I've always wanted to learn to weld but never had anyone to teach me. So I'm saying he11 with it and plan to teach myself by reading, watching videos, and having at some scrap metal.

What type and size of welder would you recommend for hobby related stuff like welding a stiffening plate to a Lower control arm, torque strap bracket to k-frame, maybe patches to floor panel, subframe connectors, windshield channel patches...etc.

Thanks in advance
roe

Don't buy a Harbor Freight!!

I bought a Lincoln SP135 and really like it and it will do anything you need to weld on your project. You will want to use a 75/25 mix of argon and CO2. Straight CO2 is cheaper but produces a lot more splatter and equates to more cleanup.

Don't use self shielding wire, too messy of welds and makes welding thin panels somewhat difficult.

Below is a link for one from Eastwood that is worth checking into. The price is very reasonable for a mig welder for what you are describing.

http://www.eastwood.com/mig-welder-110vac-135a-output.html

Miller 211

Sounds like you are looking at Gas Metal Arc Welding process - GMAW, also commonly known a MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding.
A 110-Volt, single phase machine (140+ Amp) with 75/25 mix of Argon/CO2 gas and 0.023" to 0.030" wire should do most of what you mentioned, welding 3/8" and thinner carbon steel. I recommend staying with well known brands like Miller, Lincoln, Hobart, ESAB/Tweco because replacement parts and service are easier to get for them lesser known import brands.

Downside is the brand name MIG machines prices start near $600 (with reguator.) Also need to add around $200+ for the gas bottle. Prices vary depending on bottle size and discounts. It is best to call around locally to compare prices.

Do not buy a cheap flux core only machine. Any MIG machine can do flux core wire, but it is messy and will wish you had the solid wire with gas.

There are also multi-process machines that will do MIG, stick, and TIG.
These machines are more expensive, mainly because they require addition cables and electrode holders. The stick welding function (Shielded metal arc welding - SMAW) could be useful on thicker steel or welding outdoor where the MIGs shield gas may be blown away by wind.
On these lower cost machines, the TIG (Gas tungsten arc welding - GTAW) function is pretty limited to fixed current DC lift-tig. This might be useful on thinner sheet metal or tight places where the MIG gun won't fit, but the TIG torch will, and maybe to learn basic TIG.

As you go up in price you get more output power, functions, and higher duty cycle.

The ESAB Rebel EMP 215ic Multi-Process machine they have been prompting on Power blocks Extreme Offroad looks nice if you want to learn to weld the different process. This is a dual-input machine so you can plug it in a 110-volt outlet and MIG weld up to 130 Amps @ 20% duty cycle or plug into 230-volt outlet and weld up to 205 Amps @ 25% duty cycle.

http://www.esabna.com/us/en/products/ind...=9504&tab=1

These seem to be selling for $1437 on cyberweld.com or $1435 on weldingsuppliesfromioc.com

Both web stores have good prices on welders.

Duty cycle is the amount of time you can weld in a 10-minute period, so 20% is 2-minutes welding, 8-minutes cool-off time. These ratings are at max power output, so normally you will be welding at a fraction of the max output and duty cycle will be higher. The welder instructions should have a chart of the duty cycle at different outputs based on the input power used.

When I was looking up the machine prices, I noticed Cyberweld has a Tweco Fabricator 181i Multi-process machine that is only $599
http://store.cyberweld.com/tharcfa18miw.html

Machine looks nice, but I think it is 230-Volt input power only?
I have never used one of these, but it has good reviews on the web site?

1971 GranCoupe: thanks for the link. That looks like something that I could pick up to get me started. It's funny you say no to Harbor Freight. That's where I was when I made my decision. I went in for some casters and left with a 20 ton press that I've been eyeing for a long time. Anywho, I saw their's and thought I might as well. You don't think anything they have to offer is worthwhile?

451Mopar: what do you think about the one in the link? I can't see myself spending $1k to play around with a welder. Something more along the price in the link is what I'm looking to spend. $200-400 is my window.

What do you guys think about stick welding. It was one that I read up on briefly. Is that one easier for learning? Effective for what I'm looking for?

If your really going to be doing alot of welding work on your projects, you will outgrow or get tired of some of the limitations of the Eastwood welder. The first issue you will notice is the ground and gun cables are only 8' long, so the welder will have to be pretty close to where you are welding.
The Tweco multi-process machine has a 12' gun and 10' ground cable. It dosen't sound like much, but 50% longer gun makes a big difference in what you can reach to weld.
Next is the output power/duty cycle. The Eastwood welder is only 90-Amps/20% duty cycle. Compared to 180 Amps/20% duty cycle.
This will really limit the thickness of metal you can weld, and how long you can weld.
If you look at the settings chart for the Eastwood machine 12-Awg (0.105") maxes out the machine, so for those LCA stiffing plates, you will likely have the machine maxed out to weld them... and only for 2-minutes every 10-minute period.

I guess the question is how serious are you about doing the welding, it does take some practice before jumping into the work you really want to do. A friend who never welded before tried his hand at welding on a quarter panel, and after a day of making little progress he gave up and sent the car to professional bodyman.

I have to admit I started with a 125 Amp Hobart mig welder I bought 20-years ago, and it has served me well, but I still had to crank it to its highest setting when welding anything much over 1/8" thick. This welder was over $500 way back then.

