Welding machines [Merged 9-7] welder weld TIG MIG

[trig]

i'm going to be making my own exhuast soon and want to weld it myself. does anyone know what type of welder will do the job? it's only goign to be for small things like exhuast and ic piping work.... stainless steel and regular steel.

thanx

o yea and does neone know if i can weld stainless steel and the reg steel together? or does it make a difference????

thnx

 

[punishercb]

I thought that the TIG welder could be used for any metal, not only aluminum.

Most likely, you were useing a MIG welder, it's a gun that you just pull the trigger and the wire feeds out to fill the weld. For a semi-experienced welder, definately go the MIG route like everybody else said. It's really easy, you just need to know what level of amps to use, wire feed speed and you're good to go.


Btw, for all of you TIG welders, how hard is it to TIG compared to arc and MIG welding? I can do a very good job with those, I just haven't tried TIG before since I can't find anybody with one. I understand the concept and how it works(I'm majoring in mechanical engineering technology) but I'd like to actually try it someday and become good at it. In my opinion, welding is almost an art just like maynard said.

 

[oddrob]

TIG will weld steel as well as aluminum. Tig can be a much cleaner, finer weld, although it takes a bit more practice to work it competantly. Migs are basically point and shoot, but for work thats not going to be judged in a show, they work great.

 

[maynard]

I thought that the TIG welder could be used for any metal, not only aluminum.

Most likely, you were useing a MIG welder, it's a gun that you just pull the trigger and the wire feeds out to fill the weld. For a semi-experienced welder, definately go the MIG route like everybody else said. It's really easy, you just need to know what level of amps to use, wire feed speed and you're good to go.


Btw, for all of you TIG welders, how hard is it to TIG compared to arc and MIG welding? I can do a very good job with those, I just haven't tried TIG before since I can't find anybody with one. I understand the concept and how it works(I'm majoring in mechanical engineering technology) but I'd like to actually try it someday and become good at it. In my opinion, welding is almost an art just like maynard said.

MIG is by far the easiest form of welding. Like it was said earlier in this thread, just pull the trigger. Regular arc welding or "stick" welding as it is sometimes called, is difficult to be good at too. I'm not a very good stick welder. Stick welding is dirty, produces alot of smoke from the flux that covers the rod, and you have to chip the slag off of your welds. Which if your machine is not setup right removing all the slag can be a pain cuz it will get burnt into the weld, leaving holes and a generally crappy looking weld. It's best used for thicker metals. Tig is harder than mig because you have to control your torch in one hand, and feed the filler metal in the other, trying to keep a steady arc, keeping your hnads steady,not sticking the electrode in your weld puddle, i could go on and on about all the fine points of TIG welding. It's really not that hard to fuse two pieces of metal together with it but it takes alot of practice get your welds to look pretty. Any one can do it with practice. As far as finding a cheap machine I'm not sure where to tell you to look. Everything I use is High dollar and comes from the big companies like Miller and Lincoln.

 

[gsx951]

I thought that the TIG welder could be used for any metal, not only aluminum.

You can do anything. I do a lot of tooling repair with welds on mild to high strength Tool Steels using TIG. Copper, Bronze,Titanium, Inconel are all weldable also.
The reason TIG is so identified with aluminum weldment is due to the ability to weld with alternating current.

Btw, for all of you TIG welders, how hard is it to TIG compared to arc and MIG welding? I can do a very good job with those, I just haven't tried TIG before since I can't find anybody with one. I understand the concept and how it works(I'm majoring in mechanical engineering technology) but I'd like to actually try it someday and become good at it. In my opinion, welding is almost an art just like maynard said.

If you want to TIG start with Gas Welding. It's a far less expensive deal to get started and the technique is the same except you don't use your feet. It will teach you puddle control that directly carries over to TIG. When I was in school, everyone started here.
If your a motorhead, having a oxy-acetylene set up is pretty nice, knowing how to use it is a bonus.
It's not too hard to pick TIG up. Getting really good requires lots of time with the machine.

