Got my new Clarke 130EN

[RippyZ]

Ordered it a month ago and just arrived today. Was gonna cancel the order (since it was two weeks past the date of promised delivery), but found out it had shipped on the same day that I decided to cancel the order.

Having a little bit of buyer's remorse as I compare it to my one-year old Clarke 131E stick welder. I can probably get by with the stick welder base on the type of welding I will be doing, plus, as of now, I realize there are several advantage the 131E has over the 130EN; one being significantly cheaper both initially (131E was US$125 vs 130EN at US$288, not including the cost of tank and regulator) and in the long run, if I decided to use gas with the 130EN. Currently I'm able to put down a better bead with the stick than with the wire, but we'll see how that goes as I get more practice with the wire.

Eventually I like to keep just one machine, but right now I'm not exactly sure which one.....I'm sorta leaning towards the stick.

 

[shenion]

You will do much cleaner welds with gas. The wire is cheaper, but you have to add the cost of buying a tank/regulator and have it filled. Once done, the cost is low.

I would use stick over gasless wire any day.


I have the 130EN and it has worked flawlessly for almost a year. I do use arc for bigger stuff; mainly because I have a big arc welder available.

 

[RippyZ]

I definitely will have to use gas, as the flux core wire has really bad splatter, I'd say ten times worse than the stick.

Do you have your own tank or do you lease/rent it? My local welding supply shop lease out tanks for $8/month with $100 deposit. If I could group all my projects in one month then I'd be saving money, but since I know that's not possible, it probably would be better if I bought my own tank.

 

[shenion]

Yes, gasless is a real mess. Even as an arc noob, I can do much cleaner with stick I conseder gasless MIG a wast of money as you can do it much cheaper and better with stick.

I bought my tanks. Have an 80CF argon and 30lb CO2 tank.

I bought the CO2 tank off ebay, was real nice, brand new with a rubber boot on bottom. Had it filled and the gave me an old beat up one. They don't fill tanks, just swap them.

My 80CF argon tank was about $150 from the gas supplier. Ebay prices were about the same (new).

Just buy a tank. If you have a small amount of use, then a small tank will be fine.

Figure the size of the tank by how much use before refilling and how far or inconvenient it is to go have it filled:

My tank:
80 CF
20CF/hr flow rate
---------------------
About 4 hours of use.

4 hours is a lot of welding. Lasts me about 6 months. 40CF tanks are about $69.

My 80CF tank is filled for about $40-$50 depending on where I have it filled. That is for pure argon, Ar/CO2 is a little cheaper.