Hi,
A belated welcome to the forum Branden from me too.
What kind of welding do you do and what welder/s do you own? I was taught both arc (stick) and gas (oxy/acetylene) welding over 50 years ago and my current welder is an industrial Pickhill Bantam 180A oil cooled arc welder; this welder will run day in day out without cutting out unlike the hobby welders with a short duty cycle; this welder can be supplied by either 240V or 415V I run it in my home workshop on 240v but I've had to install a 32A "C type" breaker because it used to trip the standard breaker. The downside is it's very heavy indeed and certainly not portable.
I've never used a MIG or Tig welder and I've never attempted to weld aluminium or stainless never having had the need to. I enjoy welding and it's most satisfying to weld steel without recourse to using fasteners like nuts & bolts.
When you get your welder Doug you'll experience difficulties at first but with a little practice you'll soon get the basics and be turning out decent welds; what type of welder are you interested in buying Doug? There are now a good choice of welders at affordable prices; many buy MIG welders and now there are cheap inverter welders giving out lots of power but when I read their instructions the cheaper appear to have a short duty cycle; there are now also Plasma cutters being sold cheaply. I was taught on industrial Oxford oil cooled arc welders and for many years wanted to own such a welder hence now I have the Pickhill (Oxford) which covers my welding needs.
You won't regret buying a welder Doug; it will open up an whole new interesting world for you; lumps of scrap metal can be transformed into useful items; I wanted a decent saw bench so designed and made my own; I bought a metal cutting bandsaw and with the welder it was a project I enjoyed.
Kind regards, Colin.
Saw bench under construction; old saw blade being used for alignment.
New 4hp single phase 240v saw bench completed with rear wheels added to give mobility. Welding made the job much quicker and easier. I've since modified the fence it now boasting heavy gauge 2" square steel tube.
