The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Getting ready to buy a new welder...help

HI guys,

I am getting ready to buy a new or used wire welder.What is the best for a rookie. I have a few holes that i want to fill and I have been cutting out nice hole in the body and dont want to put mudd back ...just a skim coat or Icing coat..I saw a few without gas and a few with...so what would be the best. Also has anyone used lead and a torch for low spot filler???

Thanks for the all the help

Sean S

This question has been asked many times before.

Here is one thread.

http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=003671#000000

Hobart 140 Mig, gas shielded with Easy grind wire for doing body work...I know there are better welders, and cheaper ones too...

From my own experience...

Once upon a time, I was a good welder. I could run a MIG pretty well....30 years ago.

I tried doing my own welding on my truck and was thinking about buying a Hobart of my own. After borrowing one for a couple of days at a time, $40 per hour to have someone weld up my cracks seemed pretty cheap. I just could not get the hang of welding again.

I would like to go to the tech college just down the street to re-learn, but for now, I spent $100 and left it up to the pro to weld up my fenders. I would love a welder, but a good one was too much money to spend since I can't weld worth a hoot anymore...

My $.02....

thanks for the info. I just dont want to burn more holes than I am fixing. I have some guys at work that tell me just to use countersunk rivets.Like they use on aircraft. We have a ton of them around I just dont like the look on the otherside. I keep finding more stuff to grind. so I will go in and take a shower.....then walk back out to the garage and start grinding again and think....crap...I have to shower again.... 4 showers today....This truck is like CRACK...maybe I need rehab

Fun stuff.

You will be happier with a gas shielded mig rather than flux wire. For sheetmetal work a 110V mig will be fine but if you want to weld heavier iron you might be better off with a 220V unit. I have a Miller 180 and it seems to handle most anything on truck building.

I have a Millermatic 250 I believe it is. It has the gas....what I don't like about the mig weld
is when it comes to grinding the weld down, its very
hard...what I do like is You can make spot welds that look pretty original...Maybe I just got use to
brazen rod and acety/ox....

If you can gas weld you might want to try a Henrob http://www.cut-like-plasma.com/info_henrob_torch_kits.htm
I have seen it demonstrated at swap meets; a friend of mine has one and really likes it. It is slower but is easier to hammer & dolly and grind. After I practice with his a bit I plan on getting one myself.

I would go with the gas, Argon seems to weld better than CO2 but costs more and maybe the extra heat generated would cause more warpage. Anybody prefer co2 for body work??
I know flux core is not the answer.

Argon-co2 mix (75%/25%)is the ideal shielding
gas for mig welding.

Thanks Guys ...as always


Your the Best!!!!

Have a great week

Sean

ghostrider, That is what I usually use but have been debating using 100% co2 for thin stuff cuz it runs cooler. any thoughts?

gazim,

Don't know a lot about the co2 running cooler.
I'll ask my welding supplier about it. I run
the argon mix on all the steel welding migs in
my sheet metal/steel fab shop because it's a little bit better quality and cleaner weld. It's been so long since I welded with straight co2 I forgot what it's like. I do know of other local professional shops that use straight co2...just a matter of preference I guess.

To be honest, when I weld in patch panels I would most likely tig them or even gas weld them
(oxy/acy) because I have that stuff available to me. The key to keeping heat warpage down when migging panels is very small tack welds and skipping around a lot. Resist the urge to run longer beads.

gazim,

I just filled my cylinder the other day. The price of the mix was almost twice the price of straight CO2.

25/75-Argon/CO2 will give you less spatter, and the heavy Argon tends to freeze the weld puddle a little faster.

The Argon supposedly focuses the arc and gives deeper weld penetration. This is something you wouldn't want on thin body panels.

I spent all weekend building "half-doors" for my son using 18 gauge, welded to Toyota 20 gauge sheet-metal...I was nervous, but with .023 wire and the Blue Shield gas, the project worked out fine.

Stuart