Terry Cano wrote:

It has been many years since I have welded - remember the 1/8 rod?
I need to do some light duty welding and have considered a wire feed
welder, it needs to run on 120, no 220 available but I know little about
them - - - the work will be 1/8 or less in thickness

Terry

Wire feed, also known as MIG (at least over here), are very easy to use and
produce a most satisfying smooth weld - taught myself welding in a couple
of days (I had mates who could weld to watch). Never got the hang of rod
welding.

Being in the UK, I have no idea of 120V units, apart from they're probably
going to need 20A (perhaps as much as 25A) to be much use based on the
rating of the 240V unit I had.

The unit I bought was made by Cebora - very good for a cheap end unit.

I would recommend googling for some reviews. Poor MIGs have erratic wire
feed (real pain), poor duty cycle (cuts out after 6" of welding), poor
controls. Good wire feed and decent duty cycle are a must. You should be
able to control the wire speed and current consistently.

Don't bother with the silly disposable CO2 bottles - rent a proper gas
bottle if you can (you'll need to buy a valve with gauges too, so that's a
bit extra on top of the welder) - a small bottle (2' tall or so) will last
a fair time before refilling. There are fancy gas mixes available, but I
found plain CO2 worked fine on a range of mild steel jobs.

The beauty of MIGs is that they work very well on thin sheet, like car
panels, without blowing holes. If you are planning to go upto 1/8" it would
be advisable to check the specs carefully, some small units might struggle.

HTH

Tim (in the UK)