Welder Choice for Newbie?

If you get a decent used welder, like a Miller XMT, you would be able to make and repair virtually anything made of steel, regardless of thickness.

Cast iron is challenging to weld - I would forget about that for now.

Given that you want to weld mild steel, the next question is will every workpiece be at least 1/8" thick? Because if you do have to weld sheet metal you won't be happy with a stick welder, although there are some techniques you can use that will help.

If you buy a stick welder, you absolutely want DC. No question. AC-only machines are nearly impossible to resell. And for sure look locally for a used machine before you consider a shiny new one. I see nice - really nice - small Miller Thunderbolts (AC/DC) in the $100-150 range all the time where I live.

Actually, a small MIG welder (e.g. Lincoln SP175 or SP135) along with a small stick welder (e.g. Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC) is a pretty handy setup.

Grant

My welders for occasional use:

Lincoln sp85 mig with gas .030 wire lincoln ac-225 arc grizzly chinese H8153 tig/arc

rods 1/8/, 3/32

xman

Thanks for the reply, Grant.

Would a MIG or wire-feed welder be more suitable than an arc welder for welds on material less than 1/8" do you think?

I'm still back-and-forth on the issue of flux-core wire-feed versus straight arc welder.

Thanks again.

Jonesy.

Oh, absolutely a MIG welder is the way to go for sheet metal. You just turn it down and weld it up! :-)

Grant

Jonesy

Stick welding is immune to the wind, rain, will cut through a fair amount of dirt, rust and contamination if you have to - in other words

- it's simply *the* process for site work. You can stick weld when you are having to move your arms with the electrode clamp side to side in relation to your body to compensate for being buffeted around by a gale. MIG will loose its shield and produce "cinders" welds (a cruddy foam of a bit of metal and a lot of oxide) with just a draft through a doorway.

Hobby / occasional use and stick - you don't have the ever racking-up cost of bottle rental for the Ar/CO2 you need for MIG welding. When a stick plant is doing nothing, it's costing nothing.

That said - MIG is the way to go for sheet metal, and you've got the advice that you want stick for outdoors and thicker and MIG for your sheet metal.

MIG and thicker stuff - it's the way to go for commercial workshop work - much faster and less work than stick --- but for someone who is improvising without guidance, the problem with MIG is that it is easy to make a "weld" which looks good but isn't fused. The deposited metal is just sitting on the parent plate surface. So it looks like a weld but isn't! No other common process has this problem - with stick and TIG, you can't produce a good-looking weld without already being the master of good welds.

Do you know this? - commercially everyone uses MIG in the workshop and stick out on site.

Rich Smith

MIG, in my vieu.,may be a better choice being safer and cleaner operation.

quality of weld donot depend on movement of hands and so are better in MIG>

Go with mig, use fluxcore outdoors and is forgiving with rust and paint. If u need to weld sheet metal use solid wire and inert gas, use in a sheltered area . The best of both worlds, this will do exactly what u want to do.

Rich,

Thanks for the information.

I forgot about the wind and such, and that is definitely an issue in my situation (a fairly drafty barn woodshop, and I would probably do the actual welding on the concrete front "stoop" of the barn or even out in the yard...and it's generally windy here).

I also didn't know that MIG could give a good-looking but faulty weld. That's good to know. I would probably say "Looks good from my house" and not realize it maybe WASN'T good.

One other thing: I hope I'm using the terminology correctly. When I've been saying "MIG" what I've MEANT is flux-core (with no bottled shielding gas) wire-feed welding. I hope I'm using the terminology clearly and correctly.

Thanks again,

Jonesy.

Jonesy

Look at the American advice (I assume that's where you are?) right here on this forum & topic - use self-shield fluxcore much more (?) and have the relevant experience.

You've obviously read what I wrote - but that only applies to MIG with external gas shield.

Rich S