mig or arc welding?
Moderator: Mike Everman
mig or arc welding?
is it possible to weld 1 to about 1.2 mm stainless steel with an 100$ arc welder? I've been trying to find reasonable sub 200 € mig welder but I'm not having any succes
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Irvine.J
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ARc welding
Well mate to be honest not really. The smallest arc welding rods I can find anyway are 2mm. And they are designed that you use the same thickness rod as your metal.
Your much better off saving your money and waiting a fraction longer to atleast get a mig or tig welder. There are 2 types of mig you should be aware of also. A gas and gassless variety. Basically, a gasless mig is much cheaper, but you can not weld stainless, or aluminium with it, only regular steel.
With a GAS mig, you can weld practically anything, and most GAS migs will allow you to use the standard GASLESS mig wire too. So if you building prototypes or test engines from mild steel, you can simply use the cheap flux cored wire thats about 18 dollars US and lasts along time, and your not wasting ever precious and expensive argon.
I can make 3 to 4 engines with 1 roll of gasless flux cored wire. Even so, the gasless migs minium thickness without burning holes is about .8mm to be reasonable. I weld 1mm (.95mm) mild steel with my gasless but I have to be carefull and cannot sustain a weld for more then a second, and have to keep zapping it as I move down to join all the "dots" while red hot.
A gas mig can easily do .3 / .4mm
In the end, get on ebay, look for a gas mig that is Gas/gasless, or simply a tig. The mig will be cheaper, but in my oppinion its easier to weld with as it leaves a free hand to gently align any parts that aren't sitting just right, where with a tig you must use 2 hands. Anyway, my 2 cents. Goodluck, hope this helped.
Your much better off saving your money and waiting a fraction longer to atleast get a mig or tig welder. There are 2 types of mig you should be aware of also. A gas and gassless variety. Basically, a gasless mig is much cheaper, but you can not weld stainless, or aluminium with it, only regular steel.
With a GAS mig, you can weld practically anything, and most GAS migs will allow you to use the standard GASLESS mig wire too. So if you building prototypes or test engines from mild steel, you can simply use the cheap flux cored wire thats about 18 dollars US and lasts along time, and your not wasting ever precious and expensive argon.
I can make 3 to 4 engines with 1 roll of gasless flux cored wire. Even so, the gasless migs minium thickness without burning holes is about .8mm to be reasonable. I weld 1mm (.95mm) mild steel with my gasless but I have to be carefull and cannot sustain a weld for more then a second, and have to keep zapping it as I move down to join all the "dots" while red hot.
A gas mig can easily do .3 / .4mm
In the end, get on ebay, look for a gas mig that is Gas/gasless, or simply a tig. The mig will be cheaper, but in my oppinion its easier to weld with as it leaves a free hand to gently align any parts that aren't sitting just right, where with a tig you must use 2 hands. Anyway, my 2 cents. Goodluck, hope this helped.