welders (the machines, not the people)
 

I want to get a welder for christmas/with christmas money. I thought it was going to cost me $200 for a wire feed, but I figured out I was wrong real quick. The smallest MIG at a local welding place was $615. Anybody have any suggestions for decently priced welders that will weld manifolds, exhaust piping, and charge pipes without a problem?

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

arch welders?

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

go to home depot

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

arc welders suck cock, you should be able to pick up a lincoln 125 mig and for arond $235 and yes it will weld those items, anything up to 1/4 in

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

http://www.weldingmart.com/

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

thanks alot for all the responses, I'll check out all your suggestions.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

whats wrong with arc welders

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

Kyle you can get a miller or a hobart 135 for about 500 bucks or so.That is the biggest you can get before you go 220 and power demand.that will do up to 3/16" steel.That should be all you need to build a manni.Unless you can find a used one expect to pay that much or more.I have done the research and thats what Im getting here pretty soon.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

I have a lincoln 125 Plus and I like it, I've always been more fond of miller for some reason but they both work well.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

well home depot has that cheap ass brand that I don't know if they will work for very long. Lowes has lincolns, they have one without a gas option (lincoln) for 330, and another one with gas option (lincoln) for 430, both are wire feeds. There is a welding store in town that I've heard has good prices, but they are closed on weekends, so I'm going to go look for the 125-plus on monday. That online store has slightly lower than average prices, but they don't have the 125 plus.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

hmm...my home-depot is where i got my lincoln

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

werd? I'll go check, on their website they only had the camble and hausfield or some crap like that. which one did you get?

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

---- whats the number....mig pack 110 or something...the base model wire-feeder. I just recently converted it to gas, but i havent gotten the chance to mess around with it yet

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

it didn't come with the gas reg on it, did it? how did you convert it to gas? how much did it cost?

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

they sell kits at homedepot but i got mine off a friend , i think they are like 99 plus the tank

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

for that price I might as well get it gas ready from the factory since it's $100 more, I guess the extra $1 covers the warranty. I don't think it would be too hard to put together a conversion kit, you'd just need regulators and air fittings.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

Just get one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=45031
Why play around?Just a few hundred dollars more.I use to have the maxstar 140 and it worked great till I upgraded to a syncrowave 180sd.You'll be much happier with a tig.Think about it.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

I have a mig pak 10 110 volt. I would recomend it. It welds up to 1/4 inch mild steel, i bet you could do 1/2 with a couple passes. I got it for 500 cad. The only thing i'm complaining about is the bottle of argon that i need to buy. A local welding gas supplyer quoted me 400 bucks for a cylinder(big one) :-\ Oh yeah, get a good angle grinder and die grinder. They really helped me get good welds. Making a "v shaped dip between both the peices of metal helps pool the filler wire making a strong weld. Also, grinding off any corrosion or oxidation before welding makes for less splater, stronger nicer looking weld.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

damn, I hate when I have to decide like this. the tig would be alot nicer than the mig, but the mig is much cheaper. I want to be building an LS motor, not buying a tig, so I will probably just get a sp-125 plus, then maybe get a tig later. I don't know, if all my money adds up to $775 I might get this tig. and wtf, if I get it and get decent at welding I could make money on manifolds or doing exhaust ---- for local people to buy the LS and build it. I love/hate your suggestion shitbird.

How long do you think it would take someone with no welding experience (me) to learn how to tig weld by myself? How thick do you think that thing could weld in each of the modes (115 stick, 115 tig, 230 stick, 230 tig)?

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

TIG welding is an artform and its one of those things you can't just jump right in and run nice beads. With no prior welding experience this is the last thing I would reccomend for you to get. A mig welder is fine for what you need it for. With a mig welder you can pretty much start weldling in a few days practice.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

And remember kyle that 800 bucks for that Tig is just for the Tig(no accesseries).To get you welding it will cost well over a grand.Just get a mig.$600 bucks and youll be welding.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

what more would I need? I guess I'll just get a nice mig then, thanks for the input.

Re:welders (the machines, not the people)
 

Alot of ----.I went in to Airgas and they had a Tig for 1500 bucks.I told the guy to set me up with everything I needed and it ended up beying like 1890 bucks total to get home and start welding :o.I walked out..lol.that was almost 400 bucks of extra ----.