What would you guys recommend for a decently priced welder. I want a gas welder and i want something that i can use to weld turbo manifolds together but i don't know what kind of welder i should get. At most i would spend is around 500. thankss

 

do some research! there are decent migs out there Lincoln, hobart, miller.

 

I think that best one in your price range would be a Lincon 135 mig. Its 110v and its ac/dc.

 

With this i wouldn't really have a hard problem welding manifolds then. Just wanna be sure before i get something and it doesn't do the job

 

The lincoln 135 at sears is like $550 or something. Then you have the tank and gas. I think you get a spool of wire though.

You also will want a mask other than the hand-held one they give ya.

$500 for a good set-up is tough to find new.

The other option is to go Chinese TIG I suppose.

 

A TIG does not replace a MIG. I'd rather have a MIG welder over a TIG welder any day of the week. Try TIG welding some dirty ---- for a quick job. Yeah, it sucks. Now try MIG welding it, not too much of an issue. The saving grace of those inexpensive Chinese TIG welders are the plasma cutters that come with. A plasma cutter can be very useful at times.

With that said, you are going to want to purchase one of the three. Lincoln 135, Millermatic 135/140, Hobart Handler 135/140. Any of which will work fine and do most anything you need. All are around $500 shipped new. If you search eBay and Craigslist, you can probably find one for $300-350.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Clarke-135SG-Mig...QQcmdZViewItem

This seems like a pretty solid deal. Do some research on the Clarke. If I had to buy blindly right now, I'd go with the Clarke. It is a little weak though. Would be a bit tough welding some thicker stuff. You could get away with two passes though.

 

summit racing has a new tool section.

they have a couple diff lincoln migs from $300-600

 

I have a Lincoln 135 and it works well. I think it was like 500 shipped with a cart. Its fine for small ----. The duty cycle on the smaller machines is pathetic the welder is not a true 135 amp unit, and neither are the others. Its all a numbers game. If you look to buy a welder, look at what it is rated at, at least at 60%.

 

it all depend

when you really get the hand of a tig welder the weld some out beautiful. but on the other hand fabricating a downpipe it a pain in the *** with a tig. i want to get a mig just so i can do spot welds for mock up then finish them off with my tig.

i bought a chinese smiley for my first welder and its probably the best tool ive ever bought. after a month of practicing i was laying down some solid beads.

mig are also great for quick jobs, you dont really have to ---- around with cleaning the materal. but if your doing quality work then your supposed to clean the material anyway. i would say pick up the smiley you wont regret it.

here are some pics of my welds after some practice. my welds have gotten better since this, this was about 1 month of practice.

 

---- you and your welds lol , you should have seen my first welds with a fluxcore wire feed lol. talk about some nasty ----. i would like to pick up a cheap welder just for exhaust and charge pipes but it has to be 110volt because i dont have 220 in my shack of a garage . what would be a decent one to look for on craigslist? or at least a decent voltage? should look fo rone with gas obviosly because flux is so 2003 HMT