The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Best type of welder to use?

Trying to gather tools im going to need to restomod an old truck. What is the best type of welder to use if I need to do frame and probably some body work?

Is mig or stick he preferred method to weld a frame together? I know mig are used for body panels.

I do know it would need to be 220v. I'll be running 220 to my garage for an air compressor and welder.

I prefer a stick welder myself,but I was raised by a pack of anal retentive railroad blacksmiths/boilermakers.
eastwood makes a stitch welder for use with stick welders.

I asked this same question probably right here about 13 years ago. I went with a Lincoln SP-175+ 220 Mig welder. It was, and IS the perfect thing. Nowadays, you might want to get the new model, either a Lincoln 180 or a Miller 180. Wire feed Mig welders will do everything you need, altho I still want a TIG just to learn to use it. Good luck!

Devey boy, long time no see. Lay out the cash for the TIG. With all of the MacGyvering which you do, you will never look back. You can do amazing things with a TIG.
Carl

if you get a big enough one a mig will do it just fine
you have to look at duty cycle for the given thickness
or you could do it all with a tig, just needs to be big enough.
tig is really nice for body work

I started stick welding over 50 years ago. I bought my first wire welder over 30 years ago and I hardly ever use stick at all. I have Millermatics from 200 to 252 and a wire feeder that hooks on to my Trailblazer 440 with .045 flux wire for outdoors welding. I have welded a lot of air ride suspensions to 25,000 axles with it.


At home I have a Hobart 140 that runs on 110, and there is nothing on a pickup that I can't weld with it including the frame.

I have a Miller Dynasty 350 with a water cooled gun at the shop that no one really uses because it is too slow. It makes a nice weld on aluminum, but I can weld circles around it with wire. The factory in Lincoln, NE, Cornhusker 800, which builds our trailer doesn't even own a tig. They do everything with wire.

I second the TIG vote. Definitely slower but it's so darn nice to use. I've got a small portable Miller unit that does both TIG and stick.

Mig will give you the best mix.

Tig has a high learning curve and needs expensive tips and gas. Stick really doesn't work will with thin sheet but will work on rusty/thick steel.

FCAW on a 110V unit can do 1/2in steel.
GMAW can so 20 gauge with clean beads.

OA can cut, and do thin metal, but acetylene is expensive and you gotta learn how to work the weld puddle.. and overhead beads with OA are not for beginners.

FCAW Mig needs no gas and go thick (like Stick)
GMAW needs gas but can go thin (like Tig) and is MUCH faster.

Last is cost:

Stick welder: $300 or so.
MIG: $300 or so
TiG: not less than $500-1000
OA: $100 for a HF set (yes, they are highly rated and even my local welding supply recommended them) but you'll need tanks. If you buy tanks add about $400-600 for a 240cu/ft O2 and 80Cu/ft Acetylene

My opinion and that of my College welding instructor, Get Both. If you want structural safety-stick. Most everything else-MIG, that means with gas. A 220V Compressor and a stick welder usually do not operate on the same circuit. One is 30A, one is 50A.
I often wish I had a Plasma Cutter but I do pretty well with an angle grinder and die grinder. (I often wish I had a Corvette too but get by with a Truck or two.)
I have a 220V compressor, a 220V Arc welder and a 110V MIG. The 110V MIG allows fixing things all around the house/yard/ranch and I can take to a family members home to fix things there too.

Bart, on a side note. If I live on 1/4 acre, own 2 cats and two dogs, and one of the dogs is a herding breed, can I confidently refer to my spread as a ranch? I do have a "house/yard". Just wondered what the rules are for the "ranch" part.
Carl
Rancher wantabe

52Wanabe: Don't know. I don't have that either. Was trying to say that 110V is good for moving about small or large home areas because of plug in availability. Around the home or yard or even a ranch.
If you had a ranch animal maybe you could be a ranch... or mini ranch

If money is not a concern then yes, both a stick and MIG, but the only place stick will beat a MIG outright is that stick can weld rusty metal and much thicker. Some say that stick is better if there is a stiff wind.

Mig FCAW needs some surface prep... both will have slag to clean up. I don't know of any frames that are 1/2in steel. Most are 3/8ths or less, some maybe 5/16ths. My 2.5 ton is 5/16ths.

The real benefit to Mig is that will do thick, but also thin. .020 tips and wire with gas will 20gauge nicely. I'm not sure stick will to that without lots of experience and proper setup. Mig is easy, set the dial and press the button.

Lots of structural steel is Mig'd. A stick only lasts so long, Mig can go as long as there is wire on the spool (a few hundred feet) and the transformer is kept cool. Stick does have an advantage in that there are many, many types of rods for just about every need. But plain ol steel.. forget the stick and with the money you saved buy a good welding cart.

The Lincoln OR Miller 180 wire feed migs come with 2 plugs. One for 110, the other for 220. Of course you can weld hotter and deeper with 220. Great for what we do. Get a nice helmet with magnifiers while your wife lets you hold the credit card.

The $50 HF auto dark helmets are very good buys and highly rated. Mine is 4 years old and works great.

Most new welders forget that they still need plenty of light. The arc alone is not enough. Get a good halogen light on a stand and use it... it will help you see before the ark is struck (the helmets are still kinda dark even before they activate) and you will be able to see your lines/seam much better.

Bonus that the auto dark helmet will activate if you accidentally look at the halogen light.

Agree about HF Helmet. Mine is 8 yrs old. Just have to replace batteries sometimes.

Me three on the HF Helmet. However, there is a better one out now. I needed to eliminate that damnable Halogen light. It was just a pain to drag around all over the place, so I looked and noticed that Lincoln makes a Viking 3 series helmet that lets you dial down the shade number clear down to 6. The problem I was having was, the lowest setting (9) was just a TAD too dark causing me to go for the halogen. When its set on 8, woohoo! I can see again! I think the eye calibrator didnt have his machine working that day or something cause 8 works perfect for me.

Add to that the magnifier lenses available for it and I have never had such an enjoyable experience welding. They arent cheap though.