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Welding help!! Which type?

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SWEETY:
Interesting read guy's :Pbeen thinking of getting a mig myself (motor going to need welding soon)& teaching myself to weld :doh:what would be the best sort of power to get as an all rounder as i'll have panels to repair & am thinking of poss having ago of building a heavy duty bumper or poss winch bumper for my truck in time

V8MoneyPit:
I think Boss has hit the nail firmly on the head. For most light steel work, a half decent DIY level MIG will do perfectly well. My 20 year old SIP 130 has done *almost* every steel welding job I've needed to do. It does struggle a little at the chassis steel thickness in that the thermal cut out kicks in too often. But this is solved with a little patience.

Ridgeback:
I also agree with boss but would add the following,

Tig can give very nice welds but as he said you could get a good spec Mig for the cost of a low spec Tig set. Tig is not very good on rusty landrovers and requires good clean metal to get any welds.
Its also not as easy to use when welding very thin rusty cars.

I'm sure everyone has there own opinion on what is best and as always with this type of question everyones an expert but we should remember that not everyones practical skill level is the same and for this reason the Mig would be best to start with.

I spent 3 years on the advanced welding institute course and have been coded on many different types of welding. I have also seen the damage that can be causes by bad welding.

The thing with Mig welding is its easy to get what looks like a good weld but has no penetration, this is a problem if welding safety critical parts on your car.

I don't want to put anyone off welding there own cars but make sure you have had plenty of practice first and make sure your happy with the weld penetration before welding your car.

When looking for a welding set its always good to get the most powerfull you can afford and again if you can afford the extra, go for one with a Euro torch (means you can replace the torch)
Get plenty of scrap to play with and try and think about the effects of heat before starting welding. You will find that big areas might need you to weld small parts at opposite corners to spread the heat and avoid bending or distorting the metal.

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