MIG vs. Arc/stick welding...

[Pies]

can someone please enlighten me, or point me to a website that explains the pros and cons of mig welding and arc/stick welding?

looking at buying a welder and wondering weather its worth saving the extra couple of hundred for a MIG.

mainly looking at a welder for exhaust work and little bits of fabrication and rust repair. not major structual stuff like chassis or roll cages.

[Jebus]

Go Mig, Arc leaves slag which need sto be chipped off and it much too harsh for panel wrok etc, mig is more of an all rounder, and if run with gas there is no slag.

Mig is better for all round, but Arc will be fine for welding diffs, exhausts, heavy fabrication etc....

[Pies]

only reason im looking at arc is because i wont have to buy gas all the time and i can get an arc welder for a hell of alot cheaper than a mig.

is 130amps good for exhausts?

[GTCRSHR]

do you have a licence for the gas ?

i prefer gas welding my self,

but mig welding is great for panel work,

and as said above, arc welding for gates/strong stuff

[Alex B]

Mig welding is also a hell of alot easier to get right IMO. And wont 130A need a 3 phase connection?

[fangsport]

there would be very few jobs on a car, that you can't do without a MIG.
get the biggest single phase (known brand) welder you can afford and you will not regret it. you can get away with flux-core gasless wire , but an argonsheild set-up will give far better results.

[DexGT]

No you don't need 3 phase power , my mig is 270 amps and its single phase .
Mig is much easier to get good welds with than arc , you shouldn't run out of gas all the time unless you have a leak or do lots of welding . I have never heard of needing a licence for the gas , just a account with NZIG for the bottle

[fangsport]

try and get on an ownership scheme for the bottle.
a local tool supply has them, and the ownership is paid for in about 15 months of rental, and the bottles have a 10 year lifespan before re-cert.

[Pies]

thanks guys might just hold out a bit longer and get a decent mig

[Dell'Orto]

You're not looking at that NW130M are you? Dont waste your money if you are, save up and get a Combi132, its a much better unit.
They're both gas/gasless units so you dont need to get gas bottles.

[Pies]

nah i just saw an nw130arc or sumthin at work and was wondering if it would be suitable, since i get it at a damn good price

[Rick]

try and get on an ownership scheme for the bottle.
a local tool supply has them, and the ownership is paid for in about 15 months of rental, and the bottles have a 10 year lifespan before re-cert.

my Co2 bottle cost me $300 and it costs about $55 to fill.

[RS13]

Go MIG. Super easy to use, I was continually blowing holes through panels with an arc welder, they're not really as user-friendly.

[fangsport]

try and get on an ownership scheme for the bottle.
a local tool supply has them, and the ownership is paid for in about 15 months of rental, and the bottles have a 10 year lifespan before re-cert.

my Co2 bottle cost me $300 and it costs about $55 to fill.

probably on par with what it would cost to buy the same i purchased, 2 1/12 years ago.

[sheepers]

i going to throw a spanner in the works and sugest tig.
you can weld stainless steel, steel, and its a little known fact but you can do small repairs to alloy with DC.
its harder to learn how to use but the results are one million times better once you get the hang of it. its basically like gas welding in that you have a weld pool and you can manipulate it with the torch.
if your in auckland talk to Wayne Whittaker at welding tec. 2741246.
i just bought a welder from him and he was really helpful and he knows his stuff, he even told me how to get the best deal on gas.
mig is easy, but it can be a bit rough if you want to do something really tricky.
my 2 cents.
sheepers.

[Caveman]

Yep you can get a tig/arc for cheap too, about $1000 and will do about 140 amps. I forget the model number of mine ill look it up when I get home.

[Pies]

i going to throw a spanner in the works and sugest tig.
you can weld stainless steel, steel...

...my 2 cents.
sheepers.

thanks man that was a damn good post!! ive considered tig, but havent really done too much research into it yet, hence the post i made earlier. Tig is another option but the reason i was looking at ARC was cos its so damn cheap to get an arc welder

[Dell'Orto]

You can do exhausts with arc if you're careful and you set it low, but personally I would just save a bit more and get a decent mig, much more versatile.

[JamesM]

if your only doing car work i wouldnt bother with tig. and yes you can weld alloy with mig and stainless and of course mild steel.
mig can be just as "pretty" as tig. only meataxes make it look shit. id only get a tig if you were primarily welding alloy/stainless. however talking to a number of ppl at boc and the welders at work you would be wasting your money if you bought a 1000$ tig unit.
ive always welded with 3phase mig cause i have 3phase at my house but i tried single phase gas mig the other dayat a friends and its nearly as good. i would spend about 600$ on a unit. gas is going up in price but its still not that bad. rolls of wire last you freaking ages.
arcs only good if ur sitting on a 20story building welding i beams togther.

[VR-4Squid]

Go MiG i'd say. You can still get reasonable results using the fluxed wire, without gas.