I have been very happy with my Hobart 140 and bet it can keep up with any miller or lincoln.

I got my hobart from a LWS and that is the one they recommended. They also sell miller products. I went to a LWS since i know some companies sell crappier versions to big box stores like homedepot.

Save up for gas, it is worth it.

 

Thanks for all the advice....I shouldn't need a "nicer" unit for a while since the floors are done now but I am going to go ahead and save up for one that has gas, etc.

Never know down the road what will happen. My dream is to one day redo an old Camaro or Firebird and you never know when the Mustang might get stolen or totaled or whatever forcing me to start over on a new Stang.

Of course, a friend of mine has a '65 that someone walked up one day and offered him about $30k for it....his has sentimental value to him (been in his family since new) so he really wasn't interested but if some fool offered me that much for mine....I can find other old Mustang, LOL!

Moral of the story is you never know what is coming down the line so going to go ahead and save up to buy one I can attach gas to instead of going the cheaper route.

 

yup get ready for tons of welding =P

 

yep and the sad thing is even when you find one that needs tons of work they are still somewhat expensive...kind of like fastbacks....the Camaros seem worse to purchase cost wise than the Firebirds however for whatever reason.

I did see a '70 Firebird formula that was a good deal a few weeks back but it needed some work and didn't feel like trying to talk the wife into it. She would be pissed just due to having to find some place to keep it much less the parts money. Recently saw a '74 Camaro that was a really good deal also....

My thinking is that if you have the money, now would be a good time to buy since there seems to be a lot of folks selling right now which is driving down the prices some. Seems like in a bad economy the toys are the first things to go.

 

For sheet metal you don't even want to think about using flux core. If you're going to do that, you might as well use a stick welder.

The gas allows you to make small little spots and then weld right over them. This allows you to put a tack on each side of a flush patch, then tack the corners, then tack between the corners and the side tacks and so on until it is all stitched up. This is allowing you to bounce around all over without building warpage heat in any one place.

If you tried this with flux core you would be spending the vast majority of your time cleaning each tack so that you could weld over it.

Some previous posters seemed to think that the gas allowed you to weld thicker stock. The gas has nothing to do with material thickness.

If you will ONLY be welding sheet metal, then a 120 Amp MIG will get the job done using .025 wire which is easier for a Rookie sheet metal weldor to deal with. If you will be welding thicker material later, get a bigger unit, but whatever you do, get one with gas.

For a home MIG welder the Hobart is a good value. It is made on the same assembly line as the Millermatic with the same main components. The Hobart has slightly different controls, but the same quality guts as the Miller.

I have a Hobart 180 at home that works really great and didn't cost a total fortune. I keep .030 wire in it for general purpose and rarely use anything else, but I have welded enough that I can do sheet metal with .030. After you've stitched up a few patches with .025 you can step up to bigger wire so that you can do other things in addition to sheet metal.

That said, for heavier work on a limited budget, you would be dollars ahead to use a Crackle Box and just learn to stick weld.

 

We had a Lincoln 100 wire feed without gas and found it gave a lot of splatter, was difficult to handle and overall was not nice to work with imo. I bought the gas upgrade for it and the difference was night and day! I know when I go to buy a new welder it'll certainly include the gas.