Skip to content
Arc & Bead

The welding starter kit checklist

The welder is about two-thirds of what it actually costs to start. Here is the rest, ordered by how much each item changes your welds.

Ryder M.Published Updated How we pick →
Workshop tools laid out flat on a bright bench

The checklist, in priority order

  1. An auto-darkening helmet with four sensors and an ANSI Z87.1 marking.
  2. An angle grinder plus flap discs and cut-off wheels.
  3. Welding gloves thick enough to rest a hand near the work.
  4. Wire or electrodes — the right classification and diameter for your machine.
  5. Clamps. More than you think. Then more again.
  6. A chipping hammer and wire brush — mandatory with flux-core and stick.
  7. Safety glasses for grinding, separately from the helmet.
  8. A respirator for flux-core, galvanized or enclosed-space work.
  9. Cotton or leather clothing — never synthetics, which melt onto skin.
  10. A fire extinguisher within reach, not across the room.
  11. Soapstone or a marker for marking cuts.
  12. A square and a tape measure. Most bad projects are measurement failures, not welding failures.

Why the helmet is first

Welding is a visual feedback loop: you watch the puddle form, judge its size and leading edge, and steer. A helmet that obscures any of that removes the feedback and leaves you guessing.

A great many beginners whose welds look bad are not welding badly — they are welding nearly blind. Which is why a modest helmet upgrade produces a visible improvement the same afternoon, and a modest welder upgrade usually does not. Beginner welding helmets covers what to look for.

Why the grinder is second

Every weld has a before and an after, and the grinder does both.

Before: grinding to bright metal, which eliminates porosity — the single most common weld defect. After: dressing the weld, removing spatter, cleaning up.

It also cuts stock to length and bevels edges, and bevelling is how a 120-volt machine welds material it could not manage on a square butt joint. That makes it a capability upgrade for your welder as well as a tool.

Clamps, which nobody budgets for

The most consistently underestimated item on this list.

A joint that moves while you weld it produces a weld that is wrong before you start, and no setting fixes it. Thermal expansion also pulls parts out of alignment as you go, so something has to hold them.

Buy more than seems necessary: a mix of F-clamps, C-clamps and locking pliers. Magnetic angle holders are useful for tacking right angles and are not a substitute for real clamps — they do not hold against expansion.

What you do not need yet

A welding table. Genuinely useful and genuinely expensive. A sheet of steel on a sturdy bench works for a long time, and building a table is a good early project.

A welding cart — until you own a gas bottle, at which point it becomes necessary rather than optional, because a cylinder must be secured upright.

Expensive filler metals. Learn on cheap practice wire; keep the good wire for work that matters.

A second machine. Master one process first. The urge to add a process is usually the urge to avoid a problem you have not diagnosed.

What you also need that is not a purchase

Ventilation. Two openings so air can cross-flow, and a fan positioned to pull air away from your breathing zone rather than blow across the weld.

A circuit that suits the machine. Most 120-volt welders specify 20 amps, and many garages run a shared 15-amp circuit — what size breaker a welder needs. Circuit work belongs to a licensed electrician.

Scrap steel. Practice material, in the thicknesses you intend to work in. Offcuts from a local fabricator are usually free or nearly so, and practicing on the wrong thickness teaches you the wrong settings.

If the budget is tight

Spend less on the welder and more on this list. A modest machine with a helmet you can see through, a grinder and enough clamps will produce better welds than an expensive machine with none of them.

That is not a consolation — it is the actual ordering of what affects your results.

What we would buy

1. Buy this first

Antra AH6-660

Four sensors and ANSI Z87.1 — the item that changes your welds fastest.

After the welder, the helmet. Antra publishes four arc sensors, a 3.86 by 2.50 inch view, a 4/5 to 9 and 9 to 13 shade range and ANSI Z87.1 compliance.

Four sensors is a safety specification rather than a convenience: two-sensor helmets can fail to darken when your hand blocks a sensor, which happens constantly out of position.

