I'm thinking of buying a welder but dont have much cash. I want first off to weld boxed steel in place of my rockers. Can I do this with a cheap arc welder from sears or something after I practice a bit? From my understanding arc welds are very strong but usually dont come out as pretty as mig welds. I assume I can just clean up with a grinder or something, but as always I like you guys opinions.

great reviews on this cheapo

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00920566000P?vName=Tools&cName=Weldi ng&sName=Welders

 

ask bowtie, hes a welder or at least he SAYS he is
joking, ask bowtie he knows his stuff pretty well..

 

oh i just looked, thats one of the welders i have now, its great for welding junk up, but if i where to do my rockers i would use a mig, easier and seems to do the trick very well. i have a cheapo home depot mig welder that works great, i think i paid like 250 for it 5 years ago. my buddy uses his harbor freight mig welder for body stuff all the time and it works well also.

 

Got a Lincoln Flux Core welder. Paid like $445 for it from ace hardware. It works pretty well for welding on the jeep.

 

bowtie told some guy what to do to get a nice welding set up on the cheep so search for a other tread on welders on cf

 

i got a little hobart wire feed welder and we just turn that sucker up and weld everything especially if we run gas to it.

 

A lot more versitility in a wire feed welder. Check Craigs List, and sites like that, you can find some jewels sometimes!! For sheet metal body type work a 110 volt will work great. For suspension, cages, and things along those lines, you'll want a 220 volt. Good thing about a 220, is that you can turn it down to do sheet metal work if you need it. HTH!!

 

i run a 140 amp refurb hobart handler

cost me around 450 from toolking.com

i bought it with intentions of not getting another welder again. i had a cheapo 110 amp arc welder before and absotively hated it. the wire feed and shielding gas really makes a huge difference, and makes the whole welding experience more enjoyable.

i have used it from welding sheet metal to 1/4" link mounts and some solid stock. never had a weld fail so iwould say 140 is plenty

 

Of the welders that Sears has list I would buy at the least this one http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...&sName=Welders

I personally own a Miller Millermatic 140 http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...c_140_autoset/

It welds good for a 110V welder but my next welder is going to be a 220V or buck up for a TIG welder.

At my job our body shop only uses Miller welders and we have a nice plasma cutter to it is also a Miller.

Here is one of my steering knuckles that I had welded a 1/4" spacer on for the hub bearing(WJ brake/ steering swap)