 

[maynard]

Oxy-Fuel welding is a really good start. That's how I started. To 91 White TSI, I did a little research and your probably looking at paying $700 on up for a decent machine for either MIG or TIG. The cheaper TIG machines aren't very versitle for that price. Most of them are only DC, meaning you couldn't weld aluminum. You might be able to find some off brand welders for a lower price but I don't know. It's like buying stuff your DSM, you get what you pay for.

 

[Tallen]

TIG is wayyyy easier in my opinion, but way too expensive. Get the mig. And you can weld whatever with a TIG..not just aluminum...

 

[maynard]

I was planning on going with a mig but i had read and thought the tig was more useable but harder to use. my main problem with the tig is all of them are 220-240 and i dont wanna run a line to my workshop. i have it in my basement tho. I cant find the mig gas feed one for around the 250-300$ that someone mentinoed. i did find a tig for 199$ but i dont think its going to be the best thing to run......especially being 220v. I have some welding experience but if i were to get one i would just mess around with it till i felt good enough to true doing FMIC piping that will handle 20+ psi. links to quiltiy inexpensive welders would be appricated. thanks Dave

Here's a link to a welder that will weld up to 1/4" thick steel. It runs on 115v household current too. http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/...UCT&iMainCat=483&iSubCat=484&iProductID=11190

Hobart is a good brand too. You might just want to check out this whole site. They have all kinds of welders along with a bunch of other useful stuff http://www.eastwoodco.com

Check out http://www.weldingmart.com too.

 

[CyberEye]

to the guy who's saying a Tig can only weld aluminum and THATS IT.. what the crap are you smoking?

 

[Lunch_Box]

Just get a welder that can do it all; tig, mig, stick, flux, pulse tig, pulse mig.

 

[punishercb]

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I have welded with both stick and MIG. I like MIG better because it's simpler but stick is more challenging. I'm finally starting to get decent welds consistently. I'd actually like to fab my own exhaust system from the cat back but I've never welded pipe before. Is it even worth the hassle?

Also, just curious, does a TIG welder require a shielding gas just like MIG welding?

 

[juicyawturbo]

Tig is the hardest and most expensive type of welding. As one who on a daily basis is a welder, I personally would get a tig bc the welds are fenominal, you can stick weld on a tig machine(ac power), and I already know how to tig weld.
Now if I was just getting into welding and was only doing small projects(innercooler pipes,etc) I would just get a mig. So unless your really serios about learning the "art" of tig welding, just buy a mig. Thats so easy to learn even a monkey could learn it
hope I could help,
Genious

 

[Nanan]

TIG welding has a steep learning curve of balancing input current while maintaining torch distance and adding filler. With a few hours of time most will be able to pick up tig welding with at least a moderate skill. With enough time just about anyone who can drive a car can master tig welding.

With TIG you can weld just about any metal, tig is most known for in light metals such as aluminum but really you can tig anything you can stick or mig weld including some metals you can not stick weld like magnesium which can spark up on high heat saturation welding.

By far TIG gives the best cleanest weld for astetics, tig is also the best welding for when absolute material purity is critical as in many situations filler is not needed.

If you are going into fabrication then get a tig.
If your just working on cars stick to MIG for stuff like auto body, exhaust, and intake pipes.

Anyone can mig, I taught both my mother and sister to weld with my box for art projects, after like 20 mins they had it down np.

A good starter setup would be a Lincon WeldPack 125 or 3200.

Both MIG and TIG use argon shielding gas.

 

[goonie]

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I have welded with both stick and MIG. I like MIG better because it's simpler but stick is more challenging. I'm finally starting to get decent welds consistently. I'd actually like to fab my own exhaust system from the cat back but I've never welded pipe before. Is it even worth the hassle?

Also, just curious, does a TIG welder require a shielding gas just like MIG welding?

yes it does require sheilding gas and when you are welding stainless steel you also have to let gas flow into the pipe when you are welding that will keep the welds smooth on the inside( for exhausts and intercooler piping)
in my opinion the best to weld with is tig you can weld all kinds of steel and with a litle practice you get nice welds better looking than mig

 

[Omega]

A good starter setup would be a Lincon WeldPack 125 or 3200.

