Lincoln electric pro core 100 Welder

[Guest SuperSon]

Can anyone who has experience with using this welder or similar to this give me an opinion on this welder.I have not welded before but would like to learn and looking for something that is user friendly.

 

Pro core 100

[TrailChaser]

Do yourself a favor and pass on ANY welder you can plug into a 110v outlet. It's says it can weld 1/4" steel and that is a lie. It will stick pieces of 1/4" steel together, but it won't "weld" it so to speak. Your best bet is to buy a Ready Welder. For the price you will not find a better welder if you're comparing power to price. It welds like a 480v commercial grade 100% duty cycle welder with only two 12v batteries. I've been welding with a 480v for a living for the last 5yrs, and my ready welder welds just as good if not better.

 

I already built a rear bumper/tire carrier for my pathy with mine. So for $400 shipped off ebay I'd say it already paid for itself.

 

Good luck with your purchase

[Guest SuperSon]

Thanks TC .Ive seen your weld job and im very impressed.Ive seen that rear tire carrier and that is really cool im going to check the Ready Welder.

Is there a specific brand that you can recommend or theres only one kind of ready welder?

 

Is this the one READY WELDER

Edited March 1, 2007 by SuperSon

[mws]

The Weld-Pak line are dumbed down and compromised to hit a price target set by warehouse stores. Yeah, they're inexpensive, but the reliability and flexibility are severely compromised. If you're looking for something to do a few light duty jobs around the house and then throw it away in 2-3 years when you can afford a nice unit, then they're OK. But only OK. The minimally adjustable power output will be a challenge to you when you're learning.

 

The lowest I would recommend in Lincoln's line is the SP-135 plus. And stick to Lincoln, Hobart, or Miller if you want to be able to get replacement parts a year from now....

 

As Trailchaser points out, the 115V units are awesome up to about 1/8" max when using GMAW and 3/16" when using flux core but that's it for good solid welds. I chose it because I can run it off my portable generator when in the field.

 

For 1/4", I have an old Lincoln 230V buzz box. Messy and harder to use than GMAW, but gets the job done!

[TrailChaser]

Thanks TC .Ive seen your weld job and im very impressed.Ive seen that rear tire carrier and that is really cool im going to check the Ready Welder.

Is there a specific brand that you can recommend or theres only one kind of ready welder?

 

Is this the one READY WELDER

That's the one. Looks like a better deal than I got.

 

My complaints about the ready welder: It's a little too powerful with two deep cycles for most of the stuff that most people weld at home.It would be nice to dial down the power for some welds. A 6v would probably solve that problem on most things.

The drive wheels that feed the wire could be tighter. Tthe wire tends to "stick" in the tip alot more than it should. (There's suppose to be a way to tighten the spring.?)

The battery longevity was an issue while using crappy 3+yr old car batteries. I was getting real nice welds, but only for about 10 minutes. Now that I have the two biggest reserve capacity deep cycles I could buy on the Oreilly employee discount. I have welded with it for long periods of time and haven't ran them down completely yet.

I'm planning to test how long the batteries last when I teach my buddy how to weld in a few weeks.

Edited March 1, 2007 by TrailChaser

[Guest SuperSon]

Thanks for the input guys.Im going to get the ready weld brand new from another ebay seller.

 

as for the pro core 100 I already bought it to help out a friend. Im going to try and use it and see how good it welds for a beginner