gsteeze

so my fabrication skills go as far as anything with an angle grinder cut off wheel or sawzaw and some bolts and rivets. for the longest time i have been wanting to get into welding and tube bending so i can start building bumpers and sliders and such. i am looking towards some input on how to accuire these skills i am quite mechaniclly inclined. maybe an option if i where to buy a mig welder what could i get that simply will plug into my 20amp wall outlet and still have enough power, also a simple cheaper tube bender? any help or input to help this fab noob???

Thekid320

Buy a good welder to start perhaps a dual voltage machine it will make learning so much less frustrating I use a miller 211 and love it and I also weld for a living its a good machine I have no experience with tube benders

XJ4LIFE52

I build racecars for living and can tell you that if you want high quality and safe bends it's going to cost you $1000-$2000 (Mittlerbros.com). Having said that, you can get a cheap bottle jack bender from harbor freight or Amazon, but quality goes away. You would also need a tube notcher (also expensive vs. cheap) Just do your research on what you really need. Buying tooling is easy. Using it all to build safe quality parts comes with experience. Welding especially.

Jeepineasy

Get a miller 211( I got a Hobart 190 and wish I had dual voltage)

You can get a manual bender for like 700 with 1 die

You don't need a notcher, sure there nice but you can use a torch or plasma cutter.

Thekid320

If you look at notchers you can go with a hole saw notcher for 2-400 dollars they are more of a weekend warrior type of notcher yeah sure if you going to use the **** out of it a good one would be the way to go if $$ allows it but if you going to use it once and a while a hole saw notcher is not bad check out protools couple of my buddy's use their stuff and have no complaints they also sell tube benders that start at a couple hundred bucks and go up from there it's really all in knowing what you will need and researching from there I mean you can buy a 10000 $ welder and do the same things with a1000 $ welder

93XJLI

buy a cheap(ish) welder. 110v ones are fine, just get a name brand that uses gas. use it, learn it, love it. buy the gottrikes bender kit and weld it together.

cheapest option without being hack.

gsteeze

Should i even consider an arc welder?

93XJLI

no. mig is way easier IMHO and more useful for what you want to do.

Thekid320

X2 mig is what you want if anything else I would get a tig set up but as far as stick welding it would be more of a pain than anything else

FISHIES848

Mig and flux core as long as the machine is 220 voltage. I have my stick welder and am only using it for axle stuff. Tig is best for steering and cages but mig will be great for all purpose.

CCPAJeeper

My thoughts,

I fully agree, 220V mig. You do not need a TIG. They are nice, but a MIG will suit your needs and they are a lot less $. As to a bender, I have an M Tech, $300 for the bender. I made my own pedestal for $50 in scrap material. You do not need to spend $1000 for a bender. You are not making a race car chassis.
I have been using my bender and Lincoln Mig I bought 15 years ago and have done countless bumpers, frame repairs, built many tools, etc.