Thread: Go get your mig welder , Youl Brunner.

yeh the thing with stick thaough...you don't knoe your weld is good till you chip the slag.....in fact..if your line isn't right and you arent getting even fusion...you can be welding merrily on and know nothing.

At least with MIG, if you are paying attention you can see what the arc is doing..you can correct you line or simply stop for a look then just keep going.

cheers

I have to respectfully disagree soundman. If you know what you are doing it is easy to tell if your weld is good with a stick. And as for the slag, it will peel away of the settings and technique are right. MIG welders are great for specialty welding but for run of the mill mild steel you can't beat a stick.

Old thread I know but I just wanted to express the same sentiments as soundman....

Oh my freakin god!!!! How bloody good is a Mig!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After struggling with a 40 year old buzz box for the last 2 years mainly trying to weld 1.6 - 2mm mm box section I finally shelled out for a Lincoln 180 powermig the other day. I mean I'm glad I learned to arc weld but this thing is bloody awesome.

I reckon I'm getting things done in about 1/3 the time. It reminds me of when I got my first nail gun. Hold pieces together, pull trigger and BANG! Tacked

I've been making a trolley to take the welder and a bottle out of scrap bits of 25mm * 1.6mm and have been welding smaller lengths together to make longer pieces I'm enjoying it so much.

Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm with you guys. If i take my time and don't blow too many holes in thin stuff I can turn out a passable stick weld. But give me a Mig and i am a welding machine. Or at least that's how it seems. I guess i just struggle a bit with my stick welder, especially with thin stuff, because i have limited adjustment on the welder. (Old Cigweld 2 rod size selection adjustment)

"You go get your Mig Soundman. You're a badass, bowler hat wearing mutha who don't take no stick from nobody"

I think I must have bought pretty much the same machine as Soundman on Friday - a UniMig 165 inverter machine with both Mig and Stick outputs. I was already pretty happy with a little BOC Smootharc 130 inverter, but thin material was still a pain, as were deep fillets on thin-walled stock.

I grabbed a little roll of gassless wire while I scope out what the story is with gas in Canberra. While the welds are not pretty, with the volts up it seems to have no problem getting penetration, and with this setup, with a flick of a switch I can grab the electrode holder and change to stick welding, meaning there's no excuse for not using the best tool for the job.