recomendations...110 welder and compressor

[sickboi55]

i live in base housing and they arent going to let me put in a 220 outlet in the garage. so....im looking for suggestions on a welder and compressor.
i need a welder that can do light frame work when need and sheet metal too. i need to put a couple of patch panels on my 72 cadillac and plan on bagging it soon as well so i need a welder that will handle both. i also work on old motorcycles so it needs to be able to weld brackets and such.
as for the compressor i need something that will run a blast cabinet and other misc air tools, im thinking the blast cab would be the biggest air demand.
what are my options guys?
Travis

 

[nissan_crawler]

I despise 110v welders, but if I had to pick one, I would probably go for a hh140 refurb from toolking.com.

Good quality, relatively cheap, still worth something when you get somewhere and can sell it and get a 220v welder

 

[goodfellow]

If you have an attached garage, then an extension cord might work. My friend's son lives in base housing and he runs a long 30ft heavy duty extension cord from his dryer outlet to his attached garage to power his 220v MIG welder and 60 gal compressor.

It's a bit cumbersome, but at least he was able to buy the right equipment once, rather than having to upgrade later on.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Good point. If that's possible, I would much rather deal with an extension cord, than a 110v welder.

 

[bomber]

If you have an attached garage, then an extension cord might work. My friend's son lives in base housing and he runs a long 30ft heavy duty extension cord from his dryer outlet to his attached garage to power his 220v MIG welder and 60 gal compressor.

It's a bit cumbersome, but at least he was able to buy the right equipment once, rather than having to upgrade later on.

I did the same thing, years and years ago -- definately the way to get a welder that's worth your effort

 

[sickboi55]

i like that idea. the wife may not but i do. are there any good 110 compressors?

 

[sberry]

There is no substitute for horsepower, a 120V comp and a cabinet do not go together. You need 4 or 5 times the air one would make. About the best you can do with a general use circuit is 6 cfm.

 

[StingRay]

Most 110 v compressors aren't going to have enough capacity to do much in the way of automotive work. Most air tools will **** a 110 v unit dry in seconds. A 110 welder is another story. A 110v mig can usually handle up to 1/8 quite well but the duty cycle will be low. You will have a far better welder if you get a 220 v unit. For an air compressor I wouldn't look for anything that will keep up to at least 10 cfm at 90 psi and that is marginal. For autobody type stuff 18 cfm would better. I'd run the cord for the dryer plug and make up a litttle sub panel at the end of it with a receptacel for the welder and compressor. Make sure it's a suitably sized cord for the load and length.

 

[sickboi55]

so, as far as running an extension cord, is this common? what would be the best way to do it?

 

[Matti]

I've got a 20 amp 110v Cambell Hausfeld unit with a 26 gallon tank. It's belt drive and is quiet. It will do fine for an impact, a die grinder for small jobs and the DA sander for about a minute max.

 

[goodfellow]

so, as far as running an extension cord, is this common? what would be the best way to do it?

Well, it's common to run a 220v tool off a dryer circuit; many folks do that. I believe that most dryer circuits are 30A -- plenty for general MIG work on light steel.

However, in your case you need to measure the distance to your garage in order to figure out the required wire gauge and resultant voltage drop.

This site will give you good information on wire size and it has an online calculator to figure out what your final wire requirements should be.

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

 

[thumper 549]

Do the ext. cord !! hook it to you stove or dryer outlet when needed. I have run my big wire feed at a friend's house that way , no problems.
In fact I always use the ext cord in the shop as it is ez to roll the unit around then put a longer gun cord on ( you can only push wire so far )

 

[rsanter]

I have a century 130 and a lincolin sp100 MIG welders. both are 110 welder and are very good units. I like the 110 for the reason that you can take it with you and run almost anywhere you need to.
whatever you do with the MIG you will want to with the gas, do not go with the flux core wire.

I have a spot welder that is 220v that I made an extension cord for. I used romex from the big box store and just had an electrician recomend the guage I needed for the run I was going to do. I know its not code and its not ideal but it worked well in a temp situation and I fugured I could use the romex later for a perm install when I got to it.

for the compressor I would go with a stand up model as they use less space. you might find one that will do 110 and 220. go with a 60 gal, that will cover most of what you ever do and the prices have gotten reasonable on them

bob

 

[sberry]

I dont like that power stream site, leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Skyline]

I made an 8 gauge extension chord, that I run 120 ft to my garage. I got flexible wire and the plug/receptical all at Home Depot, and I think total cost was about $100. I use that to power my 250a MM 250. I can probably run the mig up to about 2/3 power on the 30 amp dryer circuit....probably about 170amps. Permanant 220v wiring to the garage will be done at some point, but in my case it is a major PITA wiring job.

On another note, assuming you need to do frame welding to bag that car you're working on, that really is not a welding job for a 110 welder. I would not want to count on multiple pass welds on a vehicle frame.

One more thing to keep in mind is duty cycle. Generally not too much of a concern for a home hobbyist, but you still should look at the duty cycle charts for the 110 welders. When you crank them to full power, you may only have a 20% duty cycle or something like that (weld one minute, cool welder 5 minutes). A 220v welder producing the same amps as the max for the 110 unit could probably run non-stop like that untill your wire spool is gone, (100% duty cycle). The cheaper Chinese made 110 units have really pathetic duty cycle curves.

 

[billspit]

I have Lincoln SP100 (runs on 110v) and love it. I only use it for sheet metal work though.

A 110-120v compressor isn't likely going to cut it.

 

[Willy Victor]

Is there any chance you could move off the base, that would solve your problem and thanks for your service.


Willy

 

[itb76]

I made an 8 gauge extension chord, that I run 120 ft to my garage. I got flexible wire and the plug/recepticle all at Home Depot, and I think total cost was about $100...

I think this is your best bet. I have 220 in my garage, but I had to make a cord of Romex to run my house on generator power when the power goes out. A cord made of the same wire you'd run for a permanent circuit will be safe, and you can use whatever plugs you need for the welder/compressor on one end, and the other plug will be suited to whatever dryer, range or air conditioner outlet is available. The main problem with this will be the cord getting in the way, and you can't run the dryer, range or whatever while you're working.

I can't speak for welders, I only have a 110 welder and it's a miserable piece of junk, but my 5 hp 220 v compressor is just adequate for painting and running air tools. Blasting stuff uses more air than any of those, so you will be very disappointed with any 110 compressor for anything more than running a framing nailer.

Another alternative, though very noisy and very expensive, is a gas powered welder/generator combo.