what about welders

The French Dude

New Member
Hi guys!
I am in the market for welders.
I would like to weld muffler tubes, smalls parts on frame that's it.

What welder I need? I am a little bit confused about that.

Thank you.
 
get a small MIG welder (with gas) and take a course in welding
 
Miller or Lincoln... its like John Deer and International Harvester... both good but both have an almost cult like following

Buy a Harbor Freight Mig welder and the bottle first, unless you plan to become a shop and weld a ton of metal a month you don't need to spend the money. Youtube and lots of practice is your friend if you don't plan to take a course.

Look on C-List

Great welder:

https://memphis.craigslist.org/tls/5501295566.html

Great deal:

https://memphis.craigslist.org/tls/5472397707.html
 
Tune,
I think he is in a part of the world that doesn't have a Harbor Freight given the way he writes and his Handle being "The French Dude"
 
They have princess auto. Same thing.

I go against the grain here.
Save up a bit and get yourself a tig welder.
I haven't touched my mig since I went tig.
 
We do have princess auto and the welders there are overpriced junk for what they are.

French Dude, you can find good welders on Kijiji.........let me know when you are ready to buy because I may be selling my Tig, its a starter Tig from Eastwood 200amp. Works great and have welded lots of things with it, I want to get something else with more adjustment on it.
 
SONIC. said:
They have princess auto. Same thing.

I go against the grain here.
Save up a bit and get yourself a tig welder.
I haven't touched my mig since I went tig.

I dont agree, I have both and both have application, tig is much nicer but I grab my mig gun for hot glue welds and tack welds, no need for filler one handed operation so you can hand clamp mig is cheaper to operate for a newb also.
 
both mig and tig have definite pro's and cons. I would recommend (and remember this is just opinion) getting a mig machine first. When you do, get one that has the shielding gas option. You can use flux electrode until you save up the scratch again to buy a tank and regulator setup, but its good to have that option down the road.

Tig is great, but there is no two ways about it, there is more of a learning curve to using it and the initial investment is much greater (usually). Some people get along fine with just a 110 mig for everything they want to do, some move up to the next best later on. When working alone, Tune makes a great point about one handed operation, much better with mig.

Most Tig machines are also stick machines as well. So there is another pro down the road if you have some "heavier" fabrication to do, but aren't super great for bike building, but again the option is there.

when you get one www.weldingtipsandtricks.com will be your best friend. The guy that does the videos is both knowledgeable and down to earth. Its a great resource.

In my opinion if you go with tig and have the scratch for a new quality machine, Lincoln has their new 200 amp square wave inverter tig "ready pack" on the market for $1400 or so. I just got 10 of them for my lab, and im very impressed. Comes with everything you need to get started minus the shielding gas tank. (pedal, regulator, torch, collets, stick leads ect.) 110 or 220. Plus, if you want to dabble in aluminum, its the beez kneez. The inverter allows you to run a sharpened tungsten on aluminum, which is very handy!
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
I dont agree, I have both and both have application, tig is much nicer but I grab my mig gun for hot glue welds and tack welds, no need for filler one handed operation so you can hand clamp mig is cheaper to operate for a newb also.

I don't do hot glue welds ;D and tack welding works fine with the tig, sometimes you do need magnets though.
If I were to just own one welder, it would be a tig. It can do everything the mig can do and way more. The opposite does not hold true.

I do use my mig for welding on stuff i don't care about like conveyors and machinery, but that's just because it's much more portable. If I had the tig on a cart I would use it.
 
Mans a welding instructor ^^

To add if going tig up front... Buy a lot of little stainless wire brushes resistance to using the one just for aluminum is futile.
 
Kamn said:
Tune,
I think he is in a part of the world that doesn't have a Harbor Freight given the way he writes and his Handle being "The French Dude"

My English is not good ? ;D
You right I don't know "Harbor Freight"...
 
SONIC. said:
They have princess auto. Same thing.

I go against the grain here.
Save up a bit and get yourself a tig welder.
I haven't touched my mig since I went tig.

Absolutely agree, for frames and light metal work a TIG is damn near perfect. And Princess Auto sells AC/DC models for $1200 including gauges, torch, and foot controller, or you could buy a DC inverter from them for around $500 with torch and gauges. That will allow you to weld steel and stainless, you need an AC/DC unit if you want to weld Aluminum.
 
Tell the truth.

You need filler rod, you need tungsten, you need gas, you need a regulator with a purge line for some welding, you need a grinder for sharpening tungsten, and no you cant just use any tungsten and likely 50 sharp electrodes to learn to just fusion weld, don't forget to clean clean clean with clean brushes.

Yep I love my heliarc welder... Buy a mig and be happy :eek:
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
Tell the truth.

You need filler rod, you need tungsten, you need gas, you need a regulator with a purge line for some welding, you need a grinder for sharpening tungsten, and no you cant just use any tungsten and likely 50 sharp electrodes to learn to just fusion weld, don't forget to clean clean clean with clean brushes.

Yep I love my heliarc welder... Buy a mig and be happy :eek:
This goes both ways.
For MIG you need wire, you need gas, you need a regulator, you need a grinder (to grind back ugly welds) you need tips, etc

At this point I'm just arguing to argue.
Suffice it to say everyone has their own preference.
 
SONIC. said:
This goes both ways.
For MIG you need wire, you need gas, you need a regulator, you need a grinder (to grind back ugly welds) you need tips, etc

At this point I'm just arguing to argue.
Suffice it to say everyone has their own preference.

Really?

Flux core. If you ain't got no grinder you ain't need no welder. You can make aesthetically pleasing welds with MIG process too dang it! 8)

BSA gusset welded with my cheap Lincoln 180 MIG running on 110AC power
 

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I picked up a Lincoln MIG on Kijiji (Canada) after taking a 6 hour course at a local college. I had a Lincoln 180 on 220v power but traded it to a good friend Paul for his 140a 120v model as he needed more power than I did, and he helped me out a ton on my SR500.

I managed this with the Lincoln 140a welder at the college during my 6 hour course:

2013-02-09143940_zpsbd4a6d85.jpg
 
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