Lincoln Electric K2185-1 Handy MIG Welder

I have been in the welding business for 40 years. When my wife told me she wanted a welder for her birthday and wanted me to teach her how to weld for her arts and crafts I had to decide one thing. What kind of machine would be best for a beginner ? I started looking at cheap Chinese welders and my experience told me they are not built to last. They have crummy rollers that won't hold up, they will make your weld wire look like a birds nest. Then I looked at their duty cycle. This is the amount of time your machine can run without resting to cool down. (I told you I have done this for 40 years) The cheap machines all max out at about 10%. You all know that means if you want to spend an hour welding, your machine is shut down 54 minutes in that hour to cool down. I know Mama is not going to be welding one straight hour, you have to do more prep work in welding than actual weld time and that lets your machine cool down and be ready when you are. This machine has a 20% duty cycle and that is rare in this price range. Plenty of power for any home use.I chose this Lincoln K2185-1 because Lincoln is a company I have trusted my whole working life. Lincoln Welders have been headquartered in Cleveland Ohio for over 100 years and their quality is known world wide. Lincoln Manufactures over 90 different models for any type of welding need. As I said earlier, this is not a high production machine. This unit plugs in anywhere to 110 v. 20 amps. and works great on light gauge steel. If you want to weld material thicker than 1/8" you should look elsewhere, but if you want to do auto body work or light gauge sheet metal this machine is awesome. You can weld with flux core wire or use shielding gas and hard wire for a better looking weld using the inexpensive regulator that comes with this unit. Two spools of wire are also included with a hand held welding mask, chipping hammer/wire brush and some extra tips. For hobby use around the house or farm this is a great welder. Amazon had a better price than I could find locally

I bought this unit to do some auto body panel replacement welding. I already have a 220 volt mig that I have used for over 10 years. It has a hard time with light welding tasks like sheetmetal. I figured this unit would be good for small welding tasks and is a good brand name in the welding world. The unit came well packed. I was not happy that the gas regulator did not have a gauge, thus making it hard to know when you were near the end of your bottle. I did end up adding a gauge since this would drive me nuts. The reason I am giving it full stars is based on its performance. It really surprised me to its ability to weld thicker material and still run on just 110 power. I love that I can plug it in anywhere and weld away on just about any size material with ease. And as predicted, it does dial down to be very good with 18 gauge sheetmetal. I wish it had a infinite dial for power output but I am able to find one of the 4 settings that will work for the job at hand. I have plugged into a variety of outlets and have not popped a breaker yet. The main thing is that I had always viewed portable welders as wimpy and for people that were too cheap to buy a full size welder but now realize that this unit has enough power to be my only welder for household and hobby use. I was tempted to buy a no-name unit from some other companies in order to get the infinite power dial for heat but am happy with what I chose. I am sure this unit will last and it is very smooth. The whole reason I was buying a second welder was for that smooth reliable operation at low heat settings, and this unit did that and much more.

Works great, and the price is good. would rather spend a little more for the better product, esp. when a lot of chines stuff seems to be built with lots of cut corners. Worked every time, except when I screwed up. E.G., make sure to grind around area to be welded, even on new metal, clean it up. Bevel if it's a deep weld. Grind a clean spot for where you are attaching the grounding clamp. If it's a difficult weld (Different thickness metals, up side down, around a post, etc), practice first on scrap. Practice a LOT. Once I got the hang of adjusting wire speed and distance and traveling speed and got a sense for when to linger and heat things up, it worked pretty well. There are still mysteries, but this is a solid welder that works as long as you stay in the parameters.

I am not a welder, but I always wanted one. I purchased this brand because a buddy that owns a welding shop, recommended this manufacturer. It is very simple to use and is pretty much a plug and play product. I was making my first welds in minutes after unboxing it. Presently, I have made a couple small items and a rack to store steel bar. The welds do not look great, but they hold. The welder works as advertised and for the DIY person looking for one to have in the garage, it is a great purchase...