by James Anderson | Last Updated on February 17, 2023
If you have already made up your mind to kick start your welding career, the first thing you might be looking for is the best 120v welder. Not everyone can purchase a powerful 220V welder at the very beginning. So, to lend you a hand, marketers have come up with a broad range of 120V welding options.
Eventually, in such massive varieties of 120v welding machines, you will realize you are in a pickle, and unable to proceed to the purchasing option in the crowd. Luckily, we are here to reach out to you listing a few welders. This list will guide you to choose based on your choice, requirements, and accessibility.
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Table of Contents
1. Hobart Handler 140 – Best 120V MIG Welder
The Hobart 140 MIG welder is our top overall choice 120V welder for its extreme versatility and perfectness. For apprentices, this Hobart welder is never going to disappoint. This welder offers a wider voltage selection, a cast metal feeder, and a heavier ground clamp. For household repairs, backyard projects Hobart serves efficiently. The wire feed assembly is all metal. It comes with a 10′ MIG gun and a 10′ clamp. This welder lets you experience high quality, smooth arc on conventional household sockets.
What more you will love about this Hobart 140 MIG welder is the superior regulator with no slag, or flex to remove from the weld. It also works great with flux core or gas-shielded wire. If you are undertaking some large, heavy steel projects this is the best 120V welder which is flawless like an uncut ice.
The instructions provided with this welder is so easy as pie that you won’t have to face any issues setting up or other complicated issues like adding argon, CO2 gases. The compact size, easy portability, duty-cycle are some key factors that persuaded us to choose this as our top choice.
2. DEKOPRO MMA 160A 120V Welder – Best for the Money
Dekopro welder features high-performance, sturdy design, smooth interaction with welders. This one welder can accomplish many tasks. One potential problem that many welders often face is unstable current, headache for newbies. Voltage doesn’t match the actual current and results in overload, short-circuits, and exposures.
Nothing to worry about this matter because Dekopro adjusts voltage easily ensuring constant steady output every time you weld. This Dekopro welder has a good penetration and clean arc when welding on 1/4″ and 3/8″ steel. If you are dealing with small projects around your home or garage this is just beyond perfect.
Dekopro welder is well-known for its easy portability, energy-saving efficiencies, and unique control features which ensures a professional touch to your welding. Another good feature of this 120V welder is that it produces little spatter. Dekopro, also reduces noise pollution to a greater extent.
3. Forney Easy Weld 298 – Best 120V Stick Welder
Forney easy weld 298 is a multifunctional, durable 120V welding machine that works perfectly on light stick welding. This welds like a breeze. It features a light-weight inverter to carry wherever you go. With this 100ST Forney Arc Welder you get the flexibility of DC along with smoothness and arc stability.
Forney Easy Weld can weld 3/16″, 1/4″, 1/8″ steel on full penetration with ease. This welder is capable of Stick welding and TIG too, so if you are planning to learn stick or TIG welding on this welder it’s going to be a fantastic experience.
The Forney easy weld is also easy to install and welds very precise compared to its costs. Good for general maintenance at home, fabrication projects, DIY repairs, hobby, and other light-weight projects. It has a 30% duty cycle and weighs about 14 pounds. This welder comes with an 8′ electrode holder of 200 AMP and a 300 AMP ground clamp. This multipurpose welder includes all the TIG welding essential without the torch that is sold separately.
4. AHP Alpha 200X – Best 120V TIG Welder
AHP Alpha is a versatile, multifunctional welder for professionals and beginners which is suitable for AC/DC TIG welding and stick as well. This welder also incorporates advanced inverter technology that provides high-quality, reliable, and ever-lasting performance.
AHP Alpha welder can be plugged into different power outputs. It ensures quality performance and pulse feature on 110V and 120V voltage. This is an extreme versatile welder available on the market within this price range.
Though this welder provides professional-quality weld, it requires no extra hassle in setting up or figuring out what to do next. The most noticeable thing about this 120V welder is, this is a standard TIG welder which works mind-blowing. AC is spot-on and fully adjustable. Additional include a conventional tig torch that is flexible and easy to move, comfortable foot pedals, well-constructed flow meter, and a separate TIG finger switch.
