I have been thinking of getting a welder for some years but dont know much about them

Understand gas welders are best but the bottles cost £100 each to refill so too expensive - they used to make one with smaller bottles but they dont exist anymore?

I dont know the difference between an elextric welder and a MIG electric welder except that the MIG has a wire running through it - why I dont know. Do these perform differently in use or is one better than the other for welding certain things? Can you help me tell the difference??????

Aldi have a MIG welder on offer DC power output of 25amp to 130amp - is this good enough for most jobs??

The MIG wire seems expensive - how long does it last? what does it do? is it like the electrode in the elec welder? Says its cored with flux - doe that help the weld?

If anyone can offer any advice or point me in the right direction - would appreciate it - it may save me from paying out on the wrong thing??

HELP

Pete

Pete, I am assuming you are welding steel. It is expensive to set yourself up with oxy-acetylene welding equipment and you would need proper training, very much for safety reasons in addition to getting the right skills in welding.

Therefore, you might look at electric welding. These break down into two basic types - stick welders and MIG welders. MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welders break down into two types - gas and gasless.

Stick welders simply apply an electric current from the stick holder to the job and back to the welder via a wire with a crocodile clip. The heat produced burns away the stick and deposits the metal on the job. Stick welders perform best on thicker metals and it requires a great amount of skill to weld thinner metal with them e.g. very difficult to weld car outer bodywork but relatively easy to use for chassis type work. The more current the welder can deliver, the thicker the metal you can weld.

A MIG welder works on a similar principle but feeds in a continuous steel wire instead of a stick. The wire speed can be adjusted and a switch on the torch handle switches the flow on. MIG gas welders have a gas cylinder of inert gas - mostly CO2 or argon. The gas is fed around the wire in the torch at low pressure to prevent oxidisation of the joint (if there is an inert gas there, then oxygen from the air cannot reach the joint). A gasless MIG welder has special wire which contains flux which prevents oxidisation and therefore the inert gas is not needed. The wire is therefore more expensive.
Some MIG welders do both - simply fling the switch and change the wire.

So, it depends what you want to use it for. A MIG welder is perfectly adequate for all jobs on the car. I would recommend a MIG with gas. The small canisters of CO2 are a bit expensive if you do much work but are good to get you started. If you do much welding then you can upgrade to a larger cylinder - the type used in pubs to gas the beer. Again, the larger the current, the thicker the metal you can weld. 130 amps will weld 3/16" steel and perhaps a little more. My one goes up to 120 Amps. The best thing is to get one and have a go - mind your eyes of course. The automatic darkening shields make it easier - you can see the job until you switch on the current, instead of shuffling around in the dark. However, they are approximately £70.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Tony.