Just a few months ago I bought this TIG setup
http://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.com/mi...CFZKCaQodwxYEqw

I see little Millers and Lincolns on local internet classifieds fairly regularly.

Lots of info here.
http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

Videos here.
http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

451 I saw that welder on the show.Looks like a nice piece.When i bought my mig I had only 110.Its ok but sure do wish I had a 220 or one like that so you can go 110/220.Rocky

The cheap welders are worthless IMHO! I am a Lincoln fan. I have a 25+ year old Lincoln SP100 and a newer PowerMig 180C. The smaller one does most of what I need and I use it most of the time. Its great for sheet metal. The other one is a bit big for sheet metal so I don't use it for that.

In addition, the Lincoln units bought at Lowes or Home Depot are not the same as the ones bought from a welding shop. The drive units have plastic parts in the wire drive and they are just not as good.

I would be looking around for a good used unit if you can't spend the money on a good new new.

Over time you will be glad you spent the money on a quality unit.

I have one of these and love it. I just got another small roll of flux core wire and will use it with the c25 gas. This process is called dual shield welding and produces near perfect welds for newbies. Before I bought the welder, I took a refresher course at the local VoTech school called "Welding for Gearheads". I got to use all the welders in this Saturday afternoon class, OxyAcetylene, Arc, Mig, Tig and Plasma cutters, too. We used the Lincoln and Miller units. I was able to drop some bad habits and develop my skills. One guy brought in a HF flux machine and it was OK, but limited

If you are welding outdoors with any kind of a breeze around you the c25 envelope will be blown away leaving you with a contaminated weld.

"A 110-Volt, single phase machine (140+ Amp) with 75/25 mix of Argon/CO2 gas and 0.023" to 0.030" wire should do most of what you mentioned, welding 3/8" and thinner carbon steel."

Sorry, but you are not welding 3/8" with a 140 amp machine with any confidence, most everything else on this thread is pretty standard info.

A bigger, 220v welder will give you much more flexibility down the road. Stick with a name brand. I don't consider Eastwood a "name brand". I personally don't care for multi-purpose machines. The only downside to the larger welders is they often only accept the large spools of wire but a creative person can usually figure out how to mount a small spool.

Regardless of what you buy - ALWAYS keep your wire dry. The most frequent cause of mig malfunctions is rusty wire from just sitting in the machine - normal humidity will take its toll. If you don't think you'll use the welder for a while (a day in hot, humid weather!), take the spool off and seal it in a plastic bag.

The actual mig process is easy - I could teach you all of the most common techniques in about an hour. But its the practice that yields the solid, good looking welds - so find a bunch of scraps, read up a bunch, watch a ton of videos and go and practice.

This is hilarious but April Fools was Friday! This is like wearing suspenders AND a belt - totally unnecessary. Learn to weld with either/or but both is a crutch you'll never get rid of.

And to the point of producing "near perfect" welds, lets focus on that. First the word "near" - so they're still not "perfect" so why bother! Second, the shielding plays such a small role in the whole scheme of things that using two shielding methods is ridiculous. Torch angle, stickout, voltage/amperage settings and speed of travel play a much larger role in the quality of the weld. Shielding ... you set the gas flow and forget it!

Seriously, you don't take advice from a "beginner" on how to weld !!

Some features you want to look for in a Mig welder are adjustability of the wire speed and the heat range. Most cheaper machines only have 2 settings - low and hi switches for either adjustment; better machines have rotary knobs for more fine adjustments. You also want to consider the availability of the consumables for a given machine, like tips, gas shield, etc. Foreign made stuff may require one-off, hard to get replacements - more common makes are easier to get consumables for.

Settle on the kind of welding you think you'll be doing the more of, and the power source you have available to you. 220 volt may require some electrical wiring to install the proper plug. Anything more than 1/4" thick steel will require a good 220 welder. Having said that, I have two machines, a 220 and a 110, and 95% of the welding I do I use the 110 machine - Sheet metal and up to 1/4" inch. Stay away from flux core machines. Everything you described in your things to weld could be done with a 110 machine of sufficient amperage. My 110 machine on its highest setting is 100 amps. if you have 220 volts available I'd get a 220 volt machine with good adjustments - then you're covered if you decide to step up to welding heavier stuff.

Thanks for all of the info so far guys. It is a lot to take in but I'm trying. I keep having to go look stuff up as I read your posts.

I think I'm going to stay with a mig welder since it also gives the ability to do the Flux welding in the absence of gas. Definitely 110 as that is what my garage is wired for.

What do you guys think about something like this: https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/tls/5484548335.html

Or this one?

https://austin.craigslist.org/grd/5416766687.html

I think the Miller is overpriced but I like the Miller. Try to get him down to $400. or less. The bottle is probably a rental.

The Miller looks like it has a medium spool in it so it will take the small ones also. Probably has a better gun than the Lincoln and will do heavier metal.

I think that Lincoln wouldn't do much more than sheet metal.

Cheap as in not good quality, or priced cheaply?

Wonder if I could get a quick class from him. You said an hour could quickly cover the basics.

Just edited my post. I would pass on the Lincoln altogether.

Depends how go of a welder he is !!