Welder for a Newbie

**typhoon_driver** · 8th May 2014, 08:32

Bought an AC/DC tig a few years back and it's an awesome machine. Only cost £500 but on top of that you have a bottle of gas, regulator for gas, mask, gloves and rods (ti rods ain't cheap!). A dozen or so settings for the weld itself, ramp ups and downs, gas flow etc and it's bloody complicated to set up and get running right.

Go with a dirt cheap Arc welder. It's essentially just a dirty power supply. Very little to go wrong and you can get welding to your hearts content.

**SamO** · 8th May 2014, 17:44

how long did it take you to learn with the ARC Will?

**Max** · 8th May 2014, 18:14

I spent an entire morning doing nothing but Arc welding and by the end was reasonably competent, the key is to keep practicing because after a while you forget it and have to almost learn again.
On the other hand MIG took about half hour to learn and get reasonably competent it is just like using a glue gun if you can avoid burning a hole in the material!

**typhoon_driver** · 8th May 2014, 20:31

Strike the electrode like a match and then it's all about keeping the same distance and moving it down at a steady rate. You'll get good at patching holes initially as well.

**Mouldy** · 9th May 2014, 10:20

shame i didn't see this earlier- i had an arc welder i took to the tip, paid £40 for it years ago, just didn't use it anymore… arc is good for anything over 3mm really… i bought a 2nd hand mig for £100 and it works pretty well on stuff over 2.5mm up to 4mm and is much easier to learn than arc.

If you do go for mig dont bother with the gasless systems, their pretty rubbish.

As Gary pretty much said though a TIG is one of the best workshop investments you can make.