Welding Equipment & Soldering Tools

Welding joins materials with a level of strength, permanence, and appearance that’s impossible to achieve with fasteners or adhesives. In fact, welding is often the only possible method of attachment, and the only one to use when the final product must appear as one piece. Welding can be used to join metals including mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, and to repair cast iron, and join thermoplastics like polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinylchloride. No matter which material you’re working with, we have the welding equipment and supplies for the job, along with the tools you need for work setup and finishing, and safety and protective gear. Plus, we can supply you with plasma cutters and soldering equipment.

Our virtual shelves are packed with welders for every welding process and type of metal. We have a large selection of MIG (Metal Inert Gas) & flux-cored welders for welding mild steel, stainless steel and aluminum, including bench models, portable hand carried units, wheeled models, and complete welding kits that feature the welder, welding cart and welding helmet. If you’re welding thin material or the appearance of the weld is all important, our TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welders will meet your needs. We offer machines with AC and DC output so you can achieve the best welds for aluminum as well as steel and stainless steel, and portable TIG welders equipped with inverters. Here you’ll find AC and AC/DC stick welders, the latter providing the polarity flexibility for different welding applications and electrodes. Or for the ultimate in versatility go with one of our multi-process machines. We have welders that feature TIG and stick processes and units with MIG, TIG and stick capabilities.

If you regularly weld where there’s no access to electric power, we have multi-process engine-driven welders that are perfect for welding in remote locations. All your oxyacetylene gas welding needs are here too including torches, regulators, hose, hose reels, and complete gas welding outfits. Stud welding is a method of attaching a fastener onto a metal part. The process is commonly used in auto body repair where draw pins are welded to a dented area and then a slide hammer is attached to the pins and used to pull the dent out. In addition to stud welders and draw pin assortments in various quantities, we have complete stud welder kits that come complete with a slide hammer.

Welding also requires consumables used in the welding process, equipment to set up and hold materials to be welded, and the gear to protect yourself and stay safe while welding, and we have it all. Our electrode assortment includes rods in many sizes and for different kinds of metal, including flux coated rods, and we offer welding wire for steel and aluminum as well as flux-cored wire. As you weld, MIG welding guns, TIG torches, electrode holders, and ground clamps can wear out and we have quality replacements as well as welding cable and welding nozzles and tips. You can move your welder around the shop easily when it’s aboard one of our welding carts, which also have the shelf capacity for supplies, tools and welding helmet and gloves.

With our tape measures, rulers, calipers, squares, and other measuring tools, you can prepare your work and indicate where welds or necessary cuts to the material should be made with markers or with soapstone that is visible through the shaded welding lens. If you need to cut metal pieces in preparation for welding, we offer a variety of cutting tools, from basic hacksaws to cut-off wheels, reciprocating saws and bandsaws. Of course, an oxyacetylene cutting torch can be used to cut metal, but if you want to make smooth cuts with precision and speed in aluminum and stainless steel as well as mild steel, we can supply you with one of our plasma cutting machines. With our selection of vises and clamps, you’ll be able to keep the metal securely in place while it’s being welded. In addition to C-clamps, hold-down clamps, F-style bar clamps, and locking clamps, we also offer magnetic support jigs that can hold iron materials at a variety of angles. And for post-weld cleaning and finishing, check out our chipping hammers, wire brushes and grinder selection.

Soldering is a low temperature method of metal attachment that is commonly used in plumbing, jewelry making and when making electrical connections and attaching electronic components to circuit boards. Unlike welding where the pieces to be joined are heated to the point of melting, with a filler material often added which is also melted, when soldering just enough heat is applied to the parts to be joined to melt the solder and form a bond. There are many solder formulations and their makeup varies according to application and you’ll find a large assortment of solder and flux here on our virtual shelves along with flux-cored solder and all the necessary soldering equipment. Our selection includes basic soldering irons, soldering guns and torches, soldering stations, soldering tips and flux application brushes.

If you want to make plastic repairs like fixing tears in plastic bumpers, our nitrogen plastic welding systems enable you to do the job quickly, easily and economically. The welder heats and melts the plastic and the filler rod as it is pressed into the tear, quickly fusing the rod with the plastic. The welder can then be used to smooth the surface in preparation for cooling, sanding and refinishing. Our hot stapling equipment can also be used to make effective plastic repairs. Repair plastic fluid reservoirs, composite headlight housings, fan shrouds and more. The staple is heated with the heating iron and then the hot staple is pushed into the plastic parts, creating a strong, secure bond. The exposed ends of the staple are then snipped off and another heated staple used to smooth the area for finishing. Our collection includes corded and rechargeable cordless hot stapler kits and staples in several different styles and quantities to suit your needs.

Safety should always be the most important consideration when welding and soldering. A welding helmet fitted with the appropriate filter shade should always be used when arc welding to protect the eyes from damage that could cause loss of vision, and to protect the face and neck from burns. On our auto-darkening helmets the shade darkens automatically as soon as the arc appears for eye protection, but otherwise remains light so the welder can see to set-up material and perform other tasks without having to raise the helmet. Welding goggles with complete side coverage should be used when oxyacetylene welding, and eye protection should also be worn during grinding, slag chipping and other weld finishing operations. Welding fumes, which contain harmful airborne particulate, and toxic gases and vapors are created during the welding process and a quality respirator should be used. We offer both dust & particulate masks and the more effective gas/vapor respirators.

In addition to the above, fire-resistant clothing should be worn to prevent burns from sparks and heat exposure. Our protective gear selection includes heat and fire-resistant leather welding gloves, flame retardant hoods and coveralls, leather sleeves, welding chaps, leggings, and spats, leather welding jackets and leather bib and waist aprons. We also have welding blankets to protect objects in the surrounding area from damage caused by sparks and spatter, and welding curtains to isolate the welding area and prevent injury to others. Where there are sparks and molten metal, fire is always a risk, so precautions to minimize the chance of fire should always be taken when welding and cutting. Keep flammable materials out of the area and always have one of our fire extinguishers handy.