I’m thinking about picking up a welder. Problem is, I have little space, so something portable is a must. I also don’t know much about welders, such as the differences between tig/mig/arc etc. I’m not looking to spend a ton, as this will just be used for exhaust pipe, maybe a body panel, small stuff around the car. What would I be looking for? I’m pretty good with a brazing torch, using mapp and oxygen, if that helps at all. Would brazing be strong enough for exhaust/body panels? Thank in advance.
I’m sure HotRodKid will step in and post something on this …
Sent you a PM, if you aren’t looking to spend a lot of money TIG is out of the question. I would suggest MIG
I am also looking for something. I’m not sure what to look for.
brazing is far from the strongest way to join metals, in fact i think its about the weakest. the bronze used in the process only works like hot clue, it never REALY becomes part of the metal, it just kinda holds onto it for deer life
if you can braze, chances are you wont have a hard time actual doing O/A welding, which is the same as brazing, but you gt the metal hot enough to melt it, and use a filler material of the same type. do it right and the 2 pieces are just as welded as if you had used a mig or tig. racers used this method for decades to build chassis and cages.
next up, MIG welding. its stupid simple, and pretty cheap to get one. but if you ever want to weld SS or aluminium, its a paint to swap wire, and it doesnt work well
TIG: this is the cats ass when it comes to welding. its been said that if you can gas weld, you can tig as its the same idea, your jut using an electric arc instead of o/a. want to weld SS? throw a few switches and grab a different filler rod
i can o/a weld just good enough to save my life if i had to, but i can TIG pretty good.
ill probably eventually switch to tig, because i could get a few bills for my MIG, and i would love to be able to weld ss and aluminium with ease
it up to you in the end, how muh do you want to spend, what do you wantto weld, and how much are you gonna do ? mig is good for the person who just occasionaly dos steel, tig is best of the people that wanna make tons of cool shit out of all differnt materials
basically i dont want to spend a ton, as the welder will only get used 5-6 times a year. all i will do is exhaust piping and maybe a body panel. i’d like to learn how to do it, but it may be more cost effective just to pay someone to do it when i need something done. what about the sub-200$ welders from harbor freight, or something in the 200-300 from sears? would the do the job?
if you buy a cheap welder, you will get nothing but a box of frustrations. If you want to weld, get a decent lincoln (or weldmark, the bluepoint of lincoln) 110v machine. Personally i recomend only 220 machines to all but the backyard welder, but i’ve recently had good experiances with the better 110v machines. I’m only talking about mig stuff here. If you only want to use it a handfull of times a year, TIG is a no-go. Brazing is not very strong like was mentioned, and its a good way to warp the shit out of sheetmetal, and not hold up to the vibration of exhaust work. But i know for a FACT that K-S will braze your new convertor on for ya, cause i’ve seen it happen on many occasions, and i can also say that it will fail, usually due to heat. 
one good way to go sometimes is to buy a used mig welder from someone who bought one to weld one thing and never touched it again.
the cheaper the welder, the lower the duty cycle tho. the cheap craftsman welders will need to cool down for a while, even if your not welding constantly
every 10% worth of duty cycle is good for 6 min of continuous welding, and ive maxed out craftsman welders before, its a pain in the ass
acid core wire is worthless for automotive applications, get a welder that uses sheilding gas (stargon) and youll be much better off
one of the BIG (5 foot) bottles is $100, so a small one thats portable should be like $25, and it lasts a while, so its not a big expense, and the welds come out sooo much better
IMO, either get something used, or just have someone else do it for now. Until you have the facilities (be it money, or acess) to get good stuff, you’ll only end up with sub par results. It’s fun to say you did it yourself, but if you’re going to be limited by your equipment you’ll just want to kick yourself in the nuts.
Find a friend that has a setup and learn on that.
10% duty cycle doesn’t equal 6 minutes. it is a rating of how long you can continuously weld at full power in a 10 minute period. ie: 10%=1 minute at full draw + 9 minutes of letting the welder cool down.
my bad, either way duty cycle can wind up pissin ya off
For what you want to do by the sounds of it, get a 110v MIG machine. It will do what your talking about.
I just pruchased one of theres and have to say its works great
http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/handler140.html
it has pretty decent and steady power for a 110 machine.
i have a 220 machinue but find it a pain for portablility for obvious reasons.
you get what you pay for and definatly think its workth the exta 1-200 bux
i got it in a sale for around 450 with free shipping.
Get a GOOD 110v mig, not some harbor frieght battery charger with a wire feeder. If you every try a good machine you will know the difference. I can weld 1/2 in single pass for a long time, most shitty welders can barely handle 16 guage for over a minute.