I need some advice on purchasing a welder. I have some experience in ornamental iron work using electric arc welders. Unfortunately, no experience with a MIG or TIG welder.

In the near future, I would like to do some rust repair on my old truck and some other general repair work. I will typically be working with sheet metal up to 3/8 inch thick metal. Occasionally, there may be some projects with thicker metal, perhaps a 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick.

So, I have a few questions:

1. How important is the duty cycle of a MIG welder when welding sheet metal? I'm assuming that only short welds can be made on sheet metal anyway. (A long weld would cause the metal to warp.) If this is correct, would duty cycle be relatively unimportant when welding sheet metal?

2. How does the operating costs of a MIG welder compare with an arc welder?

My current thinking is to buy a lower priced brand name MIG welder and an arc welder. Not sure if this is the best plan though. Anyone have any advice?

I have a stick, Tig, and mig welder but I couldn’t run an aluminum spool gun on anything I owned so I just bought this on. I saved 100.00 joining the harbor freight club and another 10% getting their credit card. You can stick, mig, Tig, and run a spool gun with it.


https://www.harborfreight.com/unlim...ess-welder-with-120240v-input-64806.html

Hmmm - never heard of such a welder. Kinda cool. How does it work?

I have a Century MIG that I bought back in the early 90's. It uses shielding gas & has infinite wire speed & heat dials. The wire speed is VERY sensitive (which is good), vs cheaper welder click-click settings. Wire speed is CRITICAL for good non-spatter welds. There are a few great-looking MIGS out there for under $1,000. Look at Hobart & Miller brands.

There are a few videos here at the EASTWOOD SITE CLICK HERE that may be of some help? I picked up a mig welder from them a few years ago and very happy with what I've been able to do not only for restoration but quick repairs like on the JD mower deck wheel support after hitting a hidden rock and welding a nut on a stripped and seized bolt etc.,

MIG welders https://www.eastwood.com/welders/mig-welders.html

TIG welders https://www.eastwood.com/welders/tig-welders.html

VIDEO LINK MIG welding basics: https://www.eastwood.com/video-page-mig-welding-basics

VIDEO LING TIG welding basics: https://www.eastwood.com/video-page-tig-welding-basics


Mike

I'm lucky to have an Eastwood store only a 30 minute drive away and they have some very helpful and knowledgeable people that work there along with all of the AUTO/TRUCK restoration videos and products they specialize in it's a no brainer for me to buy somethings from them as they support the hobby. Then add in the image at the bottom of the page with the welding (and other) videos and it kind of seals the deal for me

(if I'm not mistaken that's not a Chevelle or a Nova is it )

Mike

I can weld OK but I don't do it a ton. I mainly got a welder so I can have my friends that are good at welding weld things at my house lol. That being said I have become decent at it.

I have a Hobart 135 Mig. It is 110V but for a 110V machine it works very well, it has done some jobs beyond what is was rated for and done well. A friend was just asking me about it yesterday and I realized I have had it 12-14 years now. The biggest thing with a 110V machine is no extension cord and if you do have to have one it better be a good one or you can tell right away.

If all you're doing is sheet metal, the Eastwood welders are a good bang for the buck. I have a Miller 252 which is a very nice 220v welder and will weld just about anything BUT I do a lot of thicker welding and didn't want to have to switch wire, rollers and liner every time I do sheet metal. I bought an Eastwood 135 110v machine and it works beautifully. I use a mixed gas and .023 wire and follow the suggested settings on the welder.

In this day and age, unless you're building bridges or fixing tractors in the middle of a corn field, I don't know why you'd want an arc welder. If you want to do thicker metals, buy a bigger mig. These days a quality 220v mig will have the capability to weld everything from tin foil to 1/2" with a change of wire rollers and whip liner. Those accessories are fairly inexpensive.

I always say "welders are like garages, never big enough nor equipped fully", do yourself a favor invest in a quality machine, 220V, spool gun, etc, etc....Miller or Hobart, .....I have both mfg's MiG machines (Miller 252 and a Hobart 185), zero issues, as well as an AC/DC Arc welder and Miller Syncrowave 250 TiG.....buy it once, buy it right, buying cheap and underrated you'll kick yourself in the [censored] down the road....

I have a Millermatic 251 I bought almost 20 years ago. Still going strong. Buy a good brand name, and get one with more capability than you currently need.

