Just looking to do some rust repair,don’t really care about how the welds look as long as it gets the job done. Never done any welding before either so I don’t need anything top of the line,just somehting that works well that won’t break the bank.
What type of welder should I be looking for? Brands? Voltage? Specific details would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
as far as body work is concerned you won’t need anything more than a 110v unit. I prefer Miller but any cheap gas (75%argon/25%co2) mig will work. you will only need really low amperage so a low model of really any wire feed machine will do you. For body work try and do small amounts at a time and have a wet rag ready to cool the welds right after doing them, the less heat that goes into each panel the less distortion you will get. This is very important unless yo want to hammer and dolly for a long time or use tons of bondo… :vom:
Yeah, cheap is good. especially if your only going to be doing bodywork with it. Body is about the least demanding thing you can do with a welder. Pickup a cheap Miller gas like Lange said. And if you have never welded before don’t, for the love of god, take it to your car the first time out. Buy a door or hood or something from a wrecker and spend a couple days practicing. Welding isn’t exactly rocket science (hell, you could teach a monkey to weld :E ) but burning a big hole in your car is even easier.
Out of curiosity, what would the unit Jason describes cost?
A half decent mig will cost anywhere from 800-2000 for a 110v unit. Plus a bottle and fill on the gas.
I dont think you guys need the best of the best. I got the DECA 180e or somthing like that from P-Auto and after I got my cart and mask and bottle and wire change I think it was just under a grand and I was ready to go. Anybody can use these welders and they can do some pretty thick stuff if needed. I have to keep it on the lowest setting for sheet metal work and you can damn near weld rail road spikes together with it if you really wanted. Jason and rob can both vouch for this welder prob the best bang for your buck!
i like the Miller and the Lincoln Electric. the LE SP135 is a great 110V welder and it’s very easy to setup and use. plus there’s a steel gauge chart on the inside panel on how to set your dials for eash thickness of steel.
Don’t listen to any of these guys! They are full of crap. At the very least you’ll need this…
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/stick/gold_star_652/
This is like the bare minimum you need for body work. You’ll need some 1/4" 6010 rod and turn the machine up to AT LEAST 600 amps.
:E
HAhahahahaha, you are right though at least 600 amps, don’t forget it has to be straight 6010, no 5p+ guys.
go princess or crapy tire , grab a lincoln, they also sell gas at princess , for body work any welder from above 2 places will do , unless ur body work envolves frame…
get some scrap metal to practise with , u also gonna need a grinder with a good disk, aleays wear a full mask+coveralls. set right temp+gas ratio go hard
…again always have the mask +coveralls…last year i was wearing sandals mfucker was i ever dumb a weld dripped in betwen my tows, i wish i had videocamera , will never weld without boots again , .than my mask went missing one night and i decided that 3-4 short beeds to finish of my downpipe won’t do any bad without the mask , if i look away …wrong again,my eye’s were messed for 2 days , …so yah please wear that shiet
Yeah definatly have some proper PPE, I once spaced on a 12km pipeline with no tinted glasses or nothing, flash is bad!
Haha build your own!
A guy at work told me about this guy who made his own welder…plugged it in and work, well the unit worked great, except it blew every breaker in the building and half of the store for some reason didn’t work so they had to call an electrician.
You set the volts and wire speed with MIG (GMAW) and you dont set a gas “ratio”, you set the flowmeter which is different than a regulator.
TIG is where it’s at. 8) … I’ve love ot have the cash to buy a hi-quality new one.
You set the volts and wire speed with MIG (GMAW) and you dont set a gas “ratio”, you set the flowmeter which is different than a regulator.[/quote]
well yah u right i just didn’t word it properly 
, and isn’t flowmeter a regulator itself , cuz it regulates amount of gas u using ?
You set the volts and wire speed with MIG (GMAW) and you dont set a gas “ratio”, you set the flowmeter which is different than a regulator.[/quote]
well yah u right i just didn’t word it properly , and isn’t flowmeter a regulator itself , cuz it regulates amount of gas u using ?[/quote]
Regulator= pressure, flowmeter=cfm
I got 2… 
Hello, I’d just like to add some question and comments of my own as well.
I’m planning on purchasing a Lincoln Electric MIG-Pak 15. My parents garage was pre-wired with 230V line in the garage. (plug in looks like the one for the dryer) And I looked at the breaker in the panel which says 20 Amps on it also ( <-- I think ).
I plan on doing body work welding and would like to venture into stainless welding (say for exhaust / intake piping) and eventually to roll cage fabrication (or frame/chassis welding)… from what I have ‘read’ this MIG-Pak 15 seems to be able to do what I would like.
Canadian Tire is currently selling this for: $749.99 (says the website)
Prax Air in the Fort says for a medium sized bottle, yearly rental of $70 and around $60 to fill on Argon…
Does this seem to be a sound purchase? Are there other welding machines anyone may suggest?
Thanks
Link to Lincoln Electric MIG-Pak 15 site: http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.asp?p=9735
Sounds like it’ll do the job for what you’re looking for. You can’t go wrong with Miller and Lincoln.
Get yourself a half decent welding helmet though. That handshield is BS. If you don’t want to spring for a photo-electric helmet, you can buy a photo-electric lens that’ll fit in any helmet.