your opinion counts please

[underdog911]

Gentlemen and ladies
what be best mig welder for undertaking floor pan and other sheet metal on1969 porsche 911?
thank you
Jimmy

[pors1968]

Look on tech forums they had thread on welder

[underdog911]

Thankyou

[drcoastline]

I'm not a professional welder and as pors1968 said search tech you'll get some good responses. There are also quite a few good auto and welding forums to search. millerwelds.com, autobody101.com, weldingweb.com and a bunch others. That being said sheet metal is light weight welding. You don't need anything heavy duty or overly fancy. You can get a mig that runs on 110v house current. IMHO if you won't be welding anything heavier than 1/4" and be using it as a DYI welder a unit like the Lincoln K-2185, Eastwood 135 which I think is a rebranded Lincoln or Hobart 140 will work fine. Make sure you get gas units. When you get into heavier gauge steel you will want to look into something more powerful.

[underdog911]

Thankyou

[TC911e]

I bought a Hobart 140, from Northern Tool if remember right, and it's worked fine for me. I don't have any experience with other machines to compare it to, but this one has worked for me. My brother has a similar set up as well. Most of what I've used it for is the rust repair on my '69 (which is all thin stuff), and the construction of an octisserie (which maybe .125 wall tube).

[mcaterino]

I'll second everything Tim just said. I did all the welding on my '70 restoration project with a Hobart Handler 140 (and there was a lot!). I even got it from Northern Tool. It's all I've ever used, so I can't say there are better solutions out there, but it's relatively inexpensive, and it will do the job just fine.

Mike

[underdog911]

Thank you guys for input!

[bgyglfr]

I bought a used miller 130. It has been great for me. I think the new version is a 140 now. The only thing I think I would want that mine doesn't have is a infinite dial. Mine only has four settings. Sometimes I wish I could get between two settings or dial mine lower than number 1. Definitely need gas too.

[Joscarlang]

As a full time, professional welder I will say this:
As far a Mig welders go; when you are using them for light tacks there really isnt much difference. I use a Miller Millermatic 211 at work daily. It has a auto set feature which can be nice but it can also be really fussy. I use the Mig at work primarily for tacking up jigs and stuff and then I switch over to our big Lincoln tig. When using a mig to tack up thin 20g sheet metal you don't really need anything fancy. The more expensive welders are expensive because they have features that enable laying big heavy beads on thick material with deep penetration.

In my workshop at home I have a small Lincoln mig. I bought it used from a friend and I think he got it at home depot. Its not an expensive machine probably around $150 new.
On clean material (no paint, rust or grime) use steel wire and a 75-25 argon gas mix. On semi rusty, not so spotlessly clean material use a flux core wire and no gas. (You can use flux core wire on either and get a good weld but you will need to do more clean up afterwards).
Regardless of which wire you will primarily use, get a welder that can use gas. That way if you want to buy a tank and a regulator in the future you can.

[underdog911]

Thank you for the input!

[guywithpporsche]

Wow great info here for a new user of the site

[pors1968]

I use Lincoln mig pack 10 whith flux core .35 very happy use it for last 15 years had 9 cars resto.

[abisel]

I got this machine years ago and gave it an upgrade kit from a larger maching to give it spot and stitch. Great little machine

[underdog911]

Thank you everyone lots of useful info! And pics! Hopefully helps other pelicans too

Jimmy

[Jcslocum]

We picked up a used Miller Cricket on CL for cheep $$. For the welding we do on the bodywork, it does just fine. We use the .025 wire and gas shielding for nice clean stitch welds. We have started to TIG weld now that my daughter has gone to class for this type of welding. Less heat, softer weld material, overall better welds. More expensive and harder to master tho. We bought an Eastwood TIG for her for Xmas last year and it has been excellent. We had the regulator gauge go funky and they sent a new one, no questions asked. Very easy to deal with.

[gestalt1]

You should know that welders hold there value very well. Buying a better welder helps with resale so the cost for your project would be less than getting a cheap welder. I have a Hobart 140 mostly because the shipping was cheap from northern tool. It works great but the key is how you prep. Don't wast the time trying flux core- invest in a tank.