What works

  • Four sensors and a shade-4 light state at a price where two sensors is the norm
  • ANSI Z87.1 rated, which is the line between eye protection and a novelty
  • Cheap enough that starting here and upgrading later costs less than agonizing over it

What does not

  • Headgear is the weak point — it is the part owners most often report replacing
  • Optical class is not published as 1/1/1/1, and over a long session you can feel the difference
  • Switching speed is adequate for MIG and stick but is not a low-amperage TIG helmet

2. Buy this second

DeWalt DWE402 4-1/2 in angle grinder

Every weld needs preparation before and cleanup after. Neither is optional.

A 4-1/2 inch grinder with an 11 amp motor on a standard 120-volt outlet, taking cut-off wheels, grinding discs, flap discs and wire wheels.

It cleans metal before welding, dresses welds after, cuts stock to length, and bevels edges — which is how a 120-volt machine reaches thicknesses it otherwise cannot.

What works

  • Every weld needs prep and cleanup, so this earns its place from your first day regardless of process
  • Cut-off, grinding and wire-wheel discs all fit the same tool
  • No air, no gas, no dedicated circuit

What does not

  • Slow and physical on anything thicker than about 1/4 in
  • Cannot follow a curve accurately — that is the thing a plasma cutter buys you
  • Makes far more mess and noise than plasma cutting

3. Buy this third

Lincoln Electric traditional MIG/stick welding gloves

Thick enough to rest a hand near the work, which steadies everything.

The benefit people miss: a glove thick enough to rest your hand on the work makes your hand steady, and a steady hand does more for bead consistency than any dial.

Split leather with an insulated lining and a long cuff covering the wrist gap where spatter finds you.

Far too thick for TIG, which needs its own thin gloves.

What works

  • Thick enough that you can rest a hand near the work without flinching, which improves your gun control more than any setting
  • Long cuff protects the wrist gap where spatter finds you

What does not

  • Far too thick for TIG — you cannot feel a filler rod through them
  • Stiff until broken in

4. The consumable to start on

Lincoln Electric Innershield NR-211-MP flux-cored wire

All-position E71T-11 with published procedure tables.

A machine with no wire is not a welder. Lincoln publishes this as AWS E71T-11, all-position, in 0.030 and 0.035 inch, with a maximum plate thickness of 5/16 inch for 0.045 inch and smaller.

Buy 0.030 inch for a 120-volt machine — it runs stably at the current those machines can actually supply.

What works

  • Lincoln publishes full procedure tables for it, so there is a documented starting setting for every thickness
  • All-position rated — it will run a vertical fillet, not just a flat bead
  • Available in 1 lb, 5 lb and 10 lb spools, so a small machine does not need a big spool

What does not

  • Noticeably more expensive per pound than unbranded E71T-GS wire
  • Like every self-shielded wire it produces slag and more spatter than a gas process

Questions people actually ask

What do I need to start welding besides the welder?

In priority order: an auto-darkening helmet with four sensors and an ANSI Z87.1 marking, an angle grinder with flap and cut-off discs, thick welding gloves, wire or electrodes, and more clamps than you expect.

After that: a chipping hammer and wire brush, safety glasses for grinding, a respirator, cotton or leather clothing, and a fire extinguisher.

How much does everything besides the welder cost?

The welder is typically about two-thirds of the real cost of starting, so budget meaningfully for the rest.

If the total is tight, spending less on the machine and more on the helmet, grinder and clamps produces better welds than the reverse.

Do I need a welding table?

Not to start. A sheet of steel on a sturdy bench works for a long time, and a purpose-made welding table is expensive.

Building one is also an excellent early project — square-section steel, forgiving tolerances, and you need it.

Why do I need so many clamps?

A joint that moves while you weld it produces a weld that is wrong before you start, and thermal expansion pulls parts out of alignment as you go.

Buy a mix of F-clamps, C-clamps and locking pliers. Magnetic angle holders help with tacking but do not hold against expansion.

What clothing should I wear?

Cotton or leather, and never synthetics — polyester and nylon melt onto skin, turning a minor burn into a serious one.

Boots rather than trainers, no turned-up cuffs, nothing flammable in your pockets, and a leather jacket for overhead work where spatter falls on you.

Sources

Read next

Back to Find Your Level, or start over at Find Your Level.

Ryder M.

Ryder M. is the hands-on owner behind Magoo Media Group. He writes Arc & Bead's buying guides and picks every machine on the site. What every recommendation is based on — and what it is not based on — is set out on How We Pick.