Mig or Tig welding

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 12:39 pm
Hello,

I've taught myself body work from many threads here. I'm close to a "Pull it salvage yard" which has been a tremendous help as I've pulled many fenders and hoods to practice on.

Now I want to learn some welding. I'm very patient with plenty of time to learn. I'd rather learn it once and do it correctly. I've read and watched many vids about both Mig and Tig (pros and cons). Mig is easier to learn, burns hotter with more distortion and priced cheaper. Tig is harder to learn, can weld thinner metals, slower to use and softer welds to grind, ect..ect.

Since I'm gearing toward a car restoration, which would be best suited during my restoration. I plan to do some spot welds and panel patching (butt welds) and any other weld types required.

I also have full access to an Auto Arc 130 Mig (I believe owned by Hobart) to learn with if Mig is the preferred way. And if so will this Auto Arc 130 be sufficient ?

Thanks is advance to all, I'm all ears.

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 4:17 pm
I haven't personally welded with a TIG but I did watch a guy weld two of the foil wrappers used for sticks of chewing gum together with a TIG. Never seen anyone even try with that with a MIG.

I went with MIG since I use it for heavier work as well, like frame repair.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 9:55 pm
one thing to remember about tig, you need a tight fit up, and clean metal, where as mig is much more forgiving in that situation, being able to fill a gap and so on,...also remember with tig you might not be able to use the foot pedal in all situations, a scratch start tig torch might be needed, where the torch has a switch or dial on it , sorta like a rheostat .... and now you can get a mig wire that has a softer weld to planish and work with

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:50 pm
What do they call the softer MIG wire?
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 11:54 pm
Would that be the Spoolarc Easy Grind ?

I would guess that patch panel work would be best suited for this softer wire and a standard mig wire best used for spot/pinch welds ?



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 2:42 am
that's it ...ESAB easy grind



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 8:37 pm
Both Processes have there Place in My Shop

GAS is just as good as Tig in my Opinion in the right hands
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:43 pm
unless your gonna be welding structural stuff that needs to be sound, i would stay away from tig!!
i bought a tig for exactly the same reasons as you state and it was the biggest waste of time and money, i should have bopught an oxy setup and a mig, would have cost the same and would have saved alot of headache!!
learning on tig with sheet is extreemly hard, unless you buy a really good machine with a foot pedal your gonna have real issues with warpage, burnthru and wat ever else you can have night mares about!!
buy a reasonable mig and an oxy setup and be done with it, my mig will weld anything and is spool gun ready, cost me $650au and my oxy setup cost me $100au 2nd hand, my tig at the time cost me $1200au, and it just sits there, havent used it in maybe 2yrs now!!
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 12:55 am
what brand tig welder, how much do you want for it...lol.... your right mig is much easier for the occasional welder,

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:45 pm
Thanks guys..then mig it is. As stated I have full access to a pretty decent set-up I believe. My only plan is to weld on your average automobile sheet metal patching and what not.
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