Hello, I'm trying to teach myself how to weld so i can do some basic applications such as custom exhausts and other crap.... I basically need some opinions and info on what welder i should get or any pointers in the process of doing this. What type of welder should i get, Mig Tig Arc? I wanna get what ever is the most versitile and best for all around use.... Should i get a automatic wirefed welder or not? What are the essential tools beyond the welder? I am looking to spend up to ~300 or so on a kit.... Please help me out....

 

You won't get a TIG for $300. You won't get a decent MIG for $300 either. With a decent MIG (Miller/HH or Lincoln 135 amp machines) and a bottle of gas, you'll be at $550-600.

 

Im looking for a mig also. A decent mig is going to run 600.00 I was told do it right the first time because the nice mig is soemthing I can keep for a long time. With a non gas piece of **** I will want to upgrade and then just kick the old one to the curb side wasting all that 99.00 on a wal mart welder.

 

i have a $300 Craftsman mig welder that does the tacking while the Miller Syncrowave 180 does the tig for the finish welds. it depends what you wanna do. my mig did fine for things like strut bars and dumb stuff like that. i just ground the welds down and painted them and you couldnt tell

 

Does anyone else know of any cheaper welders that will work decently? Also, what type of metals are used for tig and mig? For work with exhausts, sheet metal and aluminum... what would u use? Also, there are a few welders sold at home depot that are lincoln electric... this one perticularly looks like a good price.... let me know what u think...

http://www.homedepot.com/prel8...=9876

 

i think you gave the wrong link

if you wanna do aluminum then you need AC. you can do aluminum with a mig but you need a spool gun and its not nearly as clean as a tig. sheet metal you just need something where you can turn the amps down a lot on DC current which is mostly all welders have DC

personally i would recommend a tig if you wanna do aluminum but it needs to have AC and they get costly. the cheapest one is around the Miller Econotig which will run about $1200-1300 brand new. you could always find a used machine. a lot of guys find Syncrowave 250's and 350's for around $800 if theyre pretty old and that will do anything you throw at it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nickyj1211 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Does anyone else know of any cheaper welders that will work decently? Also, what type of metals are used for tig and mig? For work with exhausts, sheet metal and aluminum... what would u use? Also, there are a few welders sold at home depot that are lincoln electric... this one perticularly looks like a good price.... let me know what u think...

http://www.homedepot.com/prel8...=9876
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did you mean this one?


I think probaly there are more people on here that have this welder then any other, I've never had any problems with it and have use it a lot! You can hook up the gas to it aswell so its a pretty good deal for a mig.

 

Im actually looking into that same welder for my first one. Any input is appreciated since im have very little welding experience other than my friend helping me out. I just plan on using it for odds and ends like charge pipes/exhaust stuff etc.

 

I asked the same question a while back...

here you go..enjoy

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1059649