Welding question Options

[Boothy]

Greetings all,

Grew up stick welding and brazing (I know). About to start the passenger side long. I have a portable TIG and stick but I'm thinking of investing in a Lincoln MIG. Seems like a good investment and will produce a better repair in the long run.

Been waiting for this car for 45 years. Want to do it right. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) Would love your thoughts.

[UROpartsman]

TIG is good if you're doing a lot of thin sheet metal and need fine control, but MIG is just so easy once you get down the motions and a feel for adjusting the current and wire speed. CO2 is cheap and works fine as a shielding gas on mild steel. Get anti-spatter spray for the nozzle. If you're welding a lot of dirty or somewhat rusty steel, you can use flux core wire. You have to crank up the wire speed and chip off the slag afterwards, but the flux lifts contaminants to the top of the puddle and leaves a nicer weld than if you used solid wire on dirty metal.

A 300 amp Miller or Lincoln is something you'll wish you bought years ago, and in no time you'll be welding stuff around the house, making your own custom tools or modifying existing tools to make tricky jobs easier, etc.

Tip: Never tell anyone you bought a welder. Friends and neighbors will constantly bring you things to weld that "will just take a minute", and eat up a shocking number of hours. Once they know you have it, there's no going back.