Who Here Builds Cars WITHOUT a TIG Welder?

I dont like spending a lot of time making a part and then mig welding it. It just seems to zap all the effort I put into making it.

 

I built my sidecar using an ancient Montgomery Ward stick welder. Seven passes at El Mirage. Four records. No busted welds. I'd love a tig. I'd also love a budget that would allow me to buy a tig.
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I put my car together with a small Lincoln (tacked everything) Itll be welded out with a Millermatic 251 at another shop. I started learning TIG last year and got addicted to it. I saved up a bunch of cash for one from my local dealer but ex girlfriends and apartment leases can mess that up! Lost all my cash on that. Learn learn learn! I'll have a TIG one day though!

 

All I use is a Mig and Oxy-acetylene in my shop and Mig all day at work, Would like to learn Tig some day but probably would not buy one.

 

Not me ! As a professional welder who has made my living Tig welding pressure piping and pressure vessels etc., as well as all sorts of fabrication, I am hooked on Tig.

I use my Miller wire feeder for lots of things, but there are jobs I would not want to do without the Tig.

Tig gives the best quality weld possible on all weldable metals. I'm fabricating my own batwing axle brackets for the wishbones on my roadster, and need top quality welds for safety.

Once you get used to the quality and appearance of Tig welds it's hard to do without it.

I bought a really good affordable Tig, a Miller Diversion 165.

 

I have a MIG and TIG and honestly I rarely use the MIG anymore. I did alot with the MIG before I got my TIG but haven't used it much at all since I picked up a TIG. The only time I pull it out is to tack stuff that is super awkward to get at with the TIG and still operate the foot pedal as I don't have a thumb contol on my torch.

 

Guys- if you had only 1 choice of welding in your shop to do everything thats needed to build a car - frame, body, etc - what would it be?

 

Without a question - a TIG unit. Once you've had one and learn how to use it, you'll always want to use it . . . if you have the time to do the job as best as it can be done.

 

I'm pretty happy with my mig- been using it a long time and I would call myself proficient in it's use. I have built several cars with it over the years, plus done lots of stuff I was told I couldn't do well with it. That said, soon I will have a TIG, and be enjoying clean welds and a hell of a lot less grinding.

 

BTW, if anyone posting here hasn't seen the (incredible welds thread) do check it out, all kinds of welding with some beautiful beads layed down by some very talented people.

 

just go to the welding supply store and get a scratch start tig set up hook to your stick machine 125.00 plus bottle of argon cheep start

 

Ditto....

 

Have A lincoln 225 stick for 45 years. still works ok. Got a lincoln 255 mig used 5 years ago . built my first frame with tem mig and i'm hooked on how easy it is to use.

 

I'd love to get a TIG when I have the money (after 2 kids through college). Until then the Miller MIG will have to do. I can always break out the torch or dust off the arc welder too. All three are paid for by the way.

 

Got linc.135 and linc.255 and covers all my needs. I will get a tig to get the cosmetic show quality welds.

 

I MIG everything as mig is the only welder that I have. When I can afford a TIG and become proficient at it I'll more than likely say TIG at that time.

I understand that a tig weld is stronger overall but in production welds a MIG weld is more prodominant.

It's ultimately the operator's skill that depicts the qaulity of the weld regardless of what process is used.

 

Been an arc man and a acet gas welder most of my adult life. Bought a mig to build the senior dragster and it did fine but tthen i discovered the SCRATCH Tig conversion for my AC DC arc and the whole world changed.
Cost fo a conversion is $104 to $117 around here. Works like adream . Seem super strong even when just tacked . I fnd my self prefering it all the time. It surpises me. I made it my goal to learn to tig weld this year. Mission accomplished.
Don

 

My dad has an old 220 volt miller mig welder that is atleast 25 years old and last year we replaced the gun. I have a miller SD180 tig that I bought as a demo unit at cost on one of those no interest credit cards that they give away to college students. About all I use the tig for now since we changed that gun out on the mig is when my sprint car buddies need some little stuff welded. My mustang 2 front end on my truck is tig welded in but the rear is mig welded in because all I have is dirty metal and with a mig all you have to do is grind it clean and with a tig even after grinding the metal is still a little dirty.

 

Only MIG here.......but someday, when I have extra $$ to burn, I'd like a TIG to play with....

Keep in mind 90% (if not more) of all construction work and equipment, which some has to pass stringent standards, are all MIG'd....
Making a MIG weld "look" like a TIG weld just for the LOOK is, well, ya know......

Pretty doesn't = strong....

 

Tig welders are the shit. But seriously though, who has money for those? I'll stick to the squirt gun.

 

I have a nice Airco TIG and I use it for some things, but 90% of the time I use my 23 year old Linde/L-Tec 225 amp MIG welder. If you weld everyday like I do, you can get pretty good:

 

A few things have been TIG welded on my car, but sheet metal so far has been all MIG, since the TIG machine left our shop. Don't have the $$$ for a TIG now, maybe someday!

MIG takes patience to look good, you have to line up and fit the panels PERFECTLY and you have to take your time grinding so you don't remove ANY parent metal, only weld. TIG is my dream though, I think once you take up TIGing and hammer welding, there's no turning back!

Some MIG before and after:

 

TIG ??? man your fancy pants ...... some of us don't even have a garage ..... stick it .... wire feed is a luxury .. along with shade .... in the hot hot sun in Arizona ....

 

I took a MIG welding class at a local Vo-tech, and our final exam was welding two 3/8" thick pieces of steel, end to end, and then it was put in a machine that bent it back on itself. It had to bend without breaking. The MIG did this just fine.

 

from my experience(possibly limited) if you know how to gas weld and know what to look for in the way of a weld pool then tig is not that hard once you have a bit of couragr to try

 

I demo'd my first tig a few weeks back. Man I'm in love, I want one so bad I can taste it, but alas I'm still in migland. have been since the beginning.

 

I have both a MIG and a TIG. I think the TIG is a luxury. Most of the work we're doing to build a hot rod a MIG is fine. What I do like about the TIG is the ability to weld aluminum and stainless.

 

The frame fabbing on the Buick is being done with a MIG. Stretched 5", fabbed anew back section and now working on the front sheet metal mounting. Using a small Miller MIG, a palsma cutter and a Sawzall.

 

All arc . I cut the old IFS I put in 1983. and welded in a new Heidts. How do you work the peddle on a Tig while laying on your back doing over head.

 

I don't use the pedal on my TIG setup because of the reason you described. Doing roll cage work or out of position welding does make it hard to weld with a pedal.