help needed on choosing the right welder

[Pav]

I am looking for an affordable welder to occasionally do some light body repair work (panels, door/boot sills, radiator mounts etc.) and I have done a bit of research but I am not sure what type of welder I need. I would like to get a MIG welder but my price range is around $300 (not including safety equipment/accessories). If someone could give me a few pointers it would be appreciated, cheers.

[88GreenVN]

If you go with the Flux Core Wire type you can have the MIG without the gas. I've used all sorts of welding equipment over the years from big full house blow your sox off down to the single setting job. MIG, Tig & stick. + a bit of under water stuff on the pipelines

Choose one that has high and low setting. Then you just control the welding with the wire feed speed and length of wire stick out (from nozzle to job).

[Rhino Racing]

Well mate, unfortunately for $300 your not going to get anything too flash at all.... certainly not new anyway. That is just my honest opinion.
For light panel work a mig is the go, but a decent one of those will set you back a lot more than that.
Smaller cheap stick welders are probably easier to come by but as far as light material goes, it is very easy to blow holes through panels etc, but a lot of it comes down to correct electrode selection and having the settings on the welder appropriate for the materials that you are trying to weld/ drop pigeon droppings on.
Another type is the very small lightweight inverter type stick welders, but they are generally quite expensive and when the electronics card packs it in on them you can easily be out of pocket big$$$$.
With migs you have the choice of flux cored or not. ( means you dont need to have a gas bottle too!)
My last welder i purchased is a mig but i use it a fair bit and it is a 250 amp unit. Great unit, trouble free, but remember, if the materials you want to weld are more often older,rusty, painted, steels.... you will have problems welding with mig until you prepare and clean the steel surfaces properly.
So my advice is check out garage sales and auctions etc and you may stumble across a bargain.
Good luck... and good on you for having a go!
Glad to hear that you are not skimping on safety gear!

[Pav]

Hmmm, I've looked across different forums and it seems that a mig welder might be too much for my purposes. While a mig does seem better for light panel work, I think I may buy a good stick welder and just use smaller electrodes etc. Any recommendations on what make/model to get?

[88GreenVN]

Having not purchased a welder for a long time - the last was a $7,500 Lincoln in 1989 and what a beauty that was.

CIG, WIA, abc.... Cheap anything is only going to be avg anyway. Probably wont make a differance. Just stay away from cheap as chips LOL.

[Pav]

Cool, cheers for the advice guys

[woteva]

You can get a CIG 120 amp welder from Super Cheap Auto or Bunnings for around $100. The dearer ones have a inbuilt fan for heavier use or higher power, which you most likley wont need.

[Pav]

Yeah, I saw some CIG ones at bunnings today, but the minimum setting is 40A, do ya reckon that's too high for panel work? Also what thickness rods should I be using?

[azkwazere]

i wanna do stuff like make tables and stands and stuff from like fence poles and square tube steel... what do i need? i wont be doing thin stuff at all, will be fairly thick like 2mm up...

aZk.

[KRUPTD]

I bought myself an arc/stick welder about 2 yrs ago and have only used it about 5 times but about a yr ago i bought a gasless mig and its been really good its abit tricky welding body panels because its abit savage on them,but when i do body panels i borrow my mates tig which has a much better finish.But the mig is good for exhausts and weld up to 6mm thick steel.Have welded up some chassis cracks and they have held great,its good for making steel furniture and other odd stuf around the house.I bought it from repco for $355 it was on sale from $599,its a weldmate one and you get the face mask and some welding wire and a brush.But i went out and bought a proper welding helmet and gloves that i dont use at all and bought a decent size brush.Yeah so thats my joy.