hey guys im looking for a welder to weld in sfc's and a cage. i have took welding in my autobody program so i know how to weld and the different types of welds yadda yadda yadda but one thing the class didnt go over was the different kind of welders that would be needed to do certain jobs. (i dont understand why they didnt) basically i am looking for a wire fed mig welder to weld in a mild steel 8pt cage and some sfc. what could i get that is "cheaper" that would get the job done. thats about all i would need it for and maybe some very small jobs around the house. i see welders for 1,000 plus and honestly i just cant swing that much cash right now. thanxs guys.

 

The brand of my MIG welder is CEM. 110 volt. I can use flux wire but you're not allowed to weld cages with it. I bought a bottle and regulator and do all my welding now with shielding gas. Cranking up the welder to maximum amperage is just around enough to get good penetrating welds.

My welder will do 80 amps at 40% duty cycle and 120 amps at 18% duty cycle. It has 4 heat settings but unless I want to weld sheet metal, I've never used the lower 2 settings. It can use .024-.030" solid wire. It can't produce enough heat or amperage for .035" wire. For that you need a 220v welder.

A good 110v welder should be around $400 not counting a bottle and gas regulator.

 

Any of the big three or equivilent 115V MIG machines will do the cage and light duty project work. The Hobart 140 looks like the best deal going from what I have seen (reman. units are very reasonable). I use a Miller 130 that I got used for $200 for most of the light work I do. I would use some .030" ER70-S wire with gas for the cage. When welding thick steel you can bevel the edges so that more heat and filler can be added.

 

so from what i understand this would do the job nicely? http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

 

thats the same one i have, mine even came with all the extra stuff as well. Worked great on my roll cage and alot of other small projects.v i got mine for about 430 out the door at farm and fleet. So depending what shipping is, you might want to look around for a local deal to save some cash

 

awesome good deal. one more question about how much would it run me to rent/buy a tank for it?

 

The cost depends on the bottle size.

I have one of those Clarke 130EN MIG units that is setup for flux core wire. I got tired of swapping rolls on the Miller MIG. I picked it up "broken" in brand new condition for under $200. A bad connection at the temp. sensor for the main transformer made it non-operational. I put about 1lb of flux core wire through it so far. It works good. The wire tracking seems fine and the output seems to be the same as the big three 115v units. Using the proper metal prep. and welding technique it would weld the cage fine.