Which welder to buy? MIG or TIG?

Hi, I'm going to be purchasing a welder soon and I wanted some advice from experienced people. I have no welding experience. I am bound and determined to learn how to do it though. I am working on a older chevy blazer and have to do a lot of body repair and I have found that I have terrible rust rot and will need to weld a new floor in the rear of the truck. The body subframe is also in bad shape and will require some repair. The frame itself also needs repair in a small area around one of the body mounts. Here is the issue: Do I buy a nice mig welder and learn on that or should I invest in a tig welder and try learning that? I want to eventually weld my own roll cages and do some suspension/chassis fabrication. Ive read that tig is the cleanest, and stronger weld. Is it possible to teach myself how to tig weld and do the work i want on this truck? or should i buy a decent mig welder and go that route? Im pretty sure I know the answer I just wanted to get some other opinions from experienced welders.

Go for MIG. TIG is much more difficult to learn, and even once you figure it out the torch position has to be very accurate, so working under a car with TIG would be a job for a very skilled welder.

MIG is more forgiving with torch position, and you can hold the torch with both hands for more control.

Big advantage of TIG is neatness, especially for thin metal. For roll cage thickness MIG would look great. No real strength difference between MIG and TIG for everyday welding.

Thanks for the quick reply. That's kind of what I was thinking. MIG it is.

Much appreciation,

Justin

Deciding on the process is just the first part of the puzzle, deciding on which make to buy is the next! I'm guessing you are in the States? in which case you have access to some really nice, homegrown kit like Lincoln & Miller. If you can afford it go for one of those, world's apart from the cheap imported stuff available. If you can't justify spending that much you also have Clarke machines availble in the US which are the best of the bunch in the cheaper end of the market.
weldequip

I was looking at getting a Miller but I can't decide which model. Im stuck between the 180 and the 210. I would prefer a 250 but thats out of my price range. Thanks for the input.

Justin

Well you've just answered your own question there, " I'd prefer the 250 but can't afford it"; go for the 210 then!
weldequip

Yup,
My view is in agreement with what I have generally noted here from other respondents. At this stage, the MIG is certainly the best choice for you. I warn you though, once you let this disease grow and advance, there is a strong likelihood (supposing you have a long life, it would suggest almost a certainty) that you eventually have both; and probably an oxy/acetylene set-up as well. I speak from experience here, though I started this madness back in the 1970’s and naturally the gas torches were my first, also my opinions are now considered, and usually referred to as “old-school”.

I don’t weld that much with the gas anymore (except for aluminum), but boy, in the greater game of maintaining and restoring old-iron the ability to heat things up before you take out old frozen studs and fittings make the oxy/acetylene setup well worth the shop space it requires. After all these years, it remains an old and steady friend, and ends up being pulled out and fired up more often than its antiquity would suggest. Certainly, the gas set-up would be last one I would part with……I mean, supposing that something would have to go. No……….I expects that I myself will go first!!

More to your specific question……..MIG or TIG, and given that you are primarily addressing the restoration of body sheet metal on what to me is a relatively late model vehicle, I agree with the others who say “go first with the MIG”.

On working with jobs like floor-sections which will be covered eventually with carpet, what does it matter if the metal is uneven? In this application, any of the three welding processes would do fine, and maybe the gas setup would be less expensive, though it requires two hands – one for the rod. Little things come into play, believe me. I have also done that kind of thing (floor sections, battery boxes, etc) with MIG and with great success. Here the TIG is sadly out of place completely (though it could be used); like gas it requires an extra hand holding the rod and the additional work space, which that operation requires. Worse still, the TIG also necessitates one having a foot (no, an assistant will not do) or a third hand being free to operate the remote pedal. Imagine all this commotion in progress, while on your back under the jack-stands! Forget it, for it just doesn’t work unless you have a three-arm freak on the payroll. TIG is wonderful for production work at the bench, while seated in a comfortable chair with the coffee cup always close at hand, and the gentle, soothing strains of , say, Brahms on the music system. It is also the preferred process for building up of new replacement panels. But TIG doesn’t lend itself to the ridicules positions we find ourselves in, during actual welding on a car or truck. Usually a MIG can get right in there - and all you need to work with - is a single hand!!!

The other, and not to be ignored issue is heat distortion. Here the MIG wins, hands down. The most useful all-around welding setup is oxy-acetylene. The nicest thing to use if you are working from a chair at your production bench is a TIG. But if you are going in for a lot of rust repair, probably with made-up panels to be welded in then start your learning curve with the MIG. Count on spending for a full-face helmet with instant-darkening lens – the greatest improvement to come along during my experience.

Go to the junk yard and pick up a sheet metal scrap of old-ruined-car for nothing – shoot for about the same year model as the welding you will eventually do. Figure on perhaps two days with the learning curve before approaching your real project. Forget the idea of running a 6-12 inch weld bead in your learning………for it will NEVER be appropriate in the real world of car restoration. Instead focus on what you will actually do with that project. You will tack and weld butt joints. Don’t fall for the lap-joint suggestions which you surely will hear. It is inferior on a number of counts we haven’t time for here. Just do it right from the start! After the patch is tacked in, say, each corner first, then every two inches or so; you will begin to weld it up in little weld beads of ½ inch or so. Then go as far to the other end and do the same. This way you can do the entire patch without distorting the parent-panel metal at all. ONLY THE MIG can do this.

Others may present different views. This post is only my opinion, but it is based upon 40 years of restoring old rust buckets for personal enjoyment, and making all the mistakes possibly. Many of them more than just once!!!

I hope you will advise us of your progress. And of course, post the questions as they arise.

Best wishes,
James

Sound advice JW,regards,Mad Mick.