Ordered me a little welder

[Chainlube]

Update. Amazon just delivered one of my birthday presents today. It's an Arccaptain mig130. Wow wow wow. I am just running rods with it so far and it is amazingly better than the cheap little temu welder I started with. It strikes an arc with 6013 first try every time. 7018 is a little harder to start, but runs nice. The other machine wouldn't even run a 7018. It also runs the 6011 which the other machine would just catch on fire. I am blown away by this thing and I haven't even tried the mig yet. It is flux core mig so I don't need any gad. It came with a spool of 030 wire. It can also do lift tig, but didn't come with the torch. Tig is far from my ability right now anyway.

Very nice! I have one similar to that, to change from flux to gas or stick I just change the plugs on the front.

 

[Whitewill1412]

Now I've hooked up the mig and ran one flat bead and one fillet weld. It is so easy. Here's a pic of the fillet. This is only the second bead I have run with the mig. It is so easy

 

[DieselTech]

Now I've hooked up the mig and ran one flat bead and one fillet weld. It is so easy. Here's a pic of the fillet. This is only the second bead I have run with the mig. It is so easy

Lol soo easy. You will 4get about stick welding.

 

[Whitewill1412]

Lol soo easy. You will 4get about stick welding.

No I like stick and it is easy with this machine too

 

[Chainlube]

Now I've hooked up the mig and ran one flat bead and one fillet weld. It is so easy. Here's a pic of the fillet. This is only the second bead I have run with the mig. It is so easy

Make a stack of "C"s.

 

[GW's Motorized]

Update. Amazon just delivered one of my birthday presents today. It's an Arccaptain mig130. Wow wow wow. I am just running rods with it so far and it is amazingly better than the cheap little temu welder I started with. It strikes an arc with 6013 first try every time. 7018 is a little harder to start, but runs nice. The other machine wouldn't even run a 7018. It also runs the 6011 which the other machine would just catch on fire. I am blown away by this thing and I haven't even tried the mig yet. It is flux core mig so I don't need any gad. It came with a spool of 030 wire. It can also do lift tig, but didn't come with the torch. Tig is far from my ability right now anyway.

Learning with hard to use machines is a good way to learn. That means you could use just about any machine. There's nothing like Learning stick on a Lincoln tombstone welder though lol

 

[Whitewill1412]

That's how I figure it too. Learning on that tough machine made using the better even easier. It's also amazing how nice the Arccaptain is for the price. It's only $140 on Amazon

 

[robe]

I think you will forget about the stick welding although it has it's place with thicker material.

All wire for these isn't created equal. The GS wire varies by manufacturer as there is no set standard for it. You tube has some wire brand comparisons.
If you can get some E71T-11 wire. This is made to a set standard and can be used for multi pass welding where the GS wire is single pass only.
There are many different types available but for mild steel the E71T-11 is probably the best.