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Edited December 1, 2021
at 12:47 PM
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MSRP: $499
Sale price: $440
Black Friday Sale Extra 20% OFF (worked for me today - Saturday)
Final Price $352
Seems to be a decent welder at a very good price. Small job / hobby welder.
Many real reviews and independent demo videos.
Yes Welder MIG-205DS 3 in 1 Welding Machine
110v/220v Dual Voltage
Gas MIG
Gasless MIG
Lift TIG
Stick 4 in 1
Synergic Controled MIG Setting
Ideal for 7018/6011 electrode
IGBT Inverter Welder
https://yeswelder.com/products/mig-welder-mig205
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I weld a good bit for stuff which has to stay together. If it's not Miller, Lincoln or comparable (if there is comparable) I'm not wasting my money on it. I've seen lots of "inexpensive" welders which either don't work long or have no parts/service. I look at these low priced things all the time seeking one which is modestly priced but still works. Haven't found that yet.
If you want TiG, budget about 3 grand for a start. You need a foot control high frequency welder, a GOOD gun, a dedicated grinder with a wheel used only for sharpening the
TiG tips and a work area clean of contaminants.
Now, MIG isn't nearly that demanding, but you still need grinders, cutting tools, aprons, GOOD helmet(s), gloves, etc.
110V welders are good for sheet medal and that's about it as they're limited to maybe 110-120 amps. You must have 220V and preferably 50 amp service if you're going to weld much. Otherwise you're better off finding a good welding shop near you and having them do it right. I still use a welding shop for heavy work or aluminum.
As an analogy, I have two lathes, two mills and two drill presses in my shop. But I still use a "real" machine shop for heavy work.
Welding can be fun and you can learn to do it well. But it's not entirely trivial and you will have to spend quite a bit more that $350 to even begin to do it poorly not to mention well.
Next up: "Bruh replaces R-134a in mom's car A/C and recaptures 100% BLINDFOLDED!"
Nobody can do anything to hurt Americans more than we hurt ourselves.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank vjasko
You also pretty much can't weld without having a good cleaner like acetone and an angle grinder to both clean and prep the metal before welding it, and to grind away any high spots after welding. I have 4 that permanently hang off the edge of my welding table with a grinding disk, a flap disk, a cutting disk, and a wire wheel on each one.
This is not a beginner level welder, for example it has induction control which is rare to find for under 2K, and the included instructions are next to useless, but I also prefer this over any Millers or Lincolns under $1500. This is also not a pro level welder, if I was counting on welding as one of my sources of income, I'd definitely spend the extra 2K and get whatever your local welding shop stocks and has parts for. What it is is perfect for a hobbyist like me that may need to do a roll cage for a race car every few years or make new engine or transmission or seat mounts, but already has experience and doesn't want to spend a couple grand to have something they consider useful at home.
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To get started, all you need is some flux core wire. (but they will have to chip the slag off every weld... I got tired of this real quick and went to gas)
To gas weld, you need a roll of regular wire. A tank of welding gas (this was expensive because I bought a tank also) and a gas flow meter. (As mentioned above, you definitely need a helmet, gloves and long sleeves to start. I had this stuff.).
I'm not going to use this for a living so I'm happy with this purchase... I've used this for a couple of hours and so far so good!
This old tony is worth a watch for some inspiration. All his videos are great.
Actually, the OP is rated at 165amps with 110/120v and 205amps at 220-240v with a 60% duty cycle (Grossly Overrated on their stick [youtube.com]). It also has variable metal inductance (frequency), auto setting for metal thickness (that for many, will need a conversion chart from MM to gauge or decimal), wire size, etc. It also has the larger 50mm Dinse connectors that do not often come with cheap welders.
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Meanwhile, like the OP machine, the cheapest Miller's are now made in China. But, that is where it ends. Even the cheapest Miller is a far better build with reasonably accurate specifications, a warranty that can actually be used and actually certified. .
With being lied to out of the gate and a non-existent warranty past the return time if purchased from say, Amazon, it would be a pass for the Yes welder that is listed under a holding company in Colorado, but also sold under other names that have come and gone.
I weld a good bit for stuff which has to stay together. If it's not Miller, Lincoln or comparable (if there is comparable) I'm not wasting my money on it. I've seen lots of "inexpensive" welders which either don't work long or have no parts/service. I look at these low priced things all the time seeking one which is modestly priced but still works. Haven't found that yet.
If you want TiG, budget about 3 grand for a start. You need a foot control high frequency welder, a GOOD gun, a dedicated grinder with a wheel used only for sharpening the
TiG tips and a work area clean of contaminants.
Now, MIG isn't nearly that demanding, but you still need grinders, cutting tools, aprons, GOOD helmet(s), gloves, etc.
110V welders are good for sheet medal and that's about it as they're limited to maybe 110-120 amps. You must have 220V and preferably 50 amp service if you're going to weld much. Otherwise you're better off finding a good welding shop near you and having them do it right. I still use a welding shop for heavy work or aluminum.
As an analogy, I have two lathes, two mills and two drill presses in my shop. But I still use a "real" machine shop for heavy work.
Welding can be fun and you can learn to do it well. But it's not entirely trivial and you will have to spend quite a bit more that $350 to even begin to do it poorly not to mention well.
Ignore the other two things this machine thinks it can do, unless you just want to play. A tombstone (lincoln 220ac) will let you weld thick stuff and those are cheap too.
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Ignore the other two things this machine thinks it can do, unless you just want to play. A tombstone (lincoln 220ac) will let you weld thick stuff and those are cheap too.
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Ignore the other two things this machine thinks it can do, unless you just want to play. A tombstone (lincoln 220ac) will let you weld thick stuff and those are cheap too.
Those Lincoln tombstones are no longer cheap when new. Now about $400, instead of buying two machines, I would add the money towards a better welder.
It's inverter based, so it works differently than the transformer based MIG units I used before. With transformer based welders, I typically get lazy and set the voltage and speed to something that works okay and rarely adjust it. You can vary the amount of wire coming out of the tip according to how much heat you need. With this unit, you set different parameters and changing the wire length doesn't work. I'm finding I have to use the tables a lot. The welds are better for it, and this thing really does make good beads.
It's easy to dismiss a brand you haven't heard of. Understand that this thing has a some really good parts in it. The feed mechanism is metal, with very few plastic parts. It hasn't bird nested on me, which was a reality I had to deal with sometimes on the Miller and Lincoln units I used in the past.
I've only run it on 220 Volts with C25 shielding gas, but like the idea of being able to run on 110 or flux core when needed. If you want to do this right, make sure your budget includes a regulator (the Yeswelder one is the one to get and ran me like $30) at shielding gas tank with C25 (about $200-$300), and whatever it takes to get 220 volts to where you will weld. It cost me about $1000 to get set up with the basics, including the welding machine. Had I gone with the 200 amp Hobart that I was looking at before, I'd have been well north of $1500 to get it running. Time will tell if it holds up, but I consider the value here to be unbeatable.
Also note that the plug is a native 110 volt plug and has an adapter to use with 220. This is opposite of the way it should be done. When you have an extension cord there running 220V into the welder, you could unplug it and plug a 110 V angle grinder in fry it with 220 V. Be extra careful, especially with visitors to your shop.
Lastly, the Yeswelder color welding hood is REALLY nice. Never going to back to those awful green tinted auto darkening helmets.
It may be a deal, but their website reviews are very sketch, IMO.
That would be really weird, considering YesWelder is also the vendor on Amazon. 🤷
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A good working used Lincoln or Miller mig machine would be a much better investment at this price point.