Welders

[theletch1]

Stick or MIG? Which is easier to learn/use? Which has a lower maintenance cost? Which is more versatile? I'm looking to get one for some work that needs to be done around the house... building a trailer for hauling wood, repairing a lawn mower, building a smoker... that sort of thing. My wife says I just want a new toy... she know me well.

 

[elder999]

While most people of our generation learned stick welding first, MIG is easier to learn. You can probably get a used multi-process welder (MIG/TIG/Stick) fairly inexpensively, though, and then do it all as your skill and needs grow. I'd also suggest taking a class at the local community college first-while you can teach yourself a lot about welding, it's good to get some practice on the basics with someone else's stuff.....

 

[teekin]

MIG is much easier and will produce much cleaner welds. Get a feeder that lets you use stainless and Al+3 as well as varying speed and current. The kicker is that you need very clean (rust free) surfaces to MIG. With Stick you can blow through rust and corrosion as well as use the cathode as a cutting tool. You can also get an almost infinite variety of weld rods.
You will need instruction on either one however. Take a course, see what you like and go from there. I'd rather use a coat hanger and MAP gas that stick weld but I can MIG/TIG and Gas weld better than most of the guys.
lori

 

[searcher]

I use a stick if I am doing something delicate or if I need to be a bit cleaner with the weld. I use a MIG when I have a big job to do. I was once told that after you use a MIG, you will never use a stick again. This is not true, but it is close.

The only one that I find less then desirable to use very often is TIG. I TIG if it has to be "show" quality.

 

[elder999]

IThe only one that I find less then desirable to use very often is TIG. I TIG if it has to be "show" quality.

Or aluminum (there I go showing off again...:lol: )

 

[Tomu]

Mig is the best for all around use. That being said if I were welding anything that my life depended on in would be stick or tig. There's a reason you don't see high pressure steam pipe or boiler tubes getting mig welded. As Elder999 pointed out, if its in your budget a multiprocess machine is the way to go.

 

[theletch1]

Thanks, guys...and lady. The vocational school the next town over offers adult ed welding classes. It's something I'll be checking into. I really have no pressing need to weld, actually. I think most of ya'll understand the desire to learn something new "just because" and if it can be something functional at the same time then why not.