I need to do some welding on my 77 Mav. I need to repair the frame and a few holes in the floor board. I have been told that I need a MIG or TIG welder but they are so expensive for something I won't use more than ten times. ARC welders are cheap will they work? I can't rent one because I would learn off the welder I buy. Any help greatly appreciated.
MIG would prolly be the best and easiest to use. an ARC welder will work fine for your frame rails and such but isnt the best for sheet metal. a MIG has different speed and voltage settings for a wide variety of jobs and IMO, would be your best choice. hope this helps
No, you don't want to try welding anything like that with an arc welder. You'll burn it slap up with holes. The mig welder is the cheapest and most feasible to use for this...plus much easier to learn to use. You might check your local welding shops...some times they run specials on the small migs. I have purchased a couple of them for less than $300 each like that. If not, there are deals out there. Just need to start checking around. Might even check out eBay...look at this one here: http://cgi.ebay.com/FIREPOWER-FP90-...yZ113743QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I've been looking into getting this one ... $249.00! http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200342925_200342925 Just gotta' sell some other stuff hanging out in the garage that I won't need ... It probably is a little more complicated than this but I heard it said that "If you can fog a mirror, you can MIG."
Yes, but not much. I do recommend practicing on some old sheetmetal though before welding the thin stuff. The main thing is make sure what you are welding is extremely clean. It makes for nasty welds if the metal is real dirty or has paint on it.
Be sure whatever you get is ready to have gas hooked up. The flux-core wire is really nasty to work with, and spatters everywhere. I borrowed a gas MIG from Rolandag and it made all the difference in the world with weld appearance and time spent grinding off spatter and slag. Without gas, the same job can be done, but I find that a good weld needs several passes with a cool down and grind down between each pass. With gas, one pass and little to no grinding. Filling holes with a flux core wire is nearly impossible. It makes more of a mess than you started with. The gas will give you a nice clean plug to grind smooth and you are done.
I have a craftsman 110 Mig/flux welder, I've been using the flux core, only b/c I havent gotten the regulator for the gas yet, but it does a real nice job
The only thing flux core is good for is exhaust work IMO, or stuff that dosen't have to look decent. I can weld a nice bead with flux core, but there is way too much spatter.
you can grind down welds it make them look good, unless your building a cage then flux core is the worst!
Or you can just spend a little more on a gas setup. The difference is night an day, gas is soo much nicer.
