Welders

bynummustang · Nov 11, 2006

Who here has there own welders and outfits? I take a class through the high school that teaches how to weld, and I'm enjoying it pretty much. I'm kind of looking to get a welder, but I want to know what other people have just to know. I will prob. get a stick welder when or if I do.

spiff · Nov 11, 2006

You can get little buzz boxes for dirt cheap... But with an ARC welder you're really limited to what you can do at some times. I would definately lay down the extra for a nice MIG, or a TIG depending on what you're learning. I have a Lincoln and its great. I dont have an outfit I just wear gloves and a leather jacket if Im doing a lot of welding.

stykthyn · Nov 11, 2006

old school right here. oxy-acetalyne
I just use leather gloves

Foxfan88 · Nov 11, 2006

stick arc is used for repair and pipe work nowadays. for a hobby welder. a nice body shop mig does great! also tig is great too.

body shop migs work good. My dad has one we use he got for 500$ and they still make them.

you can grab a little lincoln tig for 1500$, its small, has a low duty cycle and isnt water cooled but PERFECT for the hobbyist

if u get a TIG, u can get good at aluminum welding and buy cracked or damaged alum heads for cheap and repair them!

trents99 · Nov 11, 2006

I have a little 110v mig running flux core but can easily be switched to gas set-up if I wanted. Also have a nice 240v Miller arc set-up. I tend to use the arc more but only because I am welding up heavier projects. The mig has come in handy for welding up body panels and will get used for my SFCs.

BlooDReigN · Nov 11, 2006

Foxfan88 said:
stick arc is used for repair and pipe work nowadays. for a hobby welder. a nice body shop mig does great! also tig is great too.

body shop migs work good. My dad has one we use he got for 500$ and they still make them.

you can grab a little lincoln tig for 1500$, its small, has a low duty cycle and isnt water cooled but PERFECT for the hobbyist

if u get a TIG, u can get good at aluminum welding and buy cracked or damaged alum heads for cheap and repair them!

Good luck with fixing a cracked aluminum head, LOL

If you are looking to get a welder to do work on your car, stick is NOT the way to go. It's way too hot. Get a GOOD mig welder. I've used alot of different welders and those cheap mig welders seriously suck ass. Often times they have a hard time burning solid wire properly and you gotta use flux core. Not to mention 20% duty cycle sucks...

spiff · Nov 11, 2006

BlooDReigN said:
Good luck with fixing a cracked aluminum head, LOL

If you are looking to get a welder to do work on your car, stick is NOT the way to go. It's way too hot. Get a GOOD mig welder. I've used alot of different welders and those cheap mig welders seriously suck ass. Often times they have a hard time burning solid wire properly and you gotta use flux core. Not to mention 20% duty cycle sucks...

Yeah I should have mentioned, a stick for bodywork is useless.. Its way too messy for that kind of thing.

grey5.0beast · Nov 11, 2006

I have a Hobart Mig welder, I have an autodarkening helmet and some gloves that came in a welder's starter kit. Also have A gas setup. I'll post pics of my rolling cart that I welded up for it as well if you want. It's a nice stup and works good for what I do/ don't do*cough subframes cough* I need to get on it, but I'm gonna do it when I acquire the rest of my susp. goodies

gruvee87vertgt · Nov 11, 2006

heres a cheap one...know I dont know anything about welders...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lincoln-PRO-COR...QQihZ013QQcategoryZ113743QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Darkwriter77 · Nov 11, 2006

Always considered getting one of those mid-level MIG welders from Harbor Freight so I can teach myself how to get handy with metalworking. I'd sure like to be able to weld up my own cage, subframes, exhaust, and other stuff at some point on my own without having to pay some chump to do it wrong (when I can do it wrong all by myself for free).

When I was working Harbor Freight a few months back, one of my work buddies there has done a TON of welding for his old '65 Mustang with just an el-cheap-o Harbor Freight hobby welder, and it's worked beautifully without a problem ... but then, it probably helps that he actually knows how to use one, whereas I'd be friggin' clueless on it. If you've got the skills, you can make even the crappiest welders work sufficiently, I imagine.

carbed87 · Nov 11, 2006

bynummustang said:
Who here has there own welders and outfits? I take a class through the high school that teaches how to weld, and I'm enjoying it pretty much. I'm kind of looking to get a welder, but I want to know what other people have just to know. I will prob. get a stick welder when or if I do.

i took the same thing my sophmore and juniour year in high school and think it was by far one of the most valuable things high school has taught me. i didn't read any of the replies, but a stick would only really be usefull if you were welding pipe or any kind of steel structure. IMo i'd get a nice mig, but opt for GMAW over FCAW. it sucks renting a bottle and stuff, but then again, lol so does slag, thats why im not too fond of flux core. but yeah man, do it up. are you getting a cert out of it. im an AWS certified "entry level" welder, however i've bend tested 1-4G v-grooves in mig, arc and tig (staingless and mild carbon steel) and passed them all, but im guessing your high school class offers probably the exact same thing. it's good to hear more people are doing it. good luck man.

carbed87 · Nov 11, 2006

Darkwriter77 said:
If you've got the skills, you can make even the crappiest welders work sufficiently, I imagine.

its all about the settings lol

Aryan15 · Nov 11, 2006

The Lincoln 100 MIG welder is good up to 1/4 in steel is what I have. You can convert it to gas, its lightweight and small, works on 110v, and is reasonable.

bynummustang · Nov 11, 2006

Thanks for all the replies. I spent the night out with my new girlfriend so I haven't had the chance to check on the thread. I've yet to try/learn to MIG weld. I have a few friends who have a MIG setup, so if I need to use it for exhaust, I can. I'm leaning in the direction of getting a stick welder just because it's what I know now, and I have some knowledge of.

