I need to buy a MIG welder. Harbor Freight has DC 110v welders for $200.
Or, I could wait a month and pick up a used 220v for $300-400 or so.
Downside: Can't go racin' until I have a welder, since I have some important repairs to make before my car is drivable. Very important event coming up in two weeks.
So, GRM enablers, flip the switch and de-enable me!
I'll be needing the welder at a later date for some serious body modification of a certain GTI that I have in my possession. I also will be fabricating a stainless turbo header for the Quantum, and this will NEED a decent unit. But I wanna go racing now...
Get the HF one now, and when you get around to getting a better one, just sell the HF on on CL for a bit less. Or hang onto it so you have mobile welding capability.
I'll be the voice of patience and dissent. I'd recommend finding anyone w/ a MIG you can use at their place or borrow and you'll have the car done for the cost of a couple cases of beer. Then keep looking for a Miller/Lincoln 240v machine and do it right, once. I've have a number of MIG machines from a little Daytona MIG 110v to a new Millermatic 252, and bigger is better. My current rig, a Millermatic 185 is perfect for what I do, and it was about $400 used in great shape w/ an 80 cu/ft argon/C02 bottle and a 24# coil of .030" wire.
I know the joys of good welders. We have a very nice 220v rig at work that I use frequently. But, due to recent circumstances, I have no more personal shop time for the foreseeable future, so I need to buy my own equipment and/or find someone else's place to work.
I had a cheapie HF welder, broke, parts are not readily available and a lot of it I repaired on my own. The following season I went for a Hobart 130, runs on 110.
A 110v welder does anything I want it to, bigger stuff I tack and bring somewhere but that only came up once. 220v welder? OK, but you can't toss it in the trunk and go to your buddy's garage to help him out.
I guess it depends on your needs, is there 220 available at the track?
Dan
I have $125 in my Miller 130 XP 110 welder, for whatever that's worth.
I just bought the $350 MigPony 140 from Northern Tools specifically to try the $100 aluminum spool welder out. I'll be using it next weekend and could get a review for you if you would like. Not much info out there on it so I figured worst case I can leave it at the inlaws cabin for fixing the docks, but after getting it set up yesterday I'm encouraged.
oldopelguy wrote:
$100 aluminum spool welder
I so did not need to know about that. Welding aluminum is one of those things that I can't do, but would become dangerous if I could do.
I recognize that aluminum, especially cast or "aged", can be tricky to weld at best and damned near impossible at worst, even without the complications of MIG. But I'm willing to learn 
I have a lincoln 140c at home. At work i have a $100 harbor freight flux core machine. The difference between fulx and gas is enormous. On top of that the difference is machine quality and its capabilities is huge.
Beg or borrow to get your repairs done for now. Save for the better machine and you will not regret it.
Good luck:-)
