I've been welding for about 8 years now, and here are some thoughts.
First off, the orginal post asks about a TIG welder. TIG is for professional racing and customizing shops. The cheapest TIG setup will run you around 1000 bucks. TIG is also VERY hard to do right unless you've had a LOT of prior welding experience. The benefit to TIG is that once you are proficient, the welding produces little or no 'slag'(the metallic crap that spits out of the welding area.

Second, if you want a welder that will last a long time, anything under 200 bucks or from hoe cheapo/lowes is not the way to go. If you can wait and spend more money, check out Miller or Lincoln welding equipment...that's what the pro's use.

Third, if you want to weld anything heavy(bumpers, rocksliders, ect....1/8" thick or more) a 100 amp welder isn't going to cut the mustard. Those units don't have the power to penetrate all the way through the metal being welded. For 4x4 purposes, a good bet is a good quality 175 amp MIG welder.

 

Thanks Toyotaboy!

 

Here is the American Welding Society "For Sale" Forum if you'd care to see what you can get used.

-Stu.

 

MTL_4runner- You said your IR was loud? That stinks because that's what I was looking at. Is it worse than an oil free compressor?

 

home depot has a welder for $325 that will weld 5/16 thickness and also has a conversion something so you can weld alluminum. Its also a lincoln. They had a $200 lincoln that would weld 1/8 I think. So now I gotta save $325.

 

Let me rephrase that, when I was talking about loud, it was a full size commercial/industrial compressor (ie where the tank lays sideways not upright) not a home type. It was in a garage and when it kicked on it was deafening.....I had to wear ear protection to save my hearing. The smaller home versions may be quite different.

Looked alot like this one:

 

How many amps can you safely pull in the average home?

 

another thing to look at when buying a mig welder is the availible tips for different wire sizes, its going to be alot harder to weld sheetmetal and body work with .035 wire comparet to .024 wire,

i threw down so really strong beads with the little blew welder he had a link to earlyer, i wouldnt trust my life to a welder like that but it will get the job done for most folks.

later
wade

 

Even though people can weld thin metal with stick, you will not be able to successfully without lots of practice.

Save your money and buy a 220v welder, or at leat a high power 110v like a miller 135. You WILL regret buying a cheap welder that won't burn hot enough. You won't be able to weld much with it. I wouls definitly not trust your aux. body mounts with a welder that can only handle 88amps.

You can run a 135 any circuit that has a 50amp fuse. My washing machine uses one so I use its outlet. It is important to have a very short (or none) extension cord and a very good gound or the welder will not weld very hot.

 

I will concur with what everyone has pretty much told you already. Go with the better if you can. I have learned, you get what you pay for with welders. Sticks are a much stronger welds on heavy metals ( I mean really heavy) but for what you are looking for, for what I use mine for too (vehicle fab and such), a MIG might me better to start with. And go with a good name.

I went with a Miller 175. Plenty (and more ) of juice.

If you use a crappy cheap welder, this could happen to you- (yes this was one of my learning experiences many many years ago)

 

save up for the mig, i got this lincoln from home depot--http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...cStoreNum=8125 those campbell hausfelds are about the cheapest quality they come. this lincoln does from 20 ga. to 1/4 in. and all you do is plug it into an outlet and pull the trigger and your welding in no time. you also don't need any gas because it's in the wire. if you were going to be doing body metal, there is an upgrade for this one to mig that limits you to 14 ga. but allows you to do 24 ga. without burning holes in it. there is also this one that i think can do body metal right out of the box (also needs no gas)--http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...cStoreNum=8125