Both MIG and TIG use argon shielding gas.

Good info. I wish I could afford a decent TIG machine.

MIG doesn't have to use gas.

I have the WeldPak 100 HD (i think) It didn't come with the shielded gas kit. If you want to make even half decent welds.. use the gas. The fluxcore crap is for the birds.

 

[Slo TSI]

Looking to do some custom work on my car. Mainly exhaust work. I want to make it a hobby and learn to weld. So what type of welding machine do you guys recommend for exhaust work. Btw I want something that you can get out of sears at a reasonable price. Not any high tech stuff. I don't plan to start my own line of exhaust. Thanx for the replys in advance.

 

[Booster2k]

If you can wire up 220 go with a 220 mig welder, if not the biggest amp 110 you can afford. For exhaust work ###### any decent mig welder 125amp or better should do. But if you ever want to weld other things bigger is better.

 

[lastone]

I have the Lincoln MIG 135. in my opinion it’s the best 110v mig available. It’s very simple to use but makes great results. It is available through sears (http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00920667000 ) but you will pay more. I picked mine up for about 400 on sale at lowes. What ever you do stay away from anything fluxcore, always use gas.

 

[Slo TSI]

Thanx for the info guys I think I will go with a mig welder with gas. Others please add helpfull info if you have other opinions.

 

[kenamond]

You might also consider taking a welding class. Most high schools offer night classes for like $60. That'll teach you how to do it right and will probably go into brazing, stick, and MIG on steel and TIG on steel and aluminum. If you find you have the knack for welding, then you could do a WHOLE LOT more to your car with that skill (custom headers, intakes, roll cages, etc.).

 

[01QuadDak]

A 120 volt mig welder with gas will do just about anthing that you are going to do to a car.
I like miller, i have a 135XP, cost me around 600 for the welder, and anothe 100 for the gas setup. Its a toss up between miller and lincoln for welders, stay away from the ones that thye sell at wallmart/homedepot/harbor freight, the guts inside of them are junk. go to a real welding supply place and if you buy a welder from them they can set you up with some good tips, and better prices.

 

[Primaveria]

I am going to agree with what every on has been saying, stay away from flux cored. I think the Miller 135 is better than the Lincoln, Miller uses metal where Lincoln uses plastic in a few places. I would suggest going to your local welders supply over sears, the price will be only slightly higher but you will get in most cases a lot better service and discounts on gas. MIG welding is incredible easy, but I would still recommend taking a class (which in a lot of cases the welding supplier will provide at very little cost if you buy from them). Your shielding gas that you will need will be c25 (25% CO2 75% Argon) or you could get away with just CO2 which will be cheaper than c25, I personally prefer spending the extra money on c25. Also I would buy a good 4 ½ in angle grinder if you don't already have one. If both Lincoln and Miller are too expensive than look at Hobart they are owned by miller, there 140 is about $150 cheaper than Millers 135, also Hobart's "weld talk" forum is pretty good.

 

[Slo TSI]

Thanx for the info guys.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Another thing you might want to consider is the helmet. They are not cheap, you can find cheap ones, but do you want to put your eyesight at risk to save 50 bucks or so? I would say find a nice 300-400$ welding helmet with the auto dim lens and computer in it. The helmets you can program are awesome because you can actually see what you are doing both when you are welding and when you are getting ready to pull the trigger. Its kind of hard to see where you are aimed when the lens is one of the "always dark" lenses, theres just not enough light at all for those.

 

[billys90tsi]

Ok the question for you is have u ever welded before if not i would go with a mig non gas if u have i would go with a mig or a tig welder. When i was tought by my dad i learned the CHEAP way we went out and bought a 200amp battery charger engine starter he cut the cables and turned them into a stick welder. I know its ghetto but hey it really works.

 

[bartels903]

I'm looking to buy a cheap welder to start messing around and teaching myself how to weld. I'm not sure what kind I want, MIG or TIG, if anybody would like to chime in on which I should get and a good place to buy them for decently priced.