On Fri, 05 May 2006 16:39:38 GMT, Ignoramus22440
wrote:

On 5 May 2006 08:53:15 -0700, Joe wrote:
After much investigation and advice from this group, I have decided to
get hold of some welding equipment for some light duty fabrication.
Basically, I build steel cells for telescope optics, where the optical
elements being supported weigh 15-30lbs. These cells are typically
constructed of 3/4" square x-section steel tubing with a wall diameter
of 1/16". The lengths of the sections range from 10-20" long. They are
assembled into rectangular frames, with diagonal supports, with sides
the lengths of the above sections. I have plenty of scrap to practice
on, and will be building these frames/cells from time to time. I am
getting tired of drilling, cutting and bolting, and would like to
venture into MIG. What MIG welder would you all reccomend for this type
of work. I will be using household current. Also, would flux or gas be
preferable. Finally, for cutting these lengths of tubing, what would be
an improvement on my hacksaw? I have used a rotozip with a metal
cutting wheel, but find this a bit awkward.

I am not a big expert on welding, but I think that for such thin
stuff, TIG would work better for you.

Nope. MIG is perfect for this work. TIG is slow, expensive first
cost, takes more learning, and there's more heat distortion. The
small MIGs work great from about .024 up thru about 1/8". It's what
they do and they do it very well.