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.

I got this for my brother for his 70th birthday. He is still using it today. He loves it. He is one of those guys that just has to fix everything himself and this turned out to be perfect for him.

Awesome! So, I'm a cabinet maker. A buddy of mine is a certified structural welder, great welder, owns a huge Miller. He found it shameful that I don't know how to weld. He said, "its great to be able to fix stuff around the house". For the money he said this is a great welder, it's all about the electronics. Then he said, "could you stop by latter and fix one of my cabinet doors? LmaoI enclosed some pics. It's a piece of 1/4" plate from Home Depot. I sepperated the pieces a 1/32", and beveled the edge for better penetration. I flap sanded with a grinder and cleaned the steel with acetone. I also put on a 100% solid copper ground clamp. Im new at this so the weld is kinda ugly. It's ok. I then put the piece on an anvil and beat the living sh__ out of it with a 12lb sledge. I'll be keeping this welder. :) hope this helps.