what is the best mig welder?

cane corso

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There has to be a few experienced welders on this site?
I am just starting off and I heard mig welding is the easiest to do?
Could any of you tell me what I should buy that is not so complicated to use? I like to say welder for dummies:D
I do have 220 in my shop but I was thinking of using it for a heater.
I heard there is a dual that can opperate on 110 and for bigger stuff you can use it for 220.
I think the heavest metal I would use is 16 guage.
Can any of you guys recommend a good one to get? I don't want to spend more than $800 if thats possible for a good one.
 
which welder for me

the important thing is adjustability use the correct cover gas to minimize clean up the brands are incidental find the closest supplier of the products you will use and support them and they will support you a good rule of thumb at least try to think 4x the material you might normally weld then practice
 
I cannot help in the area of the "best", but I can suggest "decent and cheap". I chose a flux core gas-less wire feed, 110v from harbor freight for under $100. It works just fine for my uses (repairs and steel 10Ga and less), its small, light and adjustable.
Harbor Freight has a few models to choose from depending on your needs, and can be ordered online if you don't have a store nearby.
 
welder

Hellfire, I was told the ones at Home Depo and Harbor Freight you can only use them for 15 minuts then you need them to cool down or you will burn them out? How long have you used yours at one time? Do you like yours? Do you find it welds nice? What model did you get?
 
I hadn't heard that one ... I just used it the other day to weld a pair of edger blades together (a pair of cheapies replaces an expensive one). That probably only took 20 min or so but I've used it much longer than that in the past without any trouble. Like I said, it's not the best, I've had smoother welds with gas units. But it gets the job done quite well for the money and you don't have to mess with the gas bottle taking up space. If I did alot of "finish" welding I'd put up with the bottle just for the smoother weld, the bead is fine, it's the slag and BB's that make a little more mess than gas.
It's an Easy Mig 100 from Chicago Electric.
 
Thanks Hellfire I don't want to spend a lot of money just incase I can't do it then again I don't want to get anything too cheap that makes welding harder then I give up:(
I'm thinking of getting the 140 at Home Depo it seems to be the best buy for the money.
 
Just wondered if you were going to do a lot of Welding it sounds to me like Hellfire as the best idea. I have a Lincoln mig ,which is 220V the gas and tank rent gets to be expensive if you're not using it a lot , you can buy what they call a farm tank , which eliminates the rent but is still $45 to refill, to get over a 20% welding time it is going to cost a good sum. you'll find that you have to do a lot of heavy welding to overcome the 20% time most of the time you're moving the project around which allows the welder to cool so it doesn't really cause a problem unless you're trying to do assembly line work. Also many happy burns LOL. :D
 
Hey Uncle Jesse I like it:) Well the one that home Depo has you can use the gas or you don't need to use it and you can use the flex or just the wire with out the flex so I'm thinking of that one .
Not sure how much I'll be welding just depends if I could pull of my stuff that I did out of wood and fiberglass out of metal it seems I'm having no problen shapping my belly pan, if welding goes the same I might make a few up for those who want. Or I just give up and say I Tried:D
 
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