Any welders or metal hobbyists here?

[Mr. Wizard]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Would like to get into a little sheet metal welding for autobody work. What would be a good cheap welder to use?

There is a website http://www.lowbucktools.com/ that sells functional equipment at really good prices, a lot of info in thier catalog as well. As for a welder you might want to read this page from my website

http://www.weldguru.com/110-volt-mig-welders.html
Be cautious of "flux core" wire for thin materials. I will be honest harbor freight or northerntool migs are quite useful as long as you watch the duty cycle.

Personally if I were looking for a sheet metal machine on the cheap I would by a cheap one WITH gas input and get a bottle of 75/25 AR/CO2 mix and learn to be a really good spot welder . Use .023 solid core wire. You will be amazed what you can do.

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by Mr. Wizard

There is a website http://www.lowbucktools.com/ that sells functional equipment at really good prices, a lot of info in thier catalog as well. As for a welder you might want to read this page from my website

http://www.weldguru.com/110-volt-mig-welders.html
Be cautious of "flux core" wire for thin materials. I will be honest harbor freight or northerntool migs are quite useful as long as you watch the duty cycle.

Personally if I were looking for a sheet metal machine on the cheap I would by a cheap one WITH gas input and get a bottle of 75/25 AR/CO2 mix and learn to be a really good spot welder . Use .023 solid core wire. You will be amazed what you can do.

Thanks for the links!

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by Mr. Wizard

There is a website http://www.lowbucktools.com/ that sells functional equipment at really good prices, a lot of info in thier catalog as well. As for a welder you might want to read this page from my website

http://www.weldguru.com/110-volt-mig-welders.html
Be cautious of "flux core" wire for thin materials. I will be honest harbor freight or northerntool migs are quite useful as long as you watch the duty cycle.

Personally if I were looking for a sheet metal machine on the cheap I would by a cheap one WITH gas input and get a bottle of 75/25 AR/CO2 mix and learn to be a really good spot welder . Use .023 solid core wire. You will be amazed what you can do.

I've noticed flux core produces a lot more spatter but I just assumed that I was blowing holes in material because I was running too hot, moving too slow with the handset.