re: Houston Welder Baws

Self taught "welder" here. I put quotes around that because I worked as a fitter's helper during college and saw what real welders can do. Amazing stuff.

I did some work for a welder and asked him to set me up with something to learn on as payment and he paid me with a small Miller mig welder and everything I needed to take it home and start welding. As a fitter's helper, I spend countless hours chipping, brushing and grinding welds. Mig is a virtual miracle compared that that for small projects like welding sheet, angle, tube and thin plate.

After a few years I bought a Tig welder for building crawfish boilers. It took a while to pick up, but with a lot of reading, a lot of videos and a lot of practice, I can make ugly welds that do not leak.

I have never found myself wishing I had a stick welder (my tig welder will actually do that but I've never had any need). If you are going to be doing projects in a shop, just get a good 200 amp mig welder and practice, practice, practice.

I would suggest buy a multi process machine. Learn to run a good root with wire, then start sticking that rod until you want to throw up.

You'll throw electrode holder away, and stick to wire only.

I have the one from Northern tool and happy going on year 4. Just finished racks made out of 2 7/8 flow line, flux cored a majority of it.

I worked quite a long time in the fabrication industry. Taught quite a few green helpers how to weld.

MIG: Solid wire
Pros
very easy to learn
Makes a really nice clean weld very strong welds
No slag to chip
Not a lot of sparks
Cons
Base metal has to be clean, no rust or paint
Equipment is more expensive
Wire feeders have to be kept cleaned and tuned up
Needed shield gas
Not very fast

Flux Core: wire with flux on the inside
Easy to learn
Metal doesnt have to be as clean
Lays a lot metal down quick
No shielding gas required but makes a much prettier weld
Cons
Same as Mig
More sparks
Weld leaves slag that has to be chipped

Stick: a welding rod is inserted into a holder
Pros
Cheap
Metal doesn't have to be super clean
Cons
Lots of sparks with some rods
Rods need proper storage
Harder to learn


When I worked in the fab shop we making handrails and ladders and smaller stuff we use MIG. That was my favorite. Really quick and made a nice weld.

In the field we used stick, basically because you were climbing all over putting shite up and you just wanted the quickest simplest thing to put a quick weld

In the fab shop for bigger things we used flux core. To weld padeyes, make stanchions to hold up decks..... 80% of production welding was done with flux core, 10% TIG, for production pipe welding and 10% MIG for handrails, staircases and ladders.