Is spot welder worth it?

Lizer

Lizer

Mad Scientist
I'm debating picking up a cheapie HF 240V spot welder for when I have to weld bed sides onto a bed floor of a 1970 F250 I'm working on. There's a ton of pinch welds underneath where the flange of the floor will weld to the bed side, as well as for the wheel houses.

Of course I look for every excuse possible to get a new tool as well, but in this case is it worth it? Or do a lot of you doing this for a living still just do old fashioned plug welds even if it's a lot of them?
 
My humble opinion, no. Unless it can make factory type spot welds (it can't) it's a waste. They can do very small nuggets in thin materials. The welds don't look anything like OEM and they are nowhere near as strong due to the decreased area. Spot welders that can make OEM spot welds in materials of various thickness cost thousands of dollars. A OEM approved "Pro-Spot"welder is around 25K and runs off 480 volts. It's almost mandatory nowadays in Collision Repair due to the new alloy steels being used. Lots of Shops don't have them though, but the good ones do.

All that being said older stuff you can do just fine with plug welds. One day I will have a state of the art spot welder but until then I'll keep doing plug welds.
 
I had a HF hand held spot welder for 1 hr a few years ago and then took it right back.....worthless. I picked up a used one from my previously enjoyed job for a $50 donation to a local cause. A Miller MA-4 110 volt. It' a older model and does ok on 20 gage but no thicker than that.

MIller MA-4.jpg

Bad thing about most hand held units are:
Weight
Air cooled
Most don't have replaceable tips so you have to dress the electrodes.
Limitaions on where you can use them meaning space.
The one I have was mounted from a cable reel and used for quick rewelds at a single point weld station. I've used it a few times since I got it welding outer wheel houses, floor pans and drops. But like I said space is a issue and I plug welded what I couldn't get at. It will pull a 1/4" nugget.
The place I worked for had about 23 single point welders and 18 or so multi gun welders up to 32 guns.
Do some research on them. Check out TJ Snow https://tjsnow.com/resistance-welding-supplies/small-portable-spot-welding-guns/
 
I'd love to have a real STRSW welder someday, but the good ones are $$$. I think you can do most things with a 220V welder though, Chris, at least last time I checked. Might need to be 3 phase though.
 
crashtech said:
I'd love to have a real STRSW welder someday, but the good ones are $$$. I think you can do most things with a 220V welder though, Chris, at least last time I checked. Might need to be 3 phase though.
Click to expand...
It's gotten to the point on new stuff that at the minimum you need a pulse type MIG to weld some of the alloy steel that is out there now. I know Honda has a requirement that any MIG welding done must be done with Honda approved wire, which is like $350 for a 10 pound roll the last time I checked. Last major rebuilder I did, I really struggled with plug welding some areas due to the alloy used.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
It's gotten to the point on new stuff that at the minimum you need a pulse type MIG to weld some of the alloy steel that is out there now. I know Honda has a requirement that any MIG welding done must be done with Honda approved wire, which is like $350 for a 10 pound roll the last time I checked. Last major rebuilder I did, I really struggled with plug welding some areas due to the alloy used.
Click to expand...
I'm so happy to only be interested in cars made before I hit puberty (~1970.) Except the C8 Corvette. I'd be happy to drive it, but not work on it.
 
I got a quote on a synergic (pulse) MIG a couple weeks ago, it was north of 15K. But there are cheaper one to be had. I am pretty sure that there are STRSW welders out there that run on 220V 3ph though. Not a lot of shops have 440/480.
 
crashtech said:
I got a quote on a synergic (pulse) MIG a couple weeks ago, it was north of 15K. But there are cheaper one to be had. I am pretty sure that there are STRSW welders out there that run on 220V 3ph though. Not a lot of shops have 440/480.
Click to expand...
HTP America has a pulse MIG that can do aluminum as well as steel. It's priced around $2100. They have a bigger more adavanced one that is around $5400. It's not Chinese either.

usaweld.com

Pro Pulse™ 220 MTS

Discount Already Applied to Machine Price! The Pro Pulse™ 220 MTS—a multi-process machine capable of MIG, synergic MIG, synergic pulsed MIG, DC TIG, and Stick—offers a manual mode as well as 22 synergic programs, both with and without pulse, giving you the advantage of a virtually spatter free...
usaweld.com
usaweld.com

Pro Pulse™ 300

The next level of pulse welding the Pro Pulse 300 conquers it all! You asked us for a true, multi-process welding machine capable of MIG, DC TIG, and Stick welding, and the Pro Pulse 300 represents our answer to your requests. Not only did we make the Pro Pulse 300 capable of MIG, DC TIG, and...
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usaweld.com

WCA03 Test Procedures for the Collision Repair Industry

HTP® Pro Pulse™ 200 & Pro Pulse™ 220 MTS:Infineon® IGBT Inverter, Full Synergic Welding Machines with Synergic Pulse, Designed for Collision RepairThe HTP Pro Pulse 200 and the HTP Pro Pulse 220 MTS meet the amperage requirements for the following I-CAR® programs:Steel GMA (MIG) Welding...
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You can get a decent 220v single phase to pull a good nugget but yes the 3 phase are better. Just depends on the transformers KVA and duty cycle.
We had 3 phase 480v mig welders running L56 steel and silcone bronze wire. The larger machines had Power Wave S350 and most of us didn't much care for them. We were using the pulse weld controls on the bronze wire....PITA
 
Silicon bronze is pretty cool if you are doing a lot of patching together incomplete panels, or sail panels. I am looking forward to having that capability.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
My humble opinion, no. Unless it can make factory type spot welds (it can't) it's a waste. They can do very small nuggets in thin materials. The welds don't look anything like OEM and they are nowhere near as strong due to the decreased area. Spot welders that can make OEM spot welds in materials of various thickness cost thousands of dollars. A OEM approved "Pro-Spot"welder is around 25K and runs off 480 volts. It's almost mandatory nowadays in Collision Repair due to the new alloy steels being used. Lots of Shops don't have them though, but the good ones do.

All that being said older stuff you can do just fine with plug welds. One day I will have a state of the art spot welder but until then I'll keep doing plug welds.
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris. This is exactly what I needed to hear. Nothing after this matters now :) If a pro is still plug welding everything then I suppose that means I can do it too.
 
Looks to be a Fanuc in the Cad pic. We ran Mig welders on ours and others for process movement. All the spot welders were stationary versions.
 
Hey Arthur tussik uses one they must be aright lol. Fitzee had a video where he was playing with one. And also a Lenco styled one. Seems like they could be handy for certain scenarios. Nothing thick and structural. But if you wanna put some after market rockers on your rusty 02 Silverado seems it would be handy? The lenco spot welder looks even handier.
 
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