Miller here, Lincoln and Hobart are good as well. My brother who is a retired union pipefitter always said pay once, or you can pay two, three or four times. He also said ask who is more likely going to be there should I you need parts in 5 10 or 20 years
Also, getting a machine to do 1/2" plate and sheetmetal is going to require a good 220V source.

I am with Dayclona and 19Swinger70, buy for a bigger job than you will think you will do.

I bought a Century (rebranded by Sears to be Craftsman) for sheet metal because that is all I wanted to do at the time. It is OK for sheet metal but I now frequently hit it's duty cycle when doing stuff like exhaust or brackets.

My next one will be more than I need for now and name brand, American made.

I buy tools for a long term investment and have run into numerous problems with HB and other chain store brands not having parts available even a couple years (even months) down the road.

You may say I am being picky when I say American made but I have reasons.
I had to repair a refrigerant pump with a cracked valve. It was on a chinese assembly and was made in 3 pieces. Nobody made the replacement part because it was metric on one end, SAE on the other and the internal threads were British Whitworth. So I had to have a new part made. The money the company saved by buying a chinese device that didn't adhere to any manufacturing standards was more than lost when the pump had to be serviced, which was often.
It taught me not to skimp and by asian junk when I can avoid it.

120v or 240v?

Some have both capabilities but if you don't have a good 240v source at the moment your possibilities are narrowed.

After missing a couple “deals” on Craigslist I ended up at a local welding shop and bought a Millermatic 211 as well as a tank of argon. Was way over my “budget” and skill level but it’s certainly come in handy. Various brackets on the racecar. Broken latch on one of our gates into the yard. …. and the biggest task so far was repairing my 28’ enclosed trailer after finding the spring mounts broken. That job required the 220 setting so I bought a 50ft cord and rigged up a power outlet off our main home panel. Saved my butt big time on that one!

I bought my Miller 252 30 years ago. Other then the whip, which has been changed 3 times, the machine is all original. I opened a one man welding shop about a year after I bought my Miller. It has been welding stuff together daily, Mon-Fri until I retired 32 years ago, Now it only gets used occasionally.

About 20 years ago I bought a Miller 210 because I needed a spool gun for welding aluminum, my 252 didn't have a spool gun attachment, and buying the 210 was about the same cost as having my 252 upgraded to accept the spool gun. When I retired, I sold the 210, and got all of my investment back + free use for 15 years.

Duty cycle isn't as important welding sheet metal as it is when you start welding 1/8" thick metal, but eventually exceeding the duty cycle with sheet metal will still kill the machine. My buddy bought one of those HF welders because he was only going to weld sheet metal. He had to replace that original HF welder after the 1st year. The next HF welder he bought was their top of the line 220v welder. Its about a year and a half old and is also starting to fail. Yes, he has exceeded the 60% duty cycle on it as well. At this point he has spent as much money as it would have cost him to buy a good Miller 220v with a 100% duty cycle.

Buy a good American built welder with a 100% duty cycle. Miller blue would be my choice. Gene

I bought am HTP mig some 20+ years back. At the time a package deal was lower then other more commonly discussed brands.
Then they were USA made with a good copper core x-former.
They weren't advertised to a broad market at that time, but don't know about today.
Machine never needed any repairs/work since.
They also sold other metal working tools/equipment.
Worth at least a look into.

How could you possibly exceed any duty cycle welding sheet metal ?!?!? It would really have to be a POS welder !

Only two comments, Miller and Auto-Set. I have one and it makes this hack look like I know what I'm doing.

IMO, buy the most powerful machine you can afford, I can't see as a hobbyist that duty cycle matters much, and forget anything flux core
I have a hobart 140amp 120V mig (for 20+ years, and exceed the duty cycle all the time)
With the cars, I find myself using the Hobart the most often.

A Miller 211 will run on 110 or 220 and can operate a spool gun. The only thing that will hold you back is duty cycle if you are welding 3/16" for a while. Anything bigger than that and you will be looking at a Miller 252 or will go 1/2" however it is 220V only and no Autoset feature which comes in handy. Essentially Autoset allows you to flip a switch and the dial indicating material thickness and proportionately follows the voltage/wire speed table. In my experience it is pretty darn close for most projects if the metal is clean, etc. As with everything the prep and skill of the operator will make or break the performance of the machine.

I think, THINK, Autoset must be more than that. If I manually set the voltage and wire speed, with clean metal I get an acceptable weld. If I go to Autoset, I get a great weld. I have the feeling, FEELING, that Autoset is always varying something while you are welding, wire speed or voltage or both, to obtain the best weld possible.

Or I could be full of it.