With flux core on the MIG its really dead simple but I do get a fair bit of splatter (less if I've been practicing ) compared to using it with gas. Past that I'd take the pieces down to my buddies shop and borrow his stick (or more likely beg him to weld it for me ). I have a 110v Hobart Handler 140 MIG and can easily weld up to 1/4" in mild steel with it (Miller at least has a similar class of machine). If you want to do stainless you're practically down to TIG or MIG+gas and are probably better off getting someone else to do it cause stainless is a pita to weld (yeah I've seen some flux core stainless for MIG, but.). with sprinkler pipe no less, was in awe at the skill required) but it takes a magical hand. In theory you can weld aluminum with a stick welder (I've seen it done. I can sort of make it work with a stick welder after running through a rod or three of practice beads and I sure wouldn't buy a TIG without taking some more classes or working with someone to learn better more first.Īny of these can weld steel (with varying ease of use). Even I can get things to stick together pretty good with a MIG welder (not pretty, but hey). I don't think the ease of use order can be understate for noobs (of which I am firmly in the land of). The other setups are inert when you're not using them, so there is a certain level of safety to them. But people can be nervous having a big cylinder of acetylene around the house. Oxy-acetylene can be very versatile - like TIG, it only provides the heat source and you have to use a separate filler rod. With the MIG I could just start welding and not stop until I reached the end of the seam. Even stick would have required multiple electrodes to finish even one seam. TIG would have taken forever to weld all the seams. I welded up a new bucket for my Bobcat the other year. Likewise, a 110V MIG is going to take many, many passes and some skill if you're trying to weld thick brackets and structural items. The first question is what do you plan to weld? You're not going to get very far trying to weld sheet metal with stick. Adding the shielding gas to a MIG welder is an added cost, but then you don't have to worry about the slag that the flux forms - both for cleaning it off the finished weld as well as making sure it doesn't get included into the weld if you go over it accidentally. I'd debate where MIG and flux core stand in relation to each other, though. My machines right now are a 250amp MIG, 250amp TIG (which also can be set up for stick), and an 80amp plasma cutter.Ĭhuck provides some good lists to explain how they relate. Over the years I've done oxy-acetylene, stick, flux core, MIG, and TIG. Even if you don't end up buying a Miller machine, they have an excellent explanation for starting out:
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