This is certainly one of the best 120V TIG welder which is powerful and ensures super smooth arc at various amp settings. AHP Alpha welding machine runs flawlessly on 6011, 6013, 6014, and 7018 rods. It welds steel, aluminum, copper, nickel, cast iron graciously.
5. Forney Easy Weld 261 120V MIG Welder
If you are looking for a faithful welding buddy who will be your support for many years to come, Forney Easy weld 261 is the one. It weighs about 19 lbs. Forney is so easy to use that you don’t need to go through hundreds of YouTube videos anymore. Welding 1/2” to 3/16” will feel like a breeze.
Forney Easy weld 261 welder will allow you to accomplish such great, noteworthy projects that you would feel like patting yourself on the back. This 120V welding machine applies to gasless/flux-core welding. It features endless voltage with dial-in speed controls.
Now, coming to its power, welding abilities this is one of the best 120V MIG welder that is capable of welding up to 140 Amp output. Forney Easy Weld comes with an 8′ ground clamp, 20A – 15A adapter, and 8′ MIG gun. This 120V welder is a perfect flux core welder for home or hobby use. It has a duty cycle of 30% @ 90A. This little powerhouse is something beginners, recreational welders won’t miss at all.
6.LOTOS MIG140 120V Welder
LOTOS MIG welder is an absolute blessing for people who have to spend most of their time in welding. This welder is used in different household projects, fixing random pieces of stuff, or just playing around with it. What makes this 120V welder so convenient for long time users is, it features both manual and semi-auto switches. So that you can let your fingers rest for few moments.
This 120V MIG welder also promises to ensure a comfortable, soothing welding experience with a premium stable wire feeder. The wire feed is adjustable. Moreover, arc volts and inch/mins are shown in the digital display for precision.
LOTOS MIG welder can weld up to18 Gauge – 3/16” for materials like mild, stainless steel, and aluminum. This welder works great on 120V outlets. Overall, this welder is an awesome addition to your welding business because of its easy usability, flawless welds, industrial standard wire pools, and affordability.
Let’s not forget this welding machine also come with a ground clamp cable, contact tips, MIG torch, welding mask, argon regulator, gas hose, and a wire. The wire is of 0. 025 – 0. 030 inches that is non-slippery and no bird-nesting whatsoever.
7. Hobart Handler 210 MVP 120V MIG Welder
Hobart Handler 210 MVP MIG welder is an industrial level welder that is versatile and powerful allowing household plans, autobody, even heavy outdoor projects. This 120V welder can be plugged into both 120V or 230V outlets. It features a heavy transformer-based machine which makes it long-lasting and dependable.
Hobart 210 MVP welds 1/4-inch aluminum like lightning with no slag formation, indeed produces smooth fully penetrated welds. This welder also comes with everything you need to get started from 3meter ground clamp, 4-8 inches spool, gas hose, to power cord and plugs.
The aluminum spool gun of Hobart welder can be set up with the flick of a switch. It can weld well even beyond its capacity. Hobart 210 MVP MIG welder is incredibly fast in welding aluminum with adjustable voltages. There are 7 different voltage settings, and an infinite wire-speed control so welders can comfortably get their work done. It has a super-powerful fan in the unit to help cool it down as you weld. It has more than enough power to get good penetration on 1/4″ and 5/16″ steel. This 120V welding machine is perfect for small welding shops, autobody, and serious hobbyists.
Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose The Best 120v Welder
120V welders are now the topmost choice of beginners, hobbyists, as well as professionals. These welder machines feature dual voltage input, conventional power supply, excellent weld penetration, and duty cycle. Not only these, but marketers have also come with multifunctional welder incorporating digital displays, MIG, arc, and TIG welding all in one, simple setup procedures, and whatnot. Even professionals fall into the dilemma while choosing welder machines as one welding machine outperforms others in different attributes. However, which resembles best and which one is worst welder reside in your perception. So, here are some attributes to look before you purchase a welder keeping your desires ahead.
Power
One of the things that you need to consider before buying 120V welding machine is power. For basic household repairs, simple outdoor projects 90-100 amps is fine. 120V welder can have a maximum power of 140 amps but for welding 18- or 22-gauge metals a minimum of 20-30 amps is enough.
