What is the best type of welder to use for. . .

[NovaBoi92]

what is the best type of welder to use for welding on small metal plates to the bodywork/rust areas? today i borrowed a welder off my mate, to weld thenew crossmember on. it was a mig welder and was a pile of ****. i didnt know what type of welder i needed. is it a seam welder i need to join 2 pieces of metal together permanently? and strongly? also what is the difference between arc welding and seam welding thanks

[Adam]

A mig welder is best. It was probably the user at fault and not the equipment(if youve not mig welded before?)

Arc welding is a type of welder/welding
Seam welding is a welding method, welding a seam.....

[jimbob-mcgrew]

any idea what the amp rating is on that mig welder mate ? and is it a standalone electric or does it use a gas bottle too, from experience ive noticed the standalone ones have barely any penetrating power, especially low end 100 amp max ones. the gas version ones are much better, arc welders are fairly hardcore, can do chunky 5mm plate.

[brainsnova]

best getting a trained welder to weld structural bits cause once you start burning holes it gets messy. Mig welders with gas are better as the welds flow.

[burgo]

to be fair if you not sure what kind of welder you need then im pretty sure it was your fault that you couldnt use it and not the welder.

oh and theres no such thing as a "seam" welder

[craig green]

Agree, a skilled welder will know what rough settings to use with what metal thicknesses etc aswell as what a proper weld 'sound' will sound like. The surfaces you weld to must be utterly clean in order for the weld to penetrate properly.

MIG is essentially all you need for a car body. Gasless are generally crap though there are special types of wire with gas impregnated into them now which I've been told are good.

Most people learn on some scrap metal first.

[DAN-F]

mig is the easiest i have a 150 amp sip which is pretty good for what it is, steer clear of gasless, if you clean the surfaces back to clean metal and the welder is set up right its pretty easy point and shoot welding, i prefer tig myself but mi is the easiest

[Sturge]

If you need to ask, don't attempt it yourself. Any small mig should be able to cope with car panels, but the bigger and better ones will give better results IF AND ONLY IF the welder knows what they're doing!!!! No offence mate but you clearly don't fall into that category so step aside!

As for needing clean metal, you lot just need to learn how to weld ;)

[Adam]

You can get good results with gasless btw, i have done :)
Gas is much nicer to use though, and easier for a beginner.

[twistysnovagte]

Most people learn on some scrap metal first.:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

[NovaBoi92]

it wasnt me welding. it was my mate. and the metal was coming out of mig welder fine, it was just really thin and it didnt stick. REALY thin, just scraped asway as soon as you touched it with something

[Sturge]

heat too low, wire too fast