Which Welder to purchase?!

[Mark Fleenor]

Hey, the first year team at Mercer University is planning on buying a welder. We are looking at a Millermatic 210. We plan to weld everything from the frame to suspension. Anyone have any experience with this welder or can suggest a better one?
Thanks,
Mark F

[Denny Trimble]

Well, that's a MIG welder. If you have to have only one welder, it should be TIG. We only use our MIG for our re-bar chassis mockups and test fixtures. Anything that has to be light, strong, and pretty, is TIG'd.

We use something like this. (http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/syncrowave_250_dx/)

[Mark Fleenor]

I forgot to add that we have a partialy constructed frame (from a senior design project) that is MIG welded. And none of us have any experience welding what-so-ever. Would you still suggest a TIG?
Thanks again,
Mark F

[RiNaZ]

We worked with MIG for our baja cars. It's easier to get around the tight corner and faster too, compare to TIGs.

But i think denny is right, it'll be easier and better to use TIG, especially when none of you guys have any experience welding anything.

If you use MIG with no experience, there's a big chance you're gonna create a lot of big blobs on the joints. And then you have to grind it all down and re-weld it to see if it actually penetrates. The more you grind, the more stress concentration that you'll make on the joints.

I had one of the technician at my school to do our FSAE chassis and he used TIG, it looked really nice (just dont ask me what model he used coz i have no idea).

[Cement Legs]

Definitely go with TIG. It will be harder to learn than MIG but the benefits in the long run will far outway the frustration that you are going to have while learning. The Maxstar 200 LX is a really nice machine if your into Miller but if you want a real welder (hehe) the Precision TIG 185 from Lincoln will get just about everything done that you would be looking for.

[Wilso]

UT Austin uses the Miller Dynasty 200, pretty basic but gets the job done, great on steel, decent on aluminum, but thats partly because i'm inexperienced with the aluminum. Personally I learned stick welding first, then found MIG really easy, then it took longer to learn TIG. Overall I would suggest TIG. Put one guy in a room and tell him not to come out until he has learned it. Of course books and what not are a good source for the basics, but it really only comes with practice.

[EgyptianMagician]

Cement_Feet is right ... and so is Wilso...

We locked Cement_Boy in the room with nothing but scraps of metal, a helmet and enough tig rod to weld from here to Pompei ...

He learned a ton, and he learned it fast, and I'm sure if you ask him for some resources he'll give you some websites, books, ideas etc...

He's done a great job, oh gawsh, I'm going to cry, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY CEMENT_FREAK !!! I love you and your Tigging abilities !

now back to what I'm good at...

[Alan]

I think Lincoln Electric gives discounts to FSAE teams. Not %100 sure on that though. Anyway this is the successor to what we used

http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.asp?p=12815

If you don't have any TIG experience, I would suggest taking a class at a communutity college or vocational school. If you have some gas welding experience that'll help a lot. You can teach yourself with lots of practice but having someone explain the ins and outs will allow you more time to practice the physical skill aspect.

[Agent4573]

Lincoln gave us the student discount last year when you bought our welder. I believe it was something like 20 percent but don't quote me on that. Also a class at a community college will greatly help you learn to weld, be it mig, tig or stick(also I wouldn't recommend stick on a SAE car) We just bought the the miller dynasty 200, either the dx or the sd, whichever one is better. It has a 100% duty cycle and is great on steel and aluminum.

If you don't get this one, make sure you check out the duty cycle of whatever one you get to see if it will be appropriate. Our last welder only had a 20 percent duty cycle which means that in a 10 minute span we could only weld for 2 minutes, and then had to let it sit for 8.... kinda slows things down a bit when you trying to get a car done.

[Joey Sanders]

Looks like Sears has a good deal ontheLincoln Electric Precision TIG 275 (http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00920556000)

Was $3,899.99
Now $1,599.00

Don't know why it is so cheap.

[MikeWaggoner at UW]

I'd recommend water cooling for the torch, if possible. The gas cooled ones get hot after only a few minutes, especially if you're doing heavy stuff.