i am looking at MIG welders if i can talk my parents into letting me buy this FJ40 and i will need to purchase a welder to patch the rear quarters, and replace the rocker panels below the door from rust, and other miscelaneous spots. would a tig be better for this kind of work? i am much more comfortable on a mig, but i have not spent more than 30 minutes tig welding, so with practice i would get better. possibility of occasionally needing to weld something to the frame or axles

basically my questions are:
1) mig work or should i look at tigs?
2) brands
3) how powerful?

don't have ALOT of money to spend on a welder, but will spend a little extra to get one that will last and perform well

 

i would def look at a mig over a tig they r much more versitile. the brands i would look at r lincoln, miller , or hobart. if u have it available i would def go with a 220 but if all ur ever going to do is sheet metal work a 110 will do.

 

Buy a MIG. They are easier to use and not as easy to screw up with

 

the average home user can usually get by with a small portable mig and flux core wire. then usually the welder can be upgraded to accept gas and other wire such as alum and stainless.

for me i find it hard to do a decent cold weld with tig, which is what you'd eventually wind up trying to do on body work.




Main difference between a good welder and any other guy, the grinder.

 

would something in between be better? also i plan on a roll cage at some point. the max tubing size i will ever get to is .25 most likely.

also whats better gas or gasless?

 

With the gasless flux core shield, it is sometime hard to get into corners. So to me gas is better there. But as posted above, you can get a good brand, and buy a conversion kit for it.
The 110s all have internal circuit breakers, that will keep them from overheating. It is a pain in the ss when you have along bead to weld. So as sugested get one of the middle of the road or above as far as pricing.

 

ok thanks for the help. my uncle offered my dad his mig a few weeks back, im gonna be in town so hopefully i can pick it up if he still has it. he is just giving it away. if not ill have to buy one.