[TheForge] welder suggestions

[Ries Niemi]

For the kind of stuff you want to do, I would start with a stick 
welder. For potentially life endangering stuff like trailer hitches, 
rotating farm implements, etc, its easier to get deep penetration, 
strong welds with a stick than with a mig.
An amateur can do great looking welds on thin stuff with a mig. But it 
takes a big machine, 250 amps or so, and more skill, to get good 
structural welds with mig. I would figure more like an $1800 mig 
machine for welding 1/2" to 1" thick ag equipment parts.
Whereas it is harder to learn to stick weld, a miller or lincon ac/dc 
machine for $400 or $500 will do everything you want to do, a bit 
slower, maybe, but stonger.

Ultimately, of course, you want both, and then you want a tig welder, 
and a plasma cutter.


Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist

http://www.RiesNiemi.com