I am going to buy a welder so I can help the son in law who has spray shop, what do I do but MIG or TIG which is easiest? No I have never had a go before but a willing learner.
Mig is undoubtly the easist of all forms of welding, Tig has a much steeper learning curve and is much slower. The question is now what Mig welder are you going to buy
Now when you say you are going to use it to help out your son in law, im assuming he has a spray shop he runs as a commercial bussiness?. if so is the welder going to buy used as part of the bussiness, i just want to know if its for pure DIY use or commercial type use, it affects the type of machine you should buy
He has just started up in his first year so money is the problem, we can always move up to a better one when money comes in, whats difference in price between DIY and a proper one?
Diy ones are ment for light useage, the profession type ones are ment for more constant useage. How much are you willing to spend, unfortunatly it almost always comes down to this basic question. You can get reasonably good hobby machines for under £200 from the clarke range, or some like one of the portamig units which is a more professional unit and will set you back about £500
200 sounds good at this time, need car lift soon so budget important hopefully another 6 months and things will be looking up, eBay the Clarke and buy the Portamig?
Thanks for the advice!
Have a look at machine mart they sell clarke machines, you need to be looking at a 130amp machine or bigger, just in case you need to weld the heaveier chasis sections on a car.
Personally, if it's for professional use I'd spend a bit more and go for a machine with a Euro type torch, not a hard-wired one like the hobby machines have. Any torch damage or problems, throw it, fit a new one in 2 mins, no downtime. Buy the right one at the outset and there'll be no reason for you to upgrade it . You're only looking at about £400 for a new machine or a decent used one for a lot less.
PM Weldequip. He seems to be the man to go to, and certainly helped me decide. He will also probably be able to beat the machine mart cost, particularly if you were going to have it delivered.
If budget is a concern, I think the Clarke 160 sort of size come with large tank regs (if commercially used, disposables will kill your bank account), and are around the £230 price.