Should i get an electric welding station?

[h22sparkle]

I think its lincoln or miller they sellin at the homedepot.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

,Get yourself a MILLER they are the best

[baracuda]

yeah i did little more searching and found that Lincoln had some badass plug in and go welders great for what i need, also found a pro series one on craigslist barely used for good price and few other nice welders. craigslist has been great for tools since this economy has dropped down, people are selling off tools they bought when they had money but they never used them so them just sell it off since they need the money. and hell i just got an enigne stand for free few weeks backs i have no need for it yet but i will soon.

[bruno8747]

Mig is good, but it can be sloppy, and not as strong as tig. Tig welding takes a fair amount of skill, though... and mig welding is the easiest to just pick up and do.
I've been considering getting a welder myself... though I'm so damn lazy and busy, that it would probably never get used!

What do you mean not as strong?

You can get welds that look just like tig with the mig welders, Just have to know what you are doing. I've done it before. I never had an issue with welds breaking. And I've welded 1/2" steel with mig.

[deevergote]

When I was looking for someone to weld my traction bar on (long story...) I had numerous shops refuse to do a suspension part with a mig welder, stating strength as the reason.

I'll have to dig up my book on welding as well. I don't have any experience, but it has always interested me, so I've read up on it. That book also explained a few things about strength differences. Like, if you're building a tube chassis for a custom race car, tig is the way to go... the book said mig won't hold up properly. That's just what I've read, though, as I have no firsthand knowledge myself.

[bruno8747]

If you have the right settings on your mig it will be just as strong. Most regular body shops i've seen don't have a capable mig welder to do strong chassis welds. So maybe thats why they didnt want to do it.

[deevergote]

That's quite possible. The information I've gotten may also be based on outdated equipment. Perhaps newer mig equipment is capable of making stronger welds than previous stuff.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

Mig and tig have their places... Right now no matter how strong the weld is people who do not know how to weld like tig.. They like pretty welds... It takes extreme skill to make a mig weld look like a tig weld but it doesn't make it any stronger.. I think tig is easier personally since you have more control over the power at any time.. My hands shake to much to tig all day though.. A good mig or a good tig weld is stronger then the metal around it..

[ChampionPanda]

mig would be fine for what a lot of people would use it for on here such as welding in patch panels or engine bay patches for a bay shave. People that have the skill level required to make custom parts like strut bars and roll cages are few and far between. Also I would have to believe that if you did have that skill level you would probably have access to a lot of other equipment that you need to fabricate custom parts. Project car did an issue a couple months back of a crx they worked on they got the welder from harbor freight(yea junk i know). It was a gasless welder as well....they used it mainly for making patches to shave the bay it worked ok and you can always add a tank to it later.