Chat & Social > The Bar - General Chat
Arc or Mig?
wheels244:
Mig - all the way ! Especially if you're welding cars.
Don't bother with the cheap toytown ones - they're rubbish. Buy the best you can afford. The higher the amperage rating the better - not only will it weld thicker steel, it will weld thinner steel, better, because it's not working hard - it's all to do with the 'duty cycle' - I won't bore you anymore with the technical bits.
As a bonus - if you change the gas and wire, you can weld stainless and aluminium - but that takes a bit more practice !
Xtremeteam:
& if yer really tight u can use a CO2 bottle as a mig bottle :wink:
nzrover:
--- Quote from: "RedlineMike" ---& if yer really tight u can use a CO2 bottle as a mig bottle :wink:
--- End quote ---
You can, but at the expense of about 40% of the penetration for any given welding voltage, and you get a resultingly bigger (and uglier) weld bead.
nzrover:
--- Quote from: "unknownmanxman" ---I think there is an art to getting good welds with arc... but there isnt really with mig, cos its so easy!
--- End quote ---
There's a lot less of an art to getting a tidy weld with a MIG, but getting a strong weld with a MIG requires a fair bit of practise, and a lot of preparation to ensure the steel is extremely clean before you weld it.
I've used both arc and MIG extensively at work in the past and have both setups at home as well. For automotive work I much prefer the MIG, however the consumable cost of MIG welding is significantly higher than for arc.
The cost of getting set up well for either should be similar. For MIG you will want a machine of at least 180A that is set up for welding with a shielding gas. For arc your life (and the learning curve) will be much easier if you get a DC inverter welder - one that will deliver 140A should leave you with a sensible duty cycle using 3.2mm rods.
Buy ALL the safety gear, preferably including a decent automatic helmet - there's nowt like burns or a dose of arc eye to put you off wanting to persevere with learning to weld.
MuddyMachine:
I use Mig Tig and Arc at work. I would say mig is easier to get the basics, but I tend to use arc more. My Mig kit is to big to move large distences, all though you can get man potable mig kits now, wouldnt think they were cheap though.
As wheels said if you can buy the best you can afford and dont forget the saftey kit. lots of helmets on eblag.
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