whats better to use to weld stock exhaust, mig wire feed welder or arc stick welder?

[aznpnoyracer]

I heard that stick weler is best since the gun portion is not as bulky and the stick welder does require alittle more skill but better to weld joints of the exhause together. so what do you think. approximate welding experience I have is 3 hours, lol

[blackcb7]

mig is best. just practice running some beads on spare metal and then go at it

Edit: tig is best, but that is a little more advance. but mig is your best bet in this situation if you know what you are doing

[jhondayaaj]

mig is best. just practice running some beads on spare metal and then go at it

x's 2.

[NAiL05]

mig is best. just practice running some beads on spare metal and then go at it

Edit: tig is best, but that is a little more advance. but mig is your best bet in this situation if you know what you are doing

Yep I would love a tig welded exhaust. They look a lot cleaner and take quite a bit of skill. Plus depending on who you pay it can cost quite a bit. I took mine to a muffler shop and they mig welded most of it. Didnt take long.

[sensys01]

mig all the way for exhaust!

[Fake Thug]

Ever had to use a stick welder? It works great,but man they are pain in the ass. Mig weld is cake. Have a good ground, clean weld surface, and you are good to go.

[KINGPIN33]

I just got a stick welder for free and after palying around with it for a few days, I finally got the hang of striking the ARC. But keeping the ARC and making good joints is a challenge I find!

[foamypirate]

Especially vertical joints going from bottom to top...I hated those in shop.

[rickyduckworth]

mig is cheap, simple and completely adequate for 99.9% of exhaust work. it's not great for welding cast iron or any very dense metal, and obviously if a magnet won't stick to it (aluminum, magnesium, etc) then it won't conduct the current.

they're extremely handy for all types of shit though. can even be fun.

a good TIG machine can cost you big money though. awesome if you wanna weld a lot of aluminum, but really no point in keeping one around for exhaust work.

[HF22T]

hate to be the ass here but you can weld aluminium with a mig you just need aluminium wire

a tig welded stainless exhaust is around 700 for us to do at my shop all custom manderal

anyway makesure you weld in tacks dont try and run beads on thing metals like pipe and sheet with a mig


run in 2 inch strips tacking not a continuos weld it will be a solid weld when you do this be sure to overlap each tack slightly to ensure a seal and nice beaded effect

[tunerman]

an arc welder is just going to make holes in your exhaust, it's meant for thick metal. a mig welder is good for metal thinner than half an inch.

[rickyduckworth]

hate to be the ass here but you can weld aluminium with a mig you just need aluminium wire

a tig welded stainless exhaust is around 700 for us to do at my shop all custom manderal

anyway makesure you weld in tacks dont try and run beads on thing metals like pipe and sheet with a mig


run in 2 inch strips tacking not a continuos weld it will be a solid weld when you do this be sure to overlap each tack slightly to ensure a seal and nice beaded effect

here's the thing, you need that wire, you need a HIGH QUALITY mig welder (at least 200 amps), you need argon and you have to change all the settings, and after all of that, heavy duty welding (like what you'd do on a car) is not recommended, is illegal in a lot of jurisdictions, and is also probably going to fail.

about 10 years ago when i started welding, we tried all of this so that it would be more convenient when we were changing the runners on an aluminum manifold for a racecar, or doing something turbo/intercooler related, etc.

it works fine for thin brackets that are welded to steel. it does not work well for aluminum manifolds and the likes. even a straight cut can end up a mess because you're SUPPOSED to finger joint things that are over 1/8" thick, and you're supposed to keep it simple basically.

with the money you spend on a quality welder and all the other stuff, not to mention the learning process, you could have a good wire welder that does it all the right way.

hang around people who build race car parts.....they use TIG machines because MIG aluminum welding is like fixing everything with jb weld.

MIG aluminum welding is good for small, simple odd jobs IMO.

[OwninUSince1902]

mig, and its extremely easy to use, i welded in my quarters with no previous experience and it is pretty solid

[whitejdmcb7]

use gas on it comes out alot better like co2 or a co2 argon mix will be much better and better quality just take 4 corners together and go from tack to tack

[aznpnoyracer]

so in ather words, I shouldnt have returned my darn mig wire feed welder for a stick welder? since I do want to fix exhaust pipes (not stainless steel).