Best welder?

I am looking for a good welder i just need a welder for the car i dont want an expensive welder just the cheapest welder that will work the best with fixing rust and stuff.

 

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200306073_200306073

Probably the cheapest you are going to find, and a decent welder... you could try local pawn shops for a good Lincoln or Miller mig.

I will warn you though (as I just went through this with buying a Lincoln 140) all the necessary items to go along with the welder start to add up...

you'll need a set of tips for the wire you going to run (ditch the flux core stuff for body use) I use .025 wire when I am doing sheetmetal work, you can turn the heat down to help keep the metal from blowing out.

you'll also need a bottle with gas (cost me $140 for a 60 cu ft bottle filled, but I own the bottle)

a good set of gloves, a decent auto darkening helmet and a grinder with some different wheels...cut off, grinding, sandpaper wheel for finishing, wire wheel.. all in all, if i didn't have a lot of the stuff already I would have spent about $900, but instead only spent about $550... I got my welder from a buddy lightly used and a year old for $250... so I suggest looking around

 

Lincoln...Miller...or Hobart are all excellent quality welders.You cant go wrong with any of the above.Make sure you get one that works with the electrical service you have available...IE: 110 volts or 220 volts.If you have a 220 service where you will be working...get a 220 volt welder.As Fat Tony stated you will need a few good grinding tools for finishing and prepping.A grinder is a welders best freind...Good luck!!!

 

cheapest way to go is with a stick electrode welder, if it is just for body patchwork all you need is a stick ac welder with a maximum of 90 amps. For body panels you will only run the machine at 60 amps burning 3/32 6011 electrodes. You can also use a wire feeder using flux-core wire, you will not need an argon mixture tank or regulator (mig kit). Home Depot has either one of them for $269 and all you would need is electrodes or a spool of wire and a cheap welding hood which will cost you around $20 for each.





Anything thicker on a car you would run at about 90 amps on a stick welder and settings change for a mig.

 

Buy a good helmet...Your vision is priceless...

 

welders just seem way to expensive

 

A good one is but...once you get good all your freinds will want you to weld stuff for them and you can recoup some of the cash...

 

My uncle tried to kill a Lincoln hd 3200 (110v mig with the bottle hookup).... it survived! he was very impressed with it, and suggested that i be my first welder.

 

As long as the lense is good the helmet can be a cheapo. For now you can use a harbor freight $80 110V stick welder if you are only doing body panels, they use 5/64" 6011 electrodes and they are not bad for these type of jobs.

 

Just my experience here.. if you have never welded anything before, stay away from the stick and flux core. Stick is a little too tricky to learn on body panels for a newb welder IME and flux core is just a pain in the a$$

 

My apologies, born of a family of blacksmiths and welders I always had access to welding machines since I can remember. In that sense I guess I was blessed to have learned it in my very early years.

 

same here, but it took me a solid 2 weeks of welding to learn how to properly start and keep an arc going with a stick, I'm now pretty decent with it on heavy gauge stuff. Body panels on the other hand, lets not go there. I never really tried to weld anything thinner than .119 before, so learning on 18 gauge was a tad tricky for me, but I have go it down pretty decent now.. I grew up in a family of craftsmen welders (my mom was an ornamental iron worker..handrails and such, did several country music singers houses and actor/actresses in Nashville) so I learned early on how to lay a bead, definitely not as pretty as theirs or as quick getting there, but it gets the job done... I chose to take up a different line of work Industrial Maintenance, so I get to play with a little bit of everything

 

I like the millermatics. I'm new to welding and they aren't too hard to use. My uncle's been in auto body for years and went to a tech school for welding. after starting welding in autobody and uncle Jeremy showing me some more basics, he let me weld on his 68 mustang putting in a new floorpan. it turned out pretty good. some of my welds looked as good as his, some looked like a kindergartener got a hold of the welder. but millers are easier than lincolns for me.

 

We have a millermatic 175 and it works good. I got the hang of it in a couple days. I would definately get a mig with gas.

 

Those are good welders I am running the Hobart equivalent the Handler 140(Hobart was bought out by miller a couple of years ago)
I run it both on gas and on Flux core, it depends on the conditions I am in. If I am welding outside in the sunshine I usually run flux core but if I take it over and run it in my buddys shop(married with kids so that means I am broke and cant afford a shop) I will run it on gas.
I have been welding off and on for about 10 years, I can run mig, tig(on steel I suck on aluminum and stainless) and arc.