Looking into buying a Welder
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I bought a cheap wirefeed 2 years ago and its great for little things but for most car stuff i've learned its not precise enough. If you can swing it then find a tig.
No offense to him, but I feel as though Mr. LeadBalls would have a hard time finding the required time to get good at TIG.
It's also not really necessary for automotive work unless you want the specific bead patterns.
I have only ever used TIG on aluminum, so my thoughts may be slightly off, but it wasn't an overly easy thing to pick up. That and how clean the material had to be, that would make me hate doing aluminum tig on a car lol. -
Tig is nice so you don't have slag melting through your vacuum hoses or welding seat brackets and stuff with the carpet in.
they have cheaper hobbyist ones that don't have a thousand different controls that are easier to learn on.
personally for me learning to tig was easier to get good at but harder to master,
and learning to mig was harder to get good but easy to master.
If you really aren't to worried about ever needing to weld alluminum or probably only use it 5 times a year just get a mig and call it good.
other wise a tig setup starts getting expensive with all the materials.
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I have a Lincoln Weld Pak 100 that I would consider selling. It is setup for flux core right now, but all it needs is the MIG gas valving kit installed, a bottle of gas and the gun liner replaced and you are good to go for MIG. Comes with a roll of MIG wire too. I am looking into getting a TIG eventually since I'd love to do aluminum welding.
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I have also been actively searching for a welder as I have a lot of stuff that needs welding. I have worked with both MIG's and TIG's before and I am leaning towards a MIG simply because they're cheaper and easier to buy and maintain, easier to weld in a confined space or upside down (chassis reinforcements for example), and you can still weld stainless and in some cases aluminum if you really need to. The welds aren't as pretty but if you're like me and aren't great with a TIG you won't be making beautiful dime stacks anyway.
I have been leaning towards (and will probably be buying) a Hobart Handler 140 because they seem to be the best quality for something around 500 bucks, come with a lot of extras that some cheaper welders don't include like the gas hose and regulator, and can weld steel up to 1/4" (though with a very limited duty cycle), and can also do stainless or aluminum with some add-ons. For me, I'm limited to a 120v outlet and I don't plan on welding 1/4" very often, if at all, so this would fit the bill. Only problem I have with it is that the voltage control is "tapped" and you can't fine tune the voltage between those 5 settings.
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On the same topic, does anyone know where to get a tank of argon on the cheap?
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I got my tank at Advanced Welding Supply in West Allis. They are great!
Also, my brother and I just bought an Everlast PowerTIG 185 and the "deluxe" pedal for it. So far it has been great.
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I got my tank at Advanced Welding Supply in West Allis. They are great!
Whats a ballpark price for the tank and fill there by chance?
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Whats a ballpark price for the tank and fill there by chance?
Cost for tiny tank full of argon was $90. A fill for that tiny tank is ~$20-25. A fill for a big tank is ~$36 IIRC.
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So you got the small 20cf size tank? Does it get used up pretty quickly or does it last long enough?
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The 20cf tank doesn't last very long. It lasted for welding up all my of charge piping and my downpipe. I would recommend getting a larger bottle.
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Figured I'd post an update if anyone was curious:
I ended up getting a Hobart Handler 140 a few weeks ago and finally got it set up this past weekend. Everything is really well made, and the supplied gas regulator is actually branded Miller which was a nice surprise. Only thing needed to go from flux core to mig is a gas bottle, solid core wire, and the right contact tip for the wire, everything else (solenoid, regulator, etc) is included. I went from a closed box to flux core welding in less than an hour. The only scrap metal I had laying around was chunks of e30 core support, and since .030 flux core doesn't do things that thin (under 18 gauge) my welds were really hot. I was able to make some nice tack welds and attempted some beads that started out good but a few seconds later it got too hot and started blowing through, which I was expecting. Once I switch to MIG it should do thin metal no problem. Going to dig around in the scrap bin at work and see if I can get some thicker pieces to practice on before I start welding in my subframe reinforcements. I have done a decent amount of MIG welding before, but that was at least 8 years ago, so I am essentially a beginner and it is really easy to set up and get going. So far it seems like it will fit my needs perfectly.
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Good deal, I have an older Hobart 110v, the gun says Miller on it. I used flux core for a little while. Now I have a gas bottle and it is much better. Practice with different settings, you can weld, let cool, weld, let cool, etc when doing sheet rather than trying to do a continuous bead. With a little practice you will know just how long to hold it before you need to let up so it doesn't burn through.
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