I'm not sure if I'm going to get a cert. out of the class or not. The class is offered through the high school but held also as a Comm. College class. Our instructor will take our joints and welds to a different campus and put them in the press. Then we shall see how good we really are.

I know in terms of automotive use, MIG/TIG is the way to go, but not only do I want to be able to weld up more, but I also don't know how to weld those types.

As for the "old-school" method, heating it up and fusing it together, (oxy-acetalyne) I hate that crap. We spent almost two months in that crap, and I hate it. I guess it was a good place to get a foundation, but I won't use it unless I need to cut, and I don't have a plasma cutter.

Foxfan88 · Nov 12, 2006

body shops used to gas weld but they dont anymore gas welding is real rare nowadays. alot more body shops are picking up tig welders and using them.

i see what your saying about knowing how to stick. but for welding SFC and everything up on a stang its just not practical. real dirty, makes all the slag and puts that brown powder crap all over the place.

i u can stick u can mig. MIG is just plain EASY, it takes no time to master. it just lays in and goes. no slag to chip or anything, its clean and ready to go. if u can stick weld u can mig FOR SURE

i personally love to tig weld bc u have total control of your metal. and real clean and just plain awesome.

tig is easy but cost more to run and for exhaust and mustang things its really not needed. mig is much much faster and more practical.

for a hobbyist i'd say a nice cheap mig will work great! exhaust and other things u might weld for a mustang arent critical welds. so no need for tig and stick would be dirty and take more time.

FoxNotch · Nov 12, 2006

Foxfan88 said:
body shops used to gas weld but they dont anymore gas welding is real rare nowadays. alot more body shops are picking up tig welders and using them.

i see what your saying about knowing how to stick. but for welding SFC and everything up on a stang its just not practical. real dirty, makes all the slag and puts that brown powder crap all over the place.

i u can stick u can mig. MIG is just plain EASY, it takes no time to master. it just lays in and goes. no slag to chip or anything, its clean and ready to go. if u can stick weld u can mig FOR SURE

i personally love to tig weld bc u have total control of your metal. and real clean and just plain awesome.

tig is easy but cost more to run and for exhaust and mustang things its really not needed. mig is much much faster and more practical.

for a hobbyist i'd say a nice cheap mig will work great! exhaust and other things u might weld for a mustang arent critical welds. so no need for tig and stick would be dirty and take more time.

I have to disagree with you on a few counts.
First off except for with a flux core mig welder you need a gas to use with your mig, usually straight co2, sometimes a co2/argon mix for picky stuff. And straight argon for an alum. mig welder.

And also, IMHO, I learned stick first, I think it is easier, but I also feel that mig is much more forgiving, which makes it seem alot easier. Once you're in the groove with a stick setup its very easy.

For exhaust work I strongly prefer an old school oxy/acetylene setup; very easy to get used to, very easy to make look nice, and above all else, very easy to undo incase you f up

And to the OP:
Even though you know TIG, I would still go for the mig welder for sure.
Also, you cant cut with an oxy/acetylene torch; you need a blow torch for cutting, unless if you are cutting something thin, and want to tool with the oxy valve constantly.

bynummustang · Nov 12, 2006

I really want to see if one of my friends will let me give MIG a shot, and see how I like it. In the class, I know if I buy the metal, we will build a trailor as a project for the class. I would love to be able to put the mustang on a nice trailor to carry around.

Stick has gotten a LOT easier now that I have learned to strike the arc, and get the stick good and hot on a scrape metal, then go to my weld.

FoxNotch · Nov 12, 2006

yea its great that you are a confident stick welder, that will always be a good skill to have. But using both types of welds all the time, I would still suggest that you get a mig for shop work. Because when you are dealing with thin steel and rusty/rotted steel found on a car, tig can be a real pita.
Food for though.

bynummustang · Nov 12, 2006

FoxNotch said:
yea its great that you are a confident stick welder, that will always be a good skill to have. But using both types of welds all the time, I would still suggest that you get a mig for shop work. Because when you are dealing with thin steel and rusty/rotted steel found on a car, tig can be a real pita.
Food for though.

I understand what you're saying in the whole post, except for the very last line. "food for though"? You lost me there.

I wouldn't say that I'm a fully confident stick welder yet, I have about 4 hours of practice only. I haven't tried the thick rods yet, but I'm VERY confident with the 6013, and almost at the same point with 6011. I'm going to just grab a bunch of rods from my first period, take some scraps, and head to a friends house.

You guys should've been there the first 20 minutes that I was trying to strike the arc, every time, the rod would get stuck to the work metal. I fixed that though.

FoxNotch · Nov 12, 2006

hah I meant to say "food for thought", my bad.

But yea it sounds like you're on the right track.

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