Probably an oxy-acetylene rig... cause it can cut and weld and heat for bending, etc.... that, and I do a lot of sheetmetal stuff. But I am very thankful to be blessed with a TIG and a MIG!
If just ONE - then HANDS DOWN it'd be an Oxy/Acet torch set. And that's from someone who TIG welds nearly EVERYTHING.
first you should tell us what your plans are for this one welder, do you plan on welding thicker then say 10 gage? doing mostly body work?
The only welder I had for about 20 years was a lincoln cracker box 220v stick welder. It did everthing I wanted but not to pretty sometimes. I bought a 110v miller wire welder and now I only fire the lincoln up when I need to weld some old rusty **** together to build a rack or something. I guess it would depend on what your going to be welding and whats in your budget. I wish many times I had sprung for a TIG and took the time to learn how to use it.
Basically, I am looking to do it all. I tall order I know, but I would like to get the most use of it. Build a frame, to body work...
Once I bought my TIG, my mig sits idle unless I need to weld on a trailer or something else kinda heavy.
If you put cutting and heating in a seperate catagory, my vote for a welder would be one of the Hobart or Miller 175 amp stick / TIG combo units.
I was recently at a friend's shop, and had the opportunity to use his Millermatic 251 MIG. I was very impressed how smooth it was on sheetmetal considering the power of those machines. I have a MM135, and I've used a couple different MM175's... both are very nice machines, and are a good value IMO, but that 251 was smooth as ****er. I'm still not crazy about MIG for "outside surface" sheetmetal, but if I already had an o/a, and wanted to get something "electric", I'd sure look close at the 251 (or the 252 if that's what's available now). Still, I'm glad to have my Syncro200 TIG.
I have a esab aristo 500 its AC DC mig mag pulsmig tig and stick. adjustable from 5 to 500 amp . I gues that miller or lincoln will hace a simular machine Remco
It takes a lot more skill, patience, and time... but you get what many consider to be a superior result. MIG is easier and faster, but if you're trying to get a good metal finish, TIG or o/a is easier to work with. MIG welds are very hard & brittle, so they are too hard to hammer weld. If you get any warpage during welding, it's much harder to get it back out. Personally, I like to tack things in place with MIG, then sew it up with TIG. I've seen some guys get real good at MIG-welding body panels in, and yield very presentable results (especially if it's gonna get covered with a little bit of "pink metal"). To me, it's more about the craftsmanship of the actual act of doing it... I enjoy the precision of TIG (and to a slightly lesser extent, O/A) where MIG feels more like a blunt instrument approach. Kinda like trying to write your name or draw with a fine-tip ball-point pen vs a fat magic marker.
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