Portability
Many professional welders need to move their welder machine to their workstations where weight is the dimension that needs to be addressed seriously. 120V welding machines can be both lightweight and heavy. For example, DEKOPRO MMA welder weighs only about 12 pounds. In contrast, Hobart MIG welder is a bit heavy. Consider the weight if you need to haul around comfortably.
Wire feed speed
Modern 120V welders feature automatic wire feed controls and speed settings that adapt to existing power by itself. But the problem arises when wire feed speed is manually controlled. The wire can get lost or produce tons of spatter if it’s too sluggish or quick. Adjusting to the correct settings is what you need for a better experience.
Duty Cycle
Duty cycles are important to consider when you are working on lengthy, large projects. Machines often get hot for continuous operations so you need to stop for a few moments to let it cool down. Higher duty cycles mean the welding machine can weld for a longer period without any interventions. Look for a welder that has a good duty cycle to save time and energy.
Type
All the 120V welding prototypes do not come with the same features and accessibility. Some welding machine features only MIG or TIG, while the multifunctional once provide MIG, TIG, Stick all in one. For instance, Forney Easy Weld 298 welder features TIG and Stick welding too. If you are looking for additional features, make sure the tools are provided within.
Budget
There are plenty of 120V welding machines that are budget-friendly and are serving a great purpose to beginners who are low on budget. Choose the one that matches your budget.
Safety Features
Safety comes first and that is why safety measures should also be considered along with other operational benefits. Low quality, cheap welding machines often produce tons of spatter, electric distortions, and overheating. Look at the product specification of the welding machines, safety equipment before you dive in.
These attributes can be considered before purchasing the best 120V welding machine. As we said earlier, perfection can vary according to welders’ needs, work station, and metal pieces. Considering these characteristics will allow welders to get a hold and a guideline for purchasing.
Advantages of 120V welder:
- Light-weight and portable
- Perfect penetration on thinner material
- Produces little spatter
- Smooth quality arc
- Easy setup
- Multifunction and cleaner operations.
- Used with a wide variety of metals
- Good weld beat
- Semi and full automatization.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Which 120V welder is suitable and best for beginner level welding?
Beginners often look for welding machines that features easy setup, hassle-free operations, medium power, and portability. According to our opinion, Hobart MIG Welder is excellent for beginners. It is a compact welder with incredible power and perfect for light-medium projects. It is also capable of welding materials of various thicknesses with 5 different positional voltage controls which makes it more convenient for beginners.
Q: Which 120V welder works best for indoors?
For indoor and household, garage projects our top choice Hobart Handler 140 MIG Welder works best. Hobart welding machines provide a guarantee of 5 years and is a good starter pack for beginner level welders. It can plug into any household current which makes it perfect for indoor usage. High-quality, five voltage controllers, smooth and stable arc makes Hobart Handler 140 MIG Welder is more suitable for home use.
Q: How safe is it to work on a 120V welder?
Yes, of course, it is safe to work with a 120V welder if you are following the manufacturers’ instructions, and working with proper safety precautions. Our recommended Hobart MIG Welder doesn’t let the wire get hot before pulling the trigger which ensures safe welding. DEKOPRO MMA Welder features highly efficient fans to synchronize controls and stable current for 100% safety for welders.
Bottom Line
Definitely, every welder professional or newbies looking for the best welder available. But what’s best is known by none. Before you make a decision based on other people’s choices, know what you are looking for, what kind of work you will be doing regularly, is the welder too heavy or not, or is it powerful enough to weld the materials you want.
Our recommended best 120v welder is the Hobart MIG welder. It is portable, versatile, at the same time powerful. If you are looking for a budget-friendly one, DEKOPRO 110/220V MMA Welder is a convenient, energy-saving one. For TIG welding, AHP Alpha welder works fine. Forney Easy Weld 298 Arc Welder is the best 120V stick welder according to us.
Hope this article will let you choose the welder based on your need, projects, specifications, and budget. Happy welding.
Hi, I am James Anderson from Sandy, Utah. Welding has always been part of my life and I love to share my wealth of experience. I have a team of professionals who are knowledgeable about different welding processes. I hope you will be educated and informed on this website, to become better welders.