Mig or tig welder? what do you think would sute me best?

Posts: 1744

I recently had the chance to actually weld with gasless flux core. I personally will never weld with it unless it is an emergency situation.

Posts: 65 · Silver Member Joined: 07 Apr 2007 Posts: 65 Pictures: 0

Believe me I am right there with you!! I am just trying to get a gas kit as cheap as I can. I have been told my 155GS is gas ready, I THINK all I need is the tank regulator and lines to connect to the back of the welder, all the gun and sleeving it already built in...

The real usefullness of the flux core setup is outside and in conditions werre there is wind or breeze, that will blow the gas away from your weld area. The flux core does not have that proiblem and is very good for outside welding as teh shielding gas is in the wire itself.. BUT it does not weld very nice and spatters everywhere!!

Posts: 168

Thanks alot guys.....All this talking about welders and I just had to go out and buy one. I purchased a Hobart 140 gas ready. I have a good friend who is a machinest by trade and he bought a Hobart 125 just to have around the house and he said it will weld aluminium with pure argon as long as you keep the feed hose kinda straight. He said I'll have no problem welding anything I would want too. Anyway just a thank you to all those who have posted in this forum and making me purchase a welder. Haven't even taken it out of the box yet, but this weekend Keep your eyes on CNN. I will have welded everything in henderson county.

Posts: 198

You made a good choice going with a brand name. Hobart has been around many years. If in time you ever need any parts for it any welding shop will have what you need and if you ever decide to upgrade, your welder will hold a much better resale and or trade in value. Good luck with it and enjoy welding.

Posts: 14 · Newbie Joined: 12 Oct 2008 Posts: 14 Pictures: 0

TIG, MIG, or Stick no weld is stronger when using same filler material (rod or wire) and the weld is properly made.

For example

Stick 7018 (rod)=70,000psi strength
MIG ER70S-6 (wire)=70,000psi strength
TIG ER70S-6 (wire)=70,000psi strength

Now that being said some may prefer a TIG machine just because you can switch materials easily and cheaper. If you have an actual TIG machine you can weld aluminum, or Chrome-Moly without have to buy an entire roll of wire(MIG) you can just pickup a few pieces of the required wire.

TIG for the most part is always performed with argon gas.

Anybody here should be using a C25 (75%Argon/25%CO2) for MIG welding. Straight CO2 will work for some it is better for heavier dirty steel. It spatters more and the weld does not looks as nice. Different materials require different gases for MIG

Aluminum = 100% Argon (not a choice here)

Carbon Steel = 75/25 (also referred to C25) C10 also works. Best appearance for steel.

Dirty steel (by dirty I mean a little rusty like old farm equipment)
100% CO2 works fine here. Also the cheapest.

Stainless Steel uses what is called a tri-mix which most of the time is mostly helium and a little CO2 or O2 and some argon. Praxair refers to it as A1025 not sure about other weld supply stores.

A lot of people don't know that if you have a DC stick welder and you need to TIG weld carbon or stainless all you need is the TIG rig and a bottle. Hook up you + to the ground and the - to the stinger. Turn the gas on and you are up and welding. Downside to this is you can't weld alumimum and you don't have heat control and your foot or fingertips.

There are many different types of filler materials for stick, TIG, and MIG. If you are not sure what to use just ask I can most likely tell you. As long as you know what your material is.

Also for MIG the wire size for home use and most fab shops is .035" if you are always on material lighter that 1/8" you can use .024". This is for carbon and stainless steels. Aluminum wire is usually .045"-.0625" for light to medium work.

TIG wire also comes in various sizes 1/16, 3/32, and 1/8 being the most common.

Stick rods most will want to uses 1/16 and 3/32 depending on the material and the thickness.

Hope this helps. Any questions ask away.