My new 1965 Chevelle (http://www.ourphotos.org/chevelle/index.html) needs some patches on the floors, trunk, and rear lower panels.

I would love to learn how to weld and do it myself. Can someone recommend a small welder to purchase that I can use to learn, and make basic repairs. I'd probably only use it twice a year so the chepaer the better. I have seen some at harbor freight for a couple hundred bucks. I know you get what you pay for, but I wonder if one of thise will do just for my basic repair needs.

A cheap welder is an irritating welder. I bought a cheap welder a few years ago and ended up giving it away. Do yourself a favor and buy a Lincoln or Miller. You will find a lot of uses for it once you have it. The Lincolns are really easy to use.

Mike

Thanks, which model do you recommend? This Article Here (http://www.chevelles.com/techref/ftecref6.html) is what I'm looking to do.

Millermatic 135 graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I double the Miller. Good equipment. Mine is about 5 years old and can still weld it's A** off.

Miller and buy it from a welding shop. Get everything you need there in one stop with parts and service.

Got a Miller 135 from a local weld store. I'm very happy with it. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Originally posted by 71metbu:
Millermatic 135 graemlins/thumbsup.gif Same here! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Seems like everyone is stuck on the Miller, but Lincoln makes a great mig welder also. Mine works great. You may try e-bay for a deal. Yes, the best way is to find your personal local welding shop for the service and support. I got my Lincoln at Lowes and any support I need I get right here or the Lincoln website. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Honestly I don't think brand makes that much difference as long as it is a well established company and offers local suopport. I have a Linde and a old Century. Both work fine. Just make sure it has the amperage that you will need. The Century is rated at about 100 amps, great for small stuff, sheet metal, etc. but requires several passes for thicker stock. The most important thing is to NOT get one that uses flux-core wire, you need an external shielding gas source. Bells and whistles like stitch weld and digital readout you can live without.
Cheers
Steve

I can not recommend enough to get the tool at a local welding supply shop where you can go back for help or supplies.
Buying something thru the net or mail order to get a deal is great when you have a lot of knowledge about the item. But when you know little, there is NOTHING like having jobber you can walk into with your tool and say, "What is happening here?". I have a Century 205 Amp 220 welder at home. It IS a fine welder. It however is an "off brand" and parts are not easy to come by. And Century is way, WAY more common than some others you could by at the junk tool store.
The MIG welder is way too complex of a machine with WAY too many things to go wrong to by over the mail from someone you know nothing about.

I Miller or a Lincoln at a local welding shop gets my vote.

Originally posted by 1968SS:
Honestly I don't think brand makes that much difference as long as it is a well established company and offers local suopport. I have a Linde and a old Century. Both work fine. Just make sure it has the amperage that you will need. The Century is rated at about 100 amps, great for small stuff, sheet metal, etc. but requires several passes for thicker stock. The most important thing is to NOT get one that uses flux-core wire, you need an external shielding gas source. Bells and whistles like stitch weld and digital readout you can live without.
Cheers
Steve I have to admit, my Century has served me well. As long as you can get local support, I'm for it in a pinch. I had forgot about the "Bells and whistles" because I never use them! smile.gif My Century has "stitch" weld and some other crap I never use. You are right Steve, don't pay extra for that junk.

Voltage, wire speed, and gas, that's it baby, that is all you need. smile.gif

Millermatic 175 here, just started learning earlier this year. The 175 will weld pretty much anything you'll ever need to on a car, without breaking a sweat. I sprung for the 175 over a 135, because I was welding alot of suspension compenents and such that involved thicker metal than body panels.

I've got a Century 225 amp that I have had for going on 6 years now. This is a great welder that has served me well all this time. It came with a 5 year warrenty and it was struck by lightning about 2 years ago. I called Century. They diagnosed the problem, with my help, over the phone, sent me a new circuit board to install myself (very easy job) all for no charge. Even though I told them it was struck by lightning and I didn't expect warrenty to cover it. They called two days latter to make sure I was happy with the repair. I love this welder and their support. All you Miller and Lincoln guys can say what you want about quality welders but as far as I'm concerned mine is quality.
I had a pofessional welder come over about a year ago to do some structural welding on my frame. He grabbed my welder w/o looking too close and started to weld. When he got done he said "boy nothing beats a great welder like a Lincoln" I said "look again at my welder" He couldn't believe it was a Century. All he said was "That thing welds great"

If on some type of budget I would definately reccomend the Lincoln's I have a SP 100T model and it's done a ton of work for mine. It's good to pick the few top brand like Lincoln and Miller, and then go with a cheaper MIG in there line. Kind of a win win situation I think. Just don't get something TOO small, like the hobby welders probably wont cut it. graemlins/beers.gif

Thats a nice project for $300, it drives and everything? I would have snagged it for $300 easy. :D

Chris,
One thing you might want to do is take a weding class first. I don't know about your area, but around here, almost all of the high schools offer welding classes at night in the vo-tech centers. They are pretty inexpensive and you can really learn a lot from them. Some guys I know sign up every semester and use the classroom for all thier small projects smile.gif It will get you a good start on the basics and then you should know enough to make an educated decision on which welder to purchase.
That being said ... I am going to also throw my vote in for purchasing from a local welding shop. You might pay a bit more up front, but when you need help or supplies, they will be there for you. And I guarantee that they will be much more willing to spend time helping someone who has purchased a welder form them as compared to someone that just comes in once every six months to get a bottle filled.

I would buy a name brand welder like Miller or Lincoln. The better the welder the nicer welds they can produce and are more reliable. As far as learning to weld, your going to have to find someone to teach you the basics to get you started. A course will be good. However if all your going to do is use a mig welder, make sure the course covers it. You don't want to sit in a classroom and learn how to arc weld and tig weld if your never going to use these types of welders.