to persuade you to consider the higher end millers with multi capabilities, but unless you are going to do welding on a daily basis, go with the Lincoln and use the money saved for 'parts'.  Most smaller units have 20% duty cycle, but will not be an issue. With the mig, you drop a few tacks, then re-position and start all over again.


My unit I use for auto body is a Lincoln SP135. It has been a great welder, as it can handle very light and some heavier stuff up to 1/4, but as mentioned, it will take a couple passes to get good penetration. I put my 135 to the test last year and built a welding table and was welding 1/4 with little time between beads.

Yes, the box stores will have parts on the weekends and does come to play, nothing worse than running out of wire. Tips can be cleaned to get you by if you have some tip cleaners, but you should always have some laying ready for use. I suggest to go with the 140 you are looking at. In the very unlikely event, you are not happy with it, it will be an easy sell, as people are always looking for the small machines.

Speed-glass is a very good helmet, and you can get cheater lenses if needed too.  Once you get it set up, buy the bigger reels of wire, the larger diameter spool keeps the radius of the wire larger and will glide through the whip with ease.

Practice until you can weld consistently before you tackle the replacement metal. Hope this gives you some more insight on which unit to go with.   

Thanks man!  Good suggestions.  I did a little more homework last night and I'm still leaning towards a Hobart - found several comparison reviews where people felt the Hobart was generally more reliable and laid a better weld.  But yeah I'm definitely doing a 120V out of necessity and I'm going to make sure to have a collection of spare parts to be safe.

[ViperMan]

Tips... Most welders come with a Tweeko gun....  So the tips are very common....  Liners are another consumable but unless you weld allot or abuse your equipment you'll probably never need to change one...

Thanks - I was wondering if they shared a lot of parts...