Id get the mig. It takes less practice

I have the Harbor Freight flux core wire feed welder.

It will weld anything on these buggies but there are some things to consider.

These cheap welders are not designed for continuos use. They work on a 10% duty cycle which means, Weld for 1 minute, cool for 9 minutes.

It works great for minor repairs but not fabricating.

I like the welder because it wont blow through the tubing.

Yes good advice there. You do get what you pay for in welders. I would suggest to anyone who has not welded before to NOT buy a TIG welder. For one it is not necessary for anything on these buggies. A TIG weld will give you a stronger weld than a MIG and will look better (only from an experienced welder). TIG welding is a lot more difficult and as said before a lot slower. I always suggest to people to buy the lower end models of the Lincoln or Miller. You can get them in 110V models, but I suggest the 220V models since they are more efficient and will weld thicker items. Either setup 110 or 220 will use a shielding gas as well and give you a better weld. It has been my experience that once you purchase a welder you will find a million more things to do with it than what you purchased it for. You will have friends come out of the woodwork needing something welded as well. I personally own a Miller 185 MIG, Lincoln Invertec V205 TIG and a Thermal Dynamics pakmaster XL38 Plasma cutter.

I also suggest checking out both Miller and Lincolns websites as they have good info there.

Just browsing thru old threads here, thought id give my .02 cents worth....

I am welding .095 and .120 wall tubing with a lincoln 255...and .023 wire..A lot of people think little welder for little job, thats not really true imo...The key is definetly technique, i would suggest to anybody not to buy a 110 volt welder, as they only have minimal heat settings, were almost any 220 volt welder, 150 amp ratingg has infinite heat settings, and for the new guys if you plan to weld tube and are a novice "like myself", practice on tubing not flat, totaly different animal...as for welder names, lincoln,miller hobart, nothing from harbor freight, they will work for you but they are dispoasable. If your looking at something to keep a long time definetly shop the names around....Good wire is definetly a advantage as well. some unbranded wire is made by lincoln etc, i have used both unbranded and lincoln and from my expirience the lincoln wire is well worth the money...Gas is almost a must as well welding tubing because of the angles at wich we weld, it is possible gasless, but once a newb starts welding with cheaper equipment, you will want to upgrade fast, i myself love to weld, i would have been very disapointed if i would have went super cheap and outgrew it super fast....I do not know how to tig, but i feel comfortable that i can learn fast and the next tool to compliment my shop will be just that.....

I also noticed a post about gloves etc....I cant were gloves, its not a manly man thing just cant do it, i got to have the finger tip sensation to really control anything i do, but i always were a helmet "now", i have tacked years past by eye lid shutting etc, eye lids are extremly thin, and i have been flash burnt to many times...I now have a descent quality auto darkening helmet, pay close attention to shading when buying the discounted priced ones, they are not all made equal....


Just my .02 worth.....

Good advice buggy fabber. I also try to talk people into the larger 220 units, but it is not always in ppls price range.

All very good advice. I would add one thing if you are gonna use a smaller unit (like I have a 110V Lincoln Promig 135) Go sloowww and be sure you get good penetration. If the metal around the weld doesn't become slightly color changed and appear that it was obviously much hotter than chances are it did not penetrate enough.

I intend to upgrade this summer with a 220V machine and then I will look into the TIG for serious welding on all kinds of jobs.

Bug I can not weld with the gloves either my hands tend to bump things and I need to have mu finger lay against the material as a guide. Also flash burn on the Ole eye balls is something I have had a couple times. I realized how bad it was at about 3AM when I woke up and couldn't keep my eyes opened and they just watered and burned and burned etc... get a auto darkening hood for sure.

I have the same problem with gloves. Try some TIG gloves. They are thinner. Not as rugged, but still good protection. I too have done the ole eyball burn. Feels like sand in your eyes along with burning. I went to ER and they put salve in my eyes and I had to keep them covered for a couple days. That was literally 20 years ago now. Man, where does the time go.

Well, its basicly like this.Everyones got there likes and dislikes about machines to how they do something.But the way I see things are based on my own practical and good commonsense. Not always my need when we men are as bad as kids at times.And when its anything like this.However my friends along time top fabricator for the company where he had worked years and into there top man then inspector.When I called to ask his thoughts as to my needs and for even machines he said this.First we use both millers and lincolns.Both are good machines,but for the years Ive worked with teague fabrication.Ive never seen a miller ether ware out or be thrown out.When I started there was an old at the time miller mig unit.I told them when its retired if noone has there eye on the unit Id love to have it.And so he soon got that machine.And told me its going strong today and after alot more heavy use.So thats what Id only buy he told me.So years back now I spent the money 565.00 for the unit and 100.00 for the bottle.After using up the cheapo from harbor freight.YOU get exactly what you pay for most often.BUT not in ether case in these units.When the harbor unit worked fine when it worked! Pleagued with all feed problems and my god swapping out all those mini rolls of heavy flux core got beyound old fast! And without ever using ether gas or copper coated wires.The day my 135 millermatic arrived it was love at first sight!! Only when I then used it.I felt like Id stolen the machine for only 565.00 and today I cant begin to say what joy this great machine has given me and for what most things are when we buy them in less.Miller Id never think to say such about.Simply outstanding! That from here on out everything for welding to cutting will only be the color of true blue! And the same for my power tools all big red and white both from the same state in wisc.And as for mig to tig.You weld with stick so Im not telling you what you most likely know already.That its the toughest of all the processes to learn and no doubt when you look at any tig welds and why to where its only used say no more.But which ever Im to buy its only miller! Heres more for why.One look at there great website should be enough! When you talk support Millers unreal! Never in my life have I had the support that miller has and all the time.But no matter what Ive asked they always had a fast solid answer! And awhole lots more.When only miller comes with more features than any other machine.

I'm in agreement that a mig welder should be of good quality,I had a Century 110V mig for years and it worked fine for welding pannels on cars but when I tryed to weld 3/16 plate it took for ever and soon went Kapoot,so being the Polock that I am I tried to save money by going to Harbor Freight for the 220V Chicago Electric mig welder for $480.00along with the 79.00 warranty for 5 years.I had the welder for appx 6 months and returned it 3 times for another welder due to not feeding properly and popping the breaker. Finally the last time I brought it back they were out of them and I got my money back.I than got on the internet and found a Hobart 220V mig for just over 1100.00 .I ask myself every time I weld what the devilville I was thinking of when I bought the cheap welder. A good welder wheather a Miller ,Lincoln or Hobart will be so much easier to weld with and you will get better welds.These people know how to make welders.As far as a Tig goes a Mig is easier to weld with and you will not get a better weld with a Tig until your metal gets over 3/8 inch.The Mig will get plenty of pennetration on anything you would weld on our karts as long as you have the heat and wire feed set correctly. Also if and when you buy your welder and if you know anyone in the restaurant business or someone who has a bar try to get a co2 tank that is used for cola's and you will save yourself $50.00 they will accept your regulator,but with co2 your metal has to be clean. With my Hobart for appx. 465.00 I can get the spool gun as so to weld alluminum but of coarse argon gas must be used.

Nice write up!! I learned a little about the gas welding I knew nothing about.

I have a 110V MIG welder with flux core wire (gasless)at home. At work I have used a 110V Mig Gas fed welder. I will tell you right now, that the gas fed welder makes much nicer welds and seems easier to use. I am switching to gas fed ASAP.

That said for certain parts on some of the cheaper buggies TIG can be a real godsent. I have a kart that was home made, we thing using a offshore quad as the core. the spindles were a cast material (we believe steel) the Mig would not have done well on it, but the welder at work used a Tig and everything went very well...