In the market for a mig welder

[DirtyJim]

I need to do some welding on my car. I know it isnt my F100, but I figured you folks would be able to give me some advice anyway.
I hit a deer in my Ford Escort and I need to replace the radiator core support. The original is spot welded in place, but can be removed by drilling out the welds. I can order the replacement core support online but I need to weld the new one back in place. I was thinking that a small 110V mig welder might do ok for performing small spot welds, but I dont want to butcher the job, either. I was hoping that if I buy a small unit, that I could use it to weld exhaust pipe and other small gauge metal as well. Would a 200 dollar gasless mig welder do me justice here, or would that be a waste of money? I dont do body work or custom fabrication, I just want to be able to do repairs once in a while, and being able to weld my own exhaust would be a great benefit. Of course, money is the limiting factor here and I need to be able to warrant buying the welder vs. paying someone else to do the core support installation for me.

[FoMoCo]

I would not buy a gasless welder. After you practice (alot) you see the benefits of sheilding gas. I have a Lincoln ProMig and a Miller Syncro TIG. I would recomend miller. Look on their web page, it great for selecting the right model. The best way to start would probibly be finding a good used one.

Nick

[FORDification]

I agree....when I was researching buying my own MIG welder a couple years ago, it was the general concensus everywhere I looked and whoever I talked to that gasless MIGs were not the way to go. It was harder to learn, the welds were not not pretty and it took longer to get them cleaned up.

Spend some time over at the Hobart Welding Talk forum reading about other's equipment...you'll pick up quite a bit of very good advice.

[shrektruck]

I gotta disagree here. Jim said :
"I was hoping that if I buy a small unit, that I could use it to weld exhaust pipe and other small gauge metal as well."
I started out with a 110 volt flux core unit Igot for Christmas about 12 years ago. I've used it on plates up to 3/8" thick for an engine stand(multiple pass) Motorcycle frames equipment dollys, and the sheet metal on my neighbors '48 Caddy.
While I have access to gas and TIG now I still grab the little guy for small jobs, it's very portable and self contained and will run off my geneerator on the rare occasion I am without electricity.
If you don't plan on doing real heavy stuff I would go with the flux core MIG. If that's really going to be all you do the samll unit will save money and a lot of space and hassle with leasing bottles, leakdown, setting up a rig to cart it around etc.
If you really want to save money why don't you bolt the new radiator support in?
Matt

[Ford390pwr]

I started out with a 110 volt flux core unit Igot for Christmas about 12 years ago.

I will be looking for something small in the near future, and I really don't see myself doing a lot of welding. I saw a unit at Harbor Freight, does this compare to the unit you have as far as capabilities?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=55088

Like I said, at most I might have to repair a floor pan at some point in time. I have never had any welding experience so it would be a learn as you go type of thing!

[shrektruck]

Actually mine was similar to this one:

http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalo ... asp?p=2515

They no longer make the unit I have but the specs were similar 'cept it used flux core wire up to .045.
I recommend taking that face shield, remove the filter/glass (save for future use), now find a very high cliff and pitch the face shield frisbee like as far as you can.
Then go buy a decent helmet, auto darkening if you have the funds.
I noticed the price of the Lincoln welders has jumped considerably. Funny, they don't have the best reputation but mine has never given me trouble.
The H/F unit you linked to isn't a wire feed which IMHO is easiest to learn. It would work fine also, remember if those sticks get wet they degrade quickly and are impossible to weld with.
Matt

[shrektruck]

Just looked at H/F. This would be their comparable unit.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... umber=6098