With gas, you reverse your leads and use a solid wire. No slag and much eaiser, in my opinion. I've never tried anything other than sheetmetal with my MIG, I have a Lincoln stick welder for the heavier stuff.

 

I tried a roll of flux core wire once. It said right on the box the some welders may not like the appearance of the beads. They were right.

 

Since my only education in welding came from reading the instructions that came with my welder, I was happy that my first few welds HELD. I wasn't too concerned with their appearance.

However, now that I'm an advanced beginner, I must admin that they look pretty bad. But that's what a grinder is for.

Kevin K.

 

Yes it does...but forge welding isn't particularly suited to some applications.

 

Thank you all for your advice on the welders. I don't do much welding, but occasionally I have something to weld that's too thin for my arc welder. I like to make up my own exhaust system and I have even used my arc welder for that (but you sure can't leave it one place too long...lol). I think something along the line of the Harbor Freight special for around $175 is what I had in mind. If I used it more, then I could see putting more money into a better machine. If I can get by with a $175 mig welder and get a few years use out of it, I think I would be happy with it.

 

Good luck,,, you pay your money, you take your chances. The Steak man is right on, spend the first time and you will be happier for it. Welding and cutting equipment is so useful but is a poor place to skimp. Nothing is more frustrating than a machine that doesnt work right,, especially if you dont know it. think thats why you find people happly with a HF mahine, no personal offence, but they dont know better. Personally I would buy nothing less than a HH175, SP175. About half the problems with feeders are from being underpowered. Stopped by a body shop last night, they had a HH135 plugged in to a drop light cord. A 120V HF feeder,,, They would have to pay me freight cost to carry the thing to the dumpster. I had a call about a Solar or something the other day, I aint working on it. Not worth the hr or 2 at 50$ per hr to fool with it. Now the guy is going to buy another new one for 200,,, ha,, he going to have 400 in 2 junkers.

 

That thinking is reversed, You cant use it till you get it, and the better the machine the more you will use it,, if it is frustrating it will sit and gather dust.

 

My miller at work cost 2k+, fan cooled,welds like crazy,welds all day at the setting I use there. My 110 century uses flux core, harder to hold an arc, but I've learned to weld sheet with it. Heavier stuff I tack weld and take to work or a weld shop. My home wallet likes under $200 welders, my boss can afford the real thing.

 

Here is a thread of observation from a novice. http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/...&threadid=5186

 

Just a note, when wire welding with a shielding gas (solid wire no flux core) the gas is shielding the weld from oxegen. This causes a cooler weld and so it takes more amperage to melt the metal.
You need a bigger welder to weld with gas than you do to weld with flux core. It's no fun to switch back and forth so If you get a bigger welder you can leave it set up with the solid wire and weld thicker or thiner material.
Ps. how do you feel about aluminum?
seems everything nowadays is made of aluminum.
I have a Miller 210 that has dual gas solinoids and triger imputs
This means I am set up for mild steel and aluminum spool gun welding at the same time. It's like having 2 welders.
I got one heck of a sweet deal on this welder. My buddy works for a shop that buys a lot of welding equipment from a particular company. He bought it for me through the company account.
He saved me about $700 dollars compared to what they quoted me. That made my profesional welder affordable for garage use.
I had a cheap welder for a short time, 100 amp range. It didn't even weld thin material very well.
I would not recomend buying a Century thats for sure. Not even for cheap.
I'm getting a new Ingersol Rand 24CFM air compressor next week through a buddy that owns a machine shop. Saving me about $400 dollars.
Overkill? No way! Now I'll be able to sand blast or run 2 tools at the same time. My old compressor has gotten me by but standing waiting for it to build back up has gotten old.
I wish I had waited and bought a bigger compressor to begin with.

 

Getting back to part of the original question.

When I started welding stick was the king and I got out of it before mig became so popular.

I was a pretty good stick welder. Is there a sharp learning curve for the mig?

Thanks

 

I had never welded before I got my wire feed. I read the manual, tried a few practice beads and went to work. If I can figure it out, it's GOT to be easy.

The hardest part for me is setting the heat and feed speed for thinner metals. Too much of either and it becomes a cutting torch.

Kevin K.

 

You will have no problem. Just be careful not to get a cold lap. That is where you put some filler down but don't fuse to one side of the two pieces you are joining.

 

This is to John Pen, if you want to do plow frame and bumpers you want to go up a class to the 200+. The 175 class doesnt have the guts for that work. Structural faprication is limited to 3/16 with solid wire. As Steak pointed out, the cheap stuff dont get it with these types of machines. The small econo versions are for sheet metal only. The average guy will make do with a MM210 and is a great value long term too. You can short arc 3/8 in a single pass. Another thing is the cost of consumables go way down. You can use 30# spools and a large gas bottle.

 

Ya, I kind of thought I was going to need the bigger size...Guess Ill stay with the stick until I can afford the bigger welder. Thanks for all the advice..