Sell me on a welder type for thinwall steel, dirty steel.

[WNY_TomB]

I have a Lincoln 200 tig. I have problems with thinwall galvanized, painted or dirty sheet metal,- stuff that is too thin to easily stick weld, and too dirty for tig. Think farm repair.

Would a mig welder with flux core make it easier to weld this sort of thing? What sort of amp range and wire size would be good?

I was thinking something like a Miller 141 or 211 , Hobart 210MVP, Lincoln powermig 210,etc. budget under 2K .

This is for home shop use- general repair,and fabrication.

Thanks for your help!

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3/32 6013 at about 65 to 75 amps 16ga tubing using inline weave and or dab dab welding, plenty youtube videos show dab dab thats
rod on hot side of amps (burn through in 3 or 4 seconds) you lean rod alot 45 degree at least, weld a second stop wait weld a second
stop wait, etc you are putting a dab of weld on stopping to cool, thats why called dab dab
,
if .040" thick often many use 5/64 or 2mm 6013 at 50-55 amps, some use fluxless rod held on weld area and welding over rod and welding
.040" together, think sheetmetal studs used for basement walls, often dont need the rod just weld over tight no gap joint.
,
sure Youtube videos some welds not perfect but plenty videos showing 16ga tubing often galvanized being stick welded. sure they show
filling 1/8" gaps with weld but it usually better to get better tighter weld joint
.
now if you want more toys (welding machines) to play with thats another matter, just dont say cannot stick weld 16ga tubing

[tapwelder]

Just learn to weld. Flux core will be fine. If doing repair, tubular wire is better than hauling a tank for solid.

Good luck.

[Sberry]

If they are in a shop which is likely I would be at a loss without a solid wire machine. It isbt that there arnt other ways to do this work but there are not much easier, guy said think farm stiff, its what we do and 99% of it can be done with simple wire welder. He needs to fill gaps and cracks, poor fits that are frustrating with stick are a whiz with solid.
10 inch mobile home beam, 10 or 11 ga web and we put the pencil there to show the gap. The beam was short, but 3 steps to weld the web flush, welded the middle till it dropped out, then top down, the bottom had cooled and welded the last of it, maybe a minute, no slag in this deal, super fast and easier to weld out than fix a fit or fuss with stick. It can be done but niot as cheap easy and really as good as solid. Can fill the gap and weld it out in a single pass. In the middle pic, little 3/4 tack/weld, would be diffic ult for a real welder to do that with stick, would get old fast, wire not a deal.

[stoneaxe]

The job that prompted this post was welding some 2 1/2" diameter 16 gauge tube, I don't know what the joint is called, a saddle joint? One piece coped on the end to fit over the other tube diameter at right angles. Anyway, I did not do the fit up-the owner did-with a sawzall. mistake # 1- it had huge gaps 1/4 to 1/2"which I did some correction on with a grinder, in a hurry, while letting the guy wait. (mistake #2.)

First tried 6013 3/32 about 45 amps. Kept burning through. Should have done as suggested and just kept a bunch of tacks, then cool, then tack. Not enough experience.
Then said enough and tigged it with all the attendant crap contaminate coming off the tube.
Fortunately this was a non structural repair. (otherwise I would have refused to do it.)

I have a bunch of 16 gauge galvanized tube scrap to learn on. I watched CEP (RIP)weld a gate bracket to this material using a old engine drive Lincoln, a wire feeder and .045 wire. Dual shield, IIRC. I asked if he wanted to test on a piece of the scrap and he said, "I have welded miles of this stuff.

[Sberry]

You are a poster case for a new small wire feeder. Personally wouldn't worry about getting one with every feature they ever invented. There are so may imports that are good but guys rattle 3 or 4 names of them in the same sentence and can't remember them all. Get as large a C25 bottle as you can, get 240 vo unit and 030 solid wire.
I live in Michigan, I met Carl, agree great guy and super smart.
This is a machine that you wish you would have bought long time ago once you get it and the tig will gather a layer of dust.