Mig Welder Reccommendations

[racer27]

Any reccommendations on a small MIG welder to use on non-structural car components (Steel maybe aliumninm). Also for general use to make trailer mods and around the house stuff.

Probaly want to do flux core as well as with gas. Would like to keep budget less then $500 and not buy anything we will grow out of quickly.

Garage is new so electrician has to come back anyway, so we could run a 230 line easily. Do you guys have a preferance 115 (more portable) or 230 (Better penetration)?

What size, brand, source would you reccommend.

I've seen some of the cheap Harbor freight units, wordering if they are even worth considering.


Thanks in advance for your input.


Regards...

[eaglefordracer]

I would not use a "harbor freight" system because you can't get anybody to repair if it fails.

I use a Miller 130. It's 110 VAC. The penetration is good for materials not exceeding 1/8 inch thick.

I would not suggest trying to get one to work with aluminum as they do not have a high frequency ability to them.

I enjoy the ability to take along if I need it. Beware that you have to have good power available and a big (large wire diameter) to not burn out/pop breakers on regular basis...Not at your house, but rather when you try to plug into some outlet near a bathroom at some godforsaken racetrack.

I've had mine for 10+ years and it's a work horse. FWIW.

[GeoffRain]

I've got a Lincoln 135 amp MIG. Worked great on the trailer hitch, but I decided that it was too sloppy for formula car work. There's no reason you couldn't use it on structural components, the beads are just kind of big. I ended up getting a TIG and I LOVE it.

Some MIGs CAN do aluminum, but you've got to change the liner in the feed tube and use a different shelding gas. Never tried it with mine.

If you're not familiar with welding, spend $20 on a book first. I'm pretty sure Home Depot or Sears sell "Welder's Handbook", which touches on all of the different types of welding and equipment.

Send a PM if you're interested in buying my almost-new MIG.

Geoff

[Rick Silver]

Get a TIG welder, period. You can stick weld with it if you want, but on a race car, there is no other way to do it and it will pay for itself in no time. I use a Miller 180 Syncrowave TIG and it is a fantastic machine.

[triumph_tech]

Tig is great but with the budget you set that is out of reach and for what you say you want,a good mig will do the job. I have a Lincoln 125, similar to the one Andy Graham brings to the track. I use it with the gas set-up at home and when I need to take it "on the road" I change it to the flux core wire setup. I picked the one I got because it had infinetly variable controls on both the arc volts and wire feed. Buy a name brand like Lincoln, Miller, or Hobart as replacement parts ( and things do wear out even on top of the line machines) will be impossible to find for off-brand machines. The machine I bought can be set up to run 115 or 220 with a cord change. I often tack critical compoments together with the mig an then take them to Sal for the final tig weld,I prefer to leave the high stress critial welds to some one that does it for a living. Just my $.02

[LenFC11]

Ambrose,

contact Bill Slowick, as I remember he had a good used welder he wanted to sell, not sure what type.

Cheers
Len

[triumph_tech]

I contacted Bill about the welder , it was a Miller tig welder that he was asking $1200 for but it was gone 4 months ago when I inquired.

[enzo]

If you can live with not welding aluminum, Miller makes a great little DC current tig/stick welder called a Maxstar 140. I have 2 of them that I use when I do out of shop welding. It switches from 110v to 220v automatically and is capable of 110 amps on 110v and 140 amps on 220v. It comes as a complete kit with torch, flow meter, stick welding handle and ground lead as well a case to carry it all in. A foot pedal for remote amperage change is an available option. You have to supply an argon bottle. Almost any average house circuit will power it. I think the current cost is about $1200 retail. Not cheap, but it's a quality unit. Mine get pretty hard use when I'm on a construction project. It's also capable of welding very thin material. I often weld .035 wall stainless exhaust tubing for airplanes with it when I can't bring the plane to my shop. As a bonus, if you take it to the track with you, you'll probably make a lot of friends. I take mine with me and it's been very handy. Most small generators will power it. 2000/2500 watts will supply it as long as you're welding thin material like headers and most frame tubing.

[racer27]

So based on input here and my budget, I should be looking for a 125-140, gas compitiable unit that runs off hoousehold current. That gives us flexibility to take it on the road and usability around the house/property.

[Rick Silver]

Racer27, my above comment about the TIG versus MIG welder is based on having owned both. I have always had a gas welder, then bought a stick welder for the heavy jobs, trailer repair etc., then I bought a smaller MIG welder. A MIG can do just about any standard stuff, but for ease of use, especially if you dont weld that often, a TIG welder is so easy to use and get nice welds. I spent like $1400 or $1500 on my Miller TIG, and prefer it so much over my old MIG. And it is way easier to do aluminum and thin welds. The point is, having used both for years, the TIG is a far superior tool for not that much more money.

[Rick Iverson]

Racer;

I had a Lincoln MIG for years, which was a superb tool for tacking and "rough work". I say that as an indictment on my talents as opposed to the quality of the welder, as I did not possess the skill or the knowledge to do it correctly (read: structurally and cosmetically). This year I traded in my Lincoln for a Miller Syncwave 180 SD TIG. To be a master, all you need is a steady hand, some practice, and 8th grade rudiments of metallurgy. Do the TIG and never look back.

Iverson

[Barry Ott]

Rick,
I've seen a few posts that say TIG welding is pretty easy. I was all ready to buy one when I ran across this statement on a Miller website: "While it's hard to learn, takes a lot of skill and is slow...." Kinda concerned me that maybe it wasn't as easy as I had heard. I started thinking maybe I should just get a MIG and pay somebody to do important welding with a TIG. Anyone else have an opinion about the ease of TIG welding???

Thanks!
Barry Ott

[Chas Shaffer]

Rick Silver and I have discussed this many times and agree completely when it comes to welding. We both started with oxyacetylene and an AC stick welder, have used MIG's and now both have Miller Synrowave 180's. No welding is easy but of all of them I believe TIG (GTAW) to be one of the easier especially if welding thin material. If you are learning to weld I recommend getting a really good oxyacetylene setup with a few differnt tips and learn how to weld with it first. You need a torch for brazing and cutting anyway so start here. It's really inexpensive and you can weld just about anything plus you'll learn good technique. If you want to weld aluminum you can use the same setup for oxyhydrogen. Other advantages is it's way more portable than a good TIG (220V 30 amp usually required). Once you've mastered gas welding you can weld anything and TIG will be a snap.

TIG is definately slower than MIG if you are doing really big jobs like welding up a trailer frame but for a race car I agree with Rick, use a TIG. You can always use the TIG as a stick welder for big bulky projects.

Your first purchase should be a couple good books. Richard Finch has some really good books on welding. A good book for beginners is his Welder's Handbook. Milller has some great books and video's as well.

[Barry Ott]

Thanks Chas, sounds like good advice. I've got a couple books on the way, and torches *are* reasonable! Thanks!

Barry

[Eric E.]

At my old mans shop he has a few MIG and TIG machines. One being the Miller 180 Syncrowave. Great for TIG welding light metals, and the welds are so sexy. If most of your stuff is going to be light metal then I would get a TIG welder. I personally use a MIG more often , but I don't weld race cars. BTW aren't these cars fillet-brazed (bronze rod). Uses less heat and is stronger, better in vibration environments, withstand impact better.