I'm looking to purchase a welder to make a test pipe for my car and I was wondering where can I get a decent weld machine for like $200 bucks if that possible. I don't mean to sound like a noob but I'm just starting out and will eventually upgrade but for right now what could I get for $200. Also what is the difference between a mig and a tig welder?

anyone?

decent welder and $200 does not compute

Ok so school me let me know what options i have.

pay someone to make your test pipe?

My first welder was a 110v craftman GASLESS mig for under a 100$ with some discounts. It splattered like crazy, but if I prepped the metal right it helped and I learned a decent technique with it. I could achieve welds that were acceptable for exhaust parts and other misc small stuff. Hell, my first large project with it was my 55gal aquarium stand. Its still standing strong today. They are not the best looking welds, but I think a big advantage to starting out in less than ideal conditions is that if you can make it work with shitty equipment when you step up to a nice machine you are leaps ahead of where you would have been. Everyone is gonna tell you something different but IMO if you're just gonna be an occasional hobbist and you just need a way to tack together a few small pieces of metal a year then there is nothing wrong with a cheapy gasless mig. I would never try to make something structural with it, but it works just fine for ugly exhaust parts. (no manifolds obviously)

Btw I still use that welder when I just need to reattach an exhaust bracket or something similar. And I dont weld for a living either

DO NOT use flux cored wire. Save a little money and pick up a lincoln and get an 80/20 Ar/CO2 kit and weld all day. Great starter welder, great for little projects and practice. I run a Weld Pack 100 on and its a good start.

Flux cored welds will end up in THIS thread.

I bought a "cheap welder" and got a used Miller Syncrowave 180SD for 1200. If you can only afford a couple hundred, I would recommend paying someone to weld for you until you can afford a good unit.

no, improper technique will land you in there. with enough skill, you can make god looking beads with any process. its just the cheap welders have **** for a duty cycle and usually you cant fine tune the wire feed and voltage.

those are my only issues with the cheapy I have, no wire control & only 4 voltages. but like I said earlier,that helps build your control and improve your technique. the duty cycle on mine wasnt rated high, but Ive only tripped it once and that was when I was doing my fish tank stand. My beads with it on exhaust dont look like they're tigged, but they dont belong in the worst fab thread either.

Theres plenty of acceptable welders for a couple hundred bucks if your just looking for mild steel exhaust work. some people think only the best are acceptable and that you shouldnt even bother if you cant afford it.

heres a flux core (well dual shielded really) weld. 2 bead cover. its a crappy cell phone pic but it shows that flux core =/= **** welds. hell flux core welds are probably the strongest out there.




btw that outside corner weld passed, it was just dirty and the lighting made it look like it had alot of rollover which wasnt the case