[AT] Welders

[john hall]

Tig makes the cleanest welds, great for the thinnest of materials, but also 
good for fairly heavy stuff. You can weld alum, steel, stainless with no 
problem. Skilled users can even do cast iron. Biggest drawback is they are 
slow, not meant to be used outdoors, and considering it takes both hands and 
1 foot to run them, machinery repairs are often difficult unless you are a 
gymnast. More than once have I seen 2 guys run the welder--one runs the foot 
pedal while the other does the welding. I would think these machines were 
the main catalyst to developing auto-darkening helments.

Mig Machines can weld anything  pretty much. They are fast, very production 
oriented. They make a mess with splatter balls. I personally think these 
take the least skill. A friend of mine has a small one that will do a good 
job on sheet metal, don't know if that machine uses a shield gas or not.

Stick probably gives you the widest range of thickness, providing you are 
only welding steel. You can buy a pretty good sized machine for not a lot of 
money. No tanks of shield gas to deal with, you can weld outside in the 
wind, and they don't make much splatter. It does take a bit of practice to 
learn though.

John Hall

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike M" <meulenms at gmx.com>
To: "at" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 6:39 PM
Subject: [AT] Welders


> Hi all,
> I'm in the market for a welder and would be interested in getting opinions 
> as to what type to get. It would get used for machinery repair (tractor, 
> brush hog etc). I was looking at some of the MIG welders at TSC the other 
> day, and they looked nice, but were pricey if they are able to weld 
> thicker steel. I've never used a MIG welder, but have used an arc welder 
> in the past. An arc welder seems like a simpler choice, but I would be 
> interested in other opinions.
> Thanks,
> Mike M
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>