need to purchase reasonably priced MIG welder

[Rodney Nelson]

Hi Pelicans,

I'm going to be doing some rust repair and I'm on a budget. I need to purchase a MIG welder. What do you guys think about these welders below? Also, will I need gas?

I need to change out the front latch panel, cut out part of the front pan, replace the entire parcel shelf, replace both rear seat sections plus cut out and misc. weld areas, so it is going to get some use.

I would appreciate some well educated suggestions on whether the below units would work and which ones you would suggest. what about gas bottles can I add them and do I need them?

MIG Welder | MIG Welders | MIG Welding – Eastwood MIG 135 Welder

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Lincoln-Electric-120-Volt-MIG-Flux-Cored-Wire-Feed-Welder/999972168

https://www.harborfreight.com/170-amp-dc-240-volt-migflux-cored-welder-61888.html


Thanks for your help,

Rodney

[pete3799]

Of those three choices i'd go with the Eastwood.
You'll definitely want gas.
I've got a Hobart 140 you might want to check those out as well.

[lite75]

I've had one of those Lincoln welders for years, works great with shielding gas.

[Dpmulvan]

I've had an Eastwood for about 10 years it's ok welds fine just don't use the crappy wire it comes with and make sure to loosen the tensioner when your done welding. You want to weld with gas co2 argon mix, flux core is messy. Actually for cheap welders I would buy the ahp and tig weld all your panels in. I probably wouldn't have bought the Eastwood it was a gift but it's been a decent welder for occasional use and hasn't let me down yet.

[VWLoosenuts]

as a fabricator myself, I would go with the Eastwood. better to be able to control your wire speed and amps manually .


whatever you do DO NOT go with the harbor freight one. JB weld is better then those. joke but for real.

[bpu699]

Go on craigslist, you can get a MIG welder with tank for a good price.

When buying the welder, don't forget to figure in the cost of a the tank with co2/or argon. Don't get the smallest tank, you can run out of gas pretty quick.

Budget $200-300 for the tank and gas...

[dwiniger]

You get what you pay for on MIG welders. Gas is the ONLY way to go. I have a 30 year old Lincoln that works great. Find a used one on Craig's Lists.. I hear that some of the new MIG welders use a 120 Hz Cycle, which translates into less sputter, smoother and better penetration.... look around for places to fill your tank. I was filling up in the Big City of Columbus OHIO, and it was costing my around $50 to fill my tank......I found a farm equipment parts holeinthewall shop about 3 miles from my house in the country and it only costs me $17 with tax now.... that's the 75% Argon 25% CO2....

[jeff968]

I have a used Miller I got on eBay. Works great for 10 years now.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by jeff968

I have a used Miller I got on eBay. Works great for 10 years now.

+1

I have a Lincoln 220 MIG welder with gas. Two years now. It was $750 at Home Depot. Comparable Millers were $1,200 plus. Lincoln is great and I am getting better with it.

I don't think you can go wrong with a used Miller. They are better welders than Lincoln.

I know you are on a budget and I can appreciate that. I would rather see you buy a used quality welder with gas.

I believe that a 110 welder can do most anything a 220 welder can do save heavy welding. With cars, it's sheet metal and mufflers pipes. If it's heavy, replace part.

Gas is a must. You don't want Innershield.

[NY65912]

My Hobart 140 has served me well. I can do 22ga to 1/4". No matter which one you buy, practice and become familiar with it.

[Rodney Nelson]

I'm thinking about going TIG instead of MIG after watching a fair number of videos online. The control and quality of welds that you can achieve seem to be much better.

Any thoughts...?

And I'm considering this one...

Eastwood TIG 200 DC Welder

[962porsche]

tig is a bad move if it's your one and only welder .

[Jeff Alton]

We have a Miller 175 and a Snap-On mig. Both are excellent machines but the Snap-On machine is far easier for a less experienced welder.

Cheers

[82 sportsc]

Curious what makes the Snap On easier to use than the other MiG welders.
Also considering similar use as Rodney and new to using welders.
Thanks for input .
Also doing rudy repair panels.
Frank

[Tom '74 911]

I have a Miller 180 MIG machine and a Miller Dynasty 400 TIG machine. I would loudly echo 962porsche's comment and say that TIG is not the way to go if it's your only welder. TIG is also MUCH more of an acquired/learned skill. A decent MIG machine is a point and shoot affair - you can learn enough to join 2 pieces of metal together in 15 minutes. Get one w/gas for sure, not just flux core wire. Being able to adjust wire speed and Amps independently is really nice. I find that I use the settings chart on the welder as a starting point, but typically end up making adjustments after running a few test beads. My 180 MIG machine has the "AutoSet" feature, but I never use it as it never seems quite right to me.

If you can find someone to spend 30 minutes with you to show you the ropes and get you going with a few basic tips, you'll be years ahead. YouTube videos are great, but there is no substitute for an experienced, in-person teacher.

If you're mostly doing thin sheetmetal & materials, you don't need the biggest, baddest, highest Amp welder. A smaller one will likely do just as good a job if not better as you will only be using the low end of the Amp range anyway. The one caveat to that is that some of the cheaper welder's low range isn't low enough to work as easily on really thin sheetmetal. I think this is probably more applicable to TIG machines than MIG machines though.

You will never regret buying a nice welder, but I can guarantee you will curse a crappy one every time you use it...

Tom

[bpu699]

TIG is not a great choice...

WAAAYYY more difficult to do...

Metal needs to be spotless. Hard to do with any gaps. Hard to do if upside down. That being said, its a much prettier weld, and much stronger (usually).

Wit MIG, you can do somewhat rusty metal or metal that's not perfectly clean. The grinder is your friend.

I have both, and grab the MIG 90% of the time... I use the TIG mostly for structural joints where I want great penetration... or on aluminum...

[82 sportsc]

Just watched an Eastwood video and the 175 can join to panels together without punching one of the panels , just metal to metal for the weld and looks really great.
Anyone have experience with using the 175 with this approach?

[jass]

I used a millermatic 140 with gas for my sheet metal work. It did an excellent job. Try finding one on Craigslist used and you can probably sell it for about same cost when you finish your job if you decide you do not want to keep it

[ckissick]

It's been 6 years since the last post. Any new advice? Eastwood is always a good choice, it seems. Hobart 140 is highly rated and a good price.

[jonesb930]

I absolutely love my YES Welder. Ordered it on Amazon. Lots of reviews on YouTube. It was very easy to setup, works with both gas and gasless(flux) wire. I have only used it with gas. It will run on 120 standard outlet, or 220 if you need max output. It's super portable. I have a small tank so I can grab this, throw it in my trunk and roll anywhere with it.

Below is a link. It also comes with a stinger to do stick welding. It will even do tig (DC Only) if you buy the torch setup, but I already have a Miller Syncrowave 250 for that.

YESWELDER Digital MIG-205DS MIG Welder