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Low Cost 120V Welders for Home Use |
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Low Cost 120V Welders for Home Use
Most homeowners have certain standard tools for repair of household items,
and a welder just wouldn’t be on that list of what is “typical”. Considering my
experiences, I think a lot of homeowners should re-think that standard. Several
years ago I bought a small 120 volt arc welder to fabricate parts for my 1936
Chevy Pick up. In spite of the fact that the cost was fairly affordable when I
bought this welder to work on my hot rod pick up, I still wondered whether it
would really be worth the expense. I had never owned or used a welder and I just
didn’t know much about such things. Boy was I surprised - What a great idea it
turned out to be!
Sure, it did just what I expected in fabricating parts
for my truck, but it has also helped me fix and repair dozens of things around
the house. As an example, my wife had an old coat rack that was made of wood and
cast iron – it originally belonged to her great grandmother, but the iron part
had cracked and broken. I took it to a guy to fix it, and he wanted $300. I
thought it was crazy to spend that kind of money, so I bought about $5 worth arc
welding rod specially made for cast iron, a can of flat black paint and fixed it
myself. A few weeks later the handle on my workshop vise broke – I would have
had to throw it away, but with a bit of welding, and its as good as new. From my
camp trailer, to hand tools, broken stuff for the family and friends – I’ve used
my welder a hundred times.
That’s why I recommend purchasing one so
freely. I’ve easily saved enough money to pay for the cost of my welder many
times over. So many things around the house that I would have had to just throw
away are practically good as new. Home workshop, arts and crafts, automotive
repairs – all are applications that I've used home welder to work on. It just
opened a whole new world of potential projects I could complete. I admit I’m
kind of a tool junkie, but a welder is just something that most homeowners
wouldn’t think of.
Different types of welding equipment
are available, some are powered by 220V wall power, some welders have their own
generator to create their power. Different technologies include Metal
Inert Gas (MIG) welders which feed a continuous wire into the welder, and use a
flow of argon gas to keep the metal from burning or oxidizing too quickly. TIG
welders (Tungsten Inert Gas) use a non consumable tungsten electrode and a bare
uncoated hand held welding rod.
The type of welder I recommend for home
use is a simple stick electrode - arc welding set up, which uses a rod covered
in a flux to weld and can be plugged right into a standard wall outlet. During
welding with this type of equipment, the vaporizing flux protects the metal. The
arc is very high temperature and the metal virtually sprays off the end of the
rod. The flux on the rod which does not vaporize, fuses into a molten glass
which protects the metal from oxidation while it is cooling.
For the
average home owner, a simple 120V unit, is probably best. No special
modification to provide 220 V power is necessary, and the price is quite
reasonable (I paid about $150 for mine).. The 120V unit is only good to weld up
to about 3/16 inch steel. If you are doing heavy duty welding and heavy
fabrication, you need a larger unit. However for 99% of the typical homeowner
applications, I find the 120V unit is really sufficient. There are low cost MIG
units that can run on 115V home power available for slightly more than the stick
type arc welding units, but with MIG you also need a cylinder of compressed
Argon to provide the inert gas, and that adds to the price a bit.
Welding
supplies are available locally in most areas. These are the shops where you can
purchase different types of welding rod (you can only use small diameter rod
with a 120V unit). Different types of rods (or wire for MIG type units) are used
for welding on different types of steel or iron. I also bought an upgraded
welding mask at my local welding supply shop.
Anyway, I consider my
little home arc welder one of the best purchases that I have ever made and I
heartily recommend it to other homeowners. I’m not a welding equipment dealer,
but I like my tools and this has been a good one to own, not to mention that the
cost was very affordable. If you want to consider fabricating home metal craft
projects, doing home and auto repairs, metal arts and other similar types of
projects, I really think that it is a very worthwhile purchase. I know I
wouldn't be without one.
For More information on Using a welder around
the home, check out the authors website
at:
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/welder_components/welder/affordable_welder.htm
For
More information on the author’s recommendations on Tools for the Homeowner,
check out his web page
at:
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/welder_components/tools/hand_tools.htm
Chris
Ralph writes on small scale mining and prospecting for the ICMJ Mining Journal.
He has a degree in Mining Engineering from the Mackay School of Mines in Reno,
and has worked for precious metal mining companies conducting both surface and
underground operations. After working in the mining industry, he has continued
his interest in mining as an individual prospector. His information web page can
be viewed at:
http://nevada-outback-gems.com
Tags: Welding Equipment Welders Low Cost 120V Welders for Home UseWelding Equipment fabricating money
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