Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello, first off this fourm is awesome! It is full of so much