Purchasing a spot welder

[70staged]

I am kind of new here on the board, usually just look at other peoples build and read what they are doing to find out suggestions on what I need to do or how I can do it easier. Anyway I have a question, I am looking at purchasing a spot welder but do not know if they are worth it or if they are good item to have. I mainly do body work/ paint and some restore some cars. Currently have a few lined up for myself

I currently have a 220V mig welder as well as a 110V/220V ac/dc Tig welder. I usually use plug welds for areas of repairs that are needed. I know that the Pro-Spot spot welder is about the only I-Car collision certified machine, at least the last time I check. I do not have that kind of money to spend and of coarse cant justify the cost. I am also looking at a hand held machine. I have looked at the Quick Spot 2 and also the Miller spot welder.

Are these spot welders going to have a good penetration (granted not working out of the thickness range, everything clean and in working order)? Are they going to hold up well? I would hate to spot weld a section and hear a pop later and see a spot weld came apart.

[metalformer2003]

20+ years ago I bought a new Miller hand held and within a month the casting cracked and they gave me refund. Maybe the newer ones are better now??? But then I purchased a Lors Techna hand held w/various size electrodes from Collision Services for I think about $1800. Well made in Italy. I actually bought another Lors a few years ago on ebay so currently have two of the same Lors welders. The Lors does work very well but I am now 57 yrs old and getting kind of hard to hold the welder up for any length of time. So about 1 1/2 yrs ago bought a used Pro Spot PR10 on Craigslist. I love it mainly because of course not having to support the weight of the welder but lots more power. Its water cooled and will weld thru epoxy primer and also able to do weld bonding. This is where you weld thru panel adhesive or seam sealer which as I understand most of the new cars are welded. The Lors does not have this capability. You can find the PR10 from time to time on ebay or CL for 3500-4000. I guess it just what you want to spend and how much work you are planning to do. (And of course if its a tax write-off or not). Saves lots of time, does better job and gives that factory look. As well as saving allot on grinding and abrasives.

[kjc]

Do the Lenco machines do a good job?

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by kjc

Do the Lenco machines do a good job?

My Lenco does a great job. Had it for many years. I like the slide puller that spotwelds on, lifts dent out, and twists off so you can do another, rapid fire.

[Randy Forbes]

Originally Posted by crystallographic

My Lenco does a great job. Had it for many years. I like the slide puller that spotwelds on, lifts dent out, and twists off so you can do another, rapid fire.

I just got a Lenco this week, disguised as a Snap-On (@ more than double the price) for under $600.00 on eBay (+ shipping). I'm happy with what I paid for it, as I had been wanting one of the Miller hand-held, air-cooled models (I'd have gone for the 220VAC model) but recognized its limited access for the type of work I'd be needing it for.

I cleaned up all the connections on it, and here, added some fresh shrink-tube at the work-cables.





Practicing the fine art (!) and seeing what varying the timer does.



Like I said, I wanted a spot welder for some time now (mostly, because I didn't have one... ) but was finally able to justify getting it, when the car pictured below came in; the owner, with a project in mind, bought a decent E-46 325 Touring (that's BMW-speak for station wagon) and also an E-46 ///M3 salvage car. The finished project will be a totally stock-appearing /// M3 Touring__except that BMW never made any! My portion of the project is to change out the entire rear trunk floor, fitting a brand new replacement panel assembly, that will allow the ///M3's dual exhaust/muffler to be fitted. I'll also have to graft the ///M3's flared fenders onto it, but I'll do the trunk floor first...





I wish I would've had this spot welder back when I did this job...