About Welding metals Options

[njccmd2002]

why?

[bccentaur3]

Mig its easy.

[Celiracer18]

I prefer to TIG weld but like most things there is a place to use one or the other.

and to your question, which one is better for what? its a very broad question

[Consynx]

^ i agree.
what metals, what form of "best" are you going for?
ease, looks, range of metals able to be welded, etc.

But I pick pressure welding

[njccmd2002]

welding lets say automotive and regular steel.

[njccmd2002]

what about this

[presure2]

what about this

thats more for brazing or soldering.

MIG for cheapness and eaze of use (around 500 will get you a decent starter setup, that can do most car stuff)

TIG for SWEET welds (if you know how to use it properly) and better control (again, provided you know what you are doing) definetly much more expensive tho.

[Dr_Tweak]

TIG is by far the best as far as the results you will get, but it is also the most expensive (in terms of the machine) and also the most difficult to do WELL.

MIG is cheap, and easier to learn and get pretty good at, but once you're done, it will look like a MIG weld

-Doc

[njccmd2002]

thanks for all the replies. Ill start saving for MIG, this can be closed now.

[soulshadow]

Heres what I found out from a noob prespectives:

Mig easy to use, cheap to get and can be upgraded if you have a machine that supports gas feed.

TIG, freaking expensive. Cheap equipment = crap wield.

Oxy = If your a noob you should not be using this. Hair on fire, always running out of gas. Poor results if your not a pro, thats if you can even get it to wield.

So stick to a MIG if your not a pro and don't intend to put a whole car back together. Leave the dangerous stuff to a pro because you might regret it later especially if its motor mounts.

[njccmd2002]

nah, its just for small stuff. I am not the Mad Scientist. nor interested in a GT4 vert

but thanks. Ill go with mig

[Cuts_the_Pilot]

being a fitter and machinist i believe im suitably qualified to anwser this qn.

TIG welding is prob one of the harder ones to get a neat weld with good penetration, you can get the strongest weld for the weld size with a tig, and they look the neatest. But they are expensive to buy, expensive to run (as pure argon gas is more expensive to buy then argonshield, argonshield is the gas used by mig welders). If your good at using it you can weld extreemly thin metals, such as ally cans. (im not that good lol)
If you want to weld aluminium with your tig they are more expensive again.

MIGS are easy to use, easy to get a good looking weld, generally you cant weld much below say .8mm thick, but you wouldnt want to most of the time. As i said before argonshield is cheaper then pure argon. You can weld thicker metals with a mig, for example you wouldnt weld anything over 10 or 12mm with the average tig, but a normal mig you can confortably weld up to say 25mm thick or more (up to 1 inch for you non metric people).


OXY, Good for welding odd metals, and dissimilar metals, such as copper, brass etc.
Well if you want to seam weld your car then yeah get one , for normal welding dont even think about it.
oxy sets are handy to have because they can be used for other things such as if you have a bolt stuck you can heat up the part and get it out, but thats not often and headting barels chew through gas like there is no tomorrow.

You didnt mention stick welders, which is a good thing really they are the cheapest of the lot to buy, and run, but sticks are yesterdays news, they arnt too bad to use, you can weld big stuff, and you can weld inside and out (outside if its windy your gas will be blown away in the case of the other 3).
But sticks produce slag and that requires chipping off, plus you have to stop all the time to chuck a new stick in if your doing a run.

get a mig, will be most suitable for your application....Also if you have no experience welding go to a tafe or similar place (duno what you would call them over there but its a place apprentice mechainics, fitters, hairdressers, plumbers, sparkies etc go to do some training out of work, so everyone gets at least a bit of the same training).
That way you get to learn a few tricks of the trade.

[Legit94GT]

^^^^^ WELL SAID ^^^^^ for the most part


You can use TIG to weld thick metals, different type of metals together at that. stainless and non-stainless, or alloy mixes. there is no differnce between the steel used to make cars and "regular steel"

With MIG you will get a vastly wider range of thickness you can weld for a basic welder but you cannot weld different types of metals together.
You do not want to get into an apprentice program for welding unless you are looking to make a career out of it. You want to go to your local community college and take an intro class into MIG or TIG welding, they will provide you with machines and material to weld with.

It all depends on your application... It sounds like you have MIG pretty much dialed as your choice but i have ALWAYS chosen TIG over MIG simply because it leaves such a nicer weld with less mess.

If you could lay out exactly what you are looking to do we could give you "better" more precise advise...

[Cuts_the_Pilot]

With MIG you will get a vastly wider range of thickness you can weld for a basic welder but you cannot weld different types of metals together.

yes you can.

i never said you couldnt weld dissimilar metals with a tig either, i simply didnt state you could, stainless to m/s or other type of non stainless steels for example, but you cant obviously weld ally to anything other then ally.
i was mearly saying you can weld a more dissimilar metals with an oxy.

you can weld thicker metal with a tig but with the average tig you wont get good penitration with the weld.


like we have said get a mig.


let us know how u go man.

[Legit94GT]

With MIG you will get a vastly wider range of thickness you can weld for a basic welder but you cannot weld different types of metals together.

yes you can.

i never said you couldnt weld dissimilar metals with a tig either, i simply didnt state you could, stainless to m/s or other type of non stainless steels for example, but you cant obviously weld ally to anything other then ally.
i was mearly saying you can weld a more dissimilar metals with an oxy.

you can weld thicker metal with a tig but with the average tig you wont get good penitration with the weld.


like we have said get a mig.


let us know how u go man.

I wasn't trying to bash on what you said man, i was mearly adding some more info, glad to see there is someone else here with a knowledge of this stuff:)

[Valo666]

I like TIG, except when i get shocked...that hurts like hell..lol.

But mig is easier to use/learn for little projects where your not trying to make it look good. Just make sure your gonna run with gas and not just that flux core wire crap. It makes w/e your working on spatter city, and its good for gettin a hot foot or 2.