I'd like to get a MIG and don't have a lot of extra cash. I don't want any junk and I've heard good things about Weldmark. Are they really made by Lincoln? I found this unit on ebay and it looks like a pretty good deal if it's the same as the 135 Lincoln unit. Anyone use them before? http://cgi.ebay.com/Weldmark-135-Pl...yZ113743QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
All I can tell you is that they were made by Lincoln, and have been discontinued. Here's a link to Lincoln's web site where you can download the operator's manual for that model. http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/operatorsmanualdatasheet.asp?p=33755 I used a Lincoln WeldPak 100 for close to 10 years before the wire feed quick working. I replaced it with a Hobart. The replacement parts to fix the wire feed were going to be around $100. After 10 years, I figured it was the first of many problems... The Buy It Now price seems high to me for a used one. For just a little more, you can get either a comparable Lincoln or Hobart new. If you can get it for close to the current opening bid, it might be a good deal.
so the first problem was 10 years after you got it, but you had many problems? not sure i understand. if i can find a lincoln mig for around 300$ i could probably swing that. but if they have a lot of problems i'll go with something else.
No comments as I have no experience, but I wanted to commend you on your impeccable taste in avatars.
No problems with it during the first 10 years, except having a hard time finding replacement liners for the cheap gun it uses. The wire feed went out earlier this spring, first and only problem I've had with it. The part to fix it is just over $100. I got the welder from a buddy that was about to lose it to a pan shop, I gave him $20 for the pawn ticket (his idea, not mine), then paid $140 to get it out the following day. I added the gas kit for about $90, and bought the largest bottle my supplier would sell me, 150 cu/ft. I've only had it refilled 3-4 times. When the wire feed went out, I looked at the cost of repairing it and decided it wasn't worth putting that much into it. I had a major project I had to get done in a short time, I used that as an excuse to justify buying a new welder. I compared Lincoln and Hobart. Hobart was a better deal, it costed me an extra $30 or so, but several places in town stock the liner for it, nobody stocks the one for the Lincoln. I still have the Weldpak 100. Find someone that has one that the wire feed works, but something else is wrong, and we might work out a deal, if you could meet me in Arkansas the first weekend of October, when I head from Tulsa to just outside Clinton for a campout.
Well I guess I just jumped in feet first, got a refund check from Summit today I didn't expect and just ordered the Lincoln 135-Pro. I'll cross my fingers! Thanks
Ordered it? Couldn't pick one up local? I had several places to pick from when I bought my replacement. Not sure what kind of experience you have welding, but make sure you clean the metal to be welded, as well as where you're hooking the ground clamp. Check the polarity if the welder comes with flux core, it'll need swapped around for solid wire.
well bought i guess would be the right word, got it on ebay used. this is my first MIG, i've used some stick on this project and in the past.
My grandpa has the really huge lease tanks (which he bought from some guy, very suspicious) but I don't know anything about Oxy/Actetylene welding. I've been eyeballing it because I've been cutting with a 4 1/2 wheel and wish I could torch cut stuff, but like I said I don't know squat about using gas. But I'd like to learn.
You don't need to know anything about oxy/acet welding... you just need to know how to turn the torch on and preheat what you need to weld with that 135.
Wow, I'll need to preheat any panels I MIG on? I wasn't aware of that. I need to pick up some welding books I think...
MAPP Gas will do the same thing as oxy/acetylene in that situation, but oxy/acet. is quicker heating thicker pieces.
I just figured that most people likely have a small victor oxy/acet laying around someplace. lol Nah, you don't need to preheat everything... just thicker stuff. When you weld you produce heat that will melt the parent metal and the weld metal together. Smaller welders don't always produce enough heat to really get the parent metal melted... thus you get poor penetration and weld over weld. Preheating the parent metal will give you the ability to still get good penetration with a welder that otherwise wouldn't. Of course you'll want to bevel and clean up everything you will be welding.
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