There may be nothing more valuable around the home than a welder.
Even if it’s not used very often, when you need one, nothing else will do.
Not any more. Today’s welders are compact, portable and inexpensive.
Look at the home welders we’ve found for you in the marketplace.
Buying Guide for Home Welders
Among the things to consider, when shopping a welder for home use are:
- Input power rating
- Output power
- Type of work you plan to do
- Type of welding process you either need or prefer
- Space considerations
- Pricing
Most machines are designed to prioritize one or two of these needs over the others, so a balance of features is what you’re striving to achieve here.
Power Requirements
Input Power
When we talk about power needs as they relate to a welding machine, there is an input power rating and output power rating.
For now, it’s important to realize that some machines are designed to run on 120 volt household power, some on 240 volt power like you may have for a dryer or furnace (and sometimes in the shop) and there are others that run on both 120 and 240 volts.
Related read: 110 volt MIG Welders – Our top picks
Output Power
When it comes to output power, your choice here is going to depend primarily on the type of work you plan to do.
Machines with an input side that only takes 120 volts are limited to 140 amps output, which is still enough to weld steel up to about 1/4-inch thick. If you need to weld thicker steel than that, you need a machine powered by 240 volts.
If you want to work on thin metal like ducting or auto bodies, you need a machine that gets down to a low amperage, preferably 10 amps or less. Usually, the best control at lower power levels is found on 240 volt machines, though not always, and it can also be a function of higher cost.
Type of Work
The type of work you want to do should always be the main factor influencing your choice of a welder. The way you intend to use your machine at home affects decisions about which process you need to use and the power needed. These factors, in turn, will partly determine the size, weight and price of your final choice.
If you know for certain that your primary use is going to be building furniture or fencing from large-diameter tubing that’s 1/8-inch thick, for instance, you need 90-plus amps and the best process would be stick or flux unless you’re building roll cages for race cars, in which case TIG is the better choice.
If you plan to weld mostly very thin metal, TIG and MIG are the usual ways this is done. For angle iron used to patch and repair quick and dirty fixes, stick arc welding has been the tool of choice for well over a century.
Welding Processes
Each type of welding process carries particular advantages and disadvantages for the home welder.
Arc or Stick (SMAW)
Stick Metal Arc Welding, usually abbreviated SMAW or just called stick welding or arc welding, is the one you’re likely most familiar with.
It uses a ground lead that’s clamped to the workpiece and a clamp that holds a rod-shaped electrode that’s struck like a match on the metal piece to create and arc, and the rod is consumed to fill the gap in the metal and join the pieces as they melt.
Stick welding is the only process that can weld cast iron.
The main advantages are the minimal cost of machinery and ease of setup. The drawbacks are the messy welds that need cleanup time and the necessity for a good deal of practice before you’re very good at it. That being said, there are some good stick welders you can buy for under $500.
Flux Core (FCAW)
Flux Core Arc Welding uses a spool of metal wire that’s fed from a motor drive through a hollow lead to the arc gun, taking the place of the rod used in stick welding.
It’s easier to learn and get good at than possibly any other type of welding, the machines are inexpensive and you can weld outside in a breeze.
Flux core wire is hollow and filled with a material called flux, similar to the powder coating on the outside of a stick arc welding rod. As the electrode wire is consumed, the flux melts and forms a gas shield around the weld puddle, making for a cleaner bead than stick welding.
MIG Welding
Metal Inert Gas welding uses a wire feed system like flux core welding, with a gas shielding hose that flows gas from an attached cylinder around the weld to shield it from the atmosphere, preventing impurities. The electrode wire can be either hollow flux core wire or solid wire.
It’s easier than stick welding and is usually a good place to start for beginners, but it’s not as easy as flux core to set up or to learn the skills. In addition, MIG doesn’t perform well outside in a breeze.
TIG Welding
Tungsten Inert Gas is a type of gas shielded arc welding that uses a tungsten electrode in the torch that is consumed only very slowly and incidental to the welding process. The electrode is shielded by inert gas from an attached cylinder.
Unlike MIG welding, TIG is unable to weld aluminum in a practical sense using DC current. It can be done, but takes special skills and a lot of power. To be practical, TIG welding for aluminum needs an AC machine to do the work.
In addition, TIG is a special skill, requiring two hands, one for the torch and the other for a filler rod similar to what you see in oxy-acetylene torch welding. As you move the torch along the seam and melt the metal, you have to feed the rod into the weld puddle.
That’s not all.
The best TIG work requires the ability to tell when you’re getting the metal too hot or not hot enough and control the heat level, usually using a foot pedal-type of control, but there are also rigs with a thumb button or dial on the torch for this.
If you’re willing to do the practice at home and gain the skill, it’s very rewarding, and TIG makes the most beautiful beads in welding and the strongest joints in aluminum or titanium tubing. It can also be used to weld copper.
The disadvantages for homeowners are the initial cost of equipment and the practice time.
Size and Space
The more powerful your welder and the more complicated the processes you’ve chosen the bigger the welder will be. Some of the machines with dual-voltage input and three processes can weigh upwards of 90 pounds.
Make sure you have room at home in a corner or on your bench for a machine like this. You may want a cart that’s dedicated to the welder, gas bottles, accessories like different types of torches, rods, wire spools, tools like chipping hammers, wire brushes, helmets, gloves, wrenches and the like. These things take up room!
Pricing
It should come as no surprise that the more powerful and feature-packed your choice of welder is, the more it’s likely to cost. There are cheap welders available that may be suitable, but it will come down to your needs.
Take into account whether or not the original investment includes accessories like:
- gas regulators
- quality clamps
- long leads
TIG machines often require the separate purchase of a regulator or a heat control pedal. Some of them don’t even include a TIG torch, which is different than a MIG torch is.
If you want to weld aluminum without having to learn or pay for the AC TIG process, you can use a MIG machine to do it if you buy a separate accessory called a spool gun that feeds the aluminum electrode wire from a spool that’s positioned at a closer distance to the tip than its usual location inside the welder.
These things can all add extra cost to your initial purchase. By contrast, most flux core and stick welders are basically ready to go right out of the box.
Where Does That Leave Us?
After careful consideration of the factors discussed here, we’ve selected the Hobart Handler 140 as the Best Home MIG Welder, due to its well-balanced compromise of quality, power, value, low initial investment and useful features for the average home welder.
It runs on 120-volt current, it can use both flux core and MIG processes, providing a path to upgrade your skills and capabilities, and Hobart is famous for long-lasting and durable equipment.
The YesWelder MIG-205DS makes the grade as a great multi-process welder for home use at a great price. Owners are very pleased with its price/performance ratio and with YesWelder’s customer service. It’s powerful with a high-duty cycle and has a 2T/4T trigger lock.
The Eastwood MIG180 is your bet for a high-value MIG machine for the home shop, especially when you bundle it with the optional spool gun for less than the separate cost. Not only does it compare favorably to the Hobart 210 MVP for home use, but you can also opt for its 120-volt-only version, the MIG 140. Keep your eyes on Eastwood.
For those interested in multiple processes, the Forney Easy Weld 140 MP lets you start on flux core, transfer those skills to stick welding, then offers the upgrade path to MIG and TIG processes in the same box. If you’re in need of a good AC TIG welder, the Primeweld TIG225X is the way to go.
Still need help? See our guide: How do I choose a welder?
