Arc Welder for learning with

[Sam Wright]

Aup, I work on a dairy farm at weekends and I've always been interested in learning to weld. I'll primarily be doing stick welding on various thicknesses of steel and iron and have been looking for a unit to learn with. A colleague has said that I should look for a 200amp inverter welder becuase they're simple to learn and I should be able to do a selection of tasks with it. I have already found one but if anyone has any input that'd be great.

P.s- the one I've found is a Parker 200amp inverter welder with a 60% duty cycle for £120

 

[angellonewolf]

im no pro but been been on the fourm for quite a while never heard of parker

i belive paraweld do a nice stick welder for £200 that seam to get good reviews

some one will be along soon that will beable to add more to this

 

[Kent]

160-180 set is all you need for 3.2mm perhaps 4 mm. 6013 /7018 etc. Parweld are good sets for the money and one of them offers cel settings

 

[Sam Wright]

Okay cheers, I'll have a look at the paraweld sets. What does cel mean?

 

[Sam Wright]

I've looked at the paraweld sets and they only seem to go up to 175amps. I've been looking for set with around 200amps and for 4mm rods you're apparently meant to use around 180-200 amps and we use them at work a lot. And they're more expensive than the parks ones so I think I'll get one of them as I've been using one similar and they're got alright reviews

 

[angellonewolf]

make sure you buy from uk and pay with credit card for piece of mind

 

[Whiperton]

I am a certified arc welder with many years experience. You will struggle with 4mm rods because of the duty cycle on cheaper inverter welders. I can tell you that 3.2 mms rods will be more than sufficient for any thing that you will want to weld on a farm. In all my years if welding I have only used 4 mm on rare occasions. Good luck

 

[cianh91]

as said above duty cycle is a big thing with 4mm rods and cheaper is usually not better .iv been working on farms years now and i cant remember the last time i needed a 4mm rod .
even in quarrys with very large heavy equipment you do most of it with 3.2 rods

 

[Nekarsulm]

The typical farm welder is either an aircooled Clarke 220 amp buzz box (easy to move about) or an old Oxford or Pickhill Bantham oil cooled monster on a 2 wheel trolly.(pig to move anywhere, but keep it dry and change the oil every decade and it'll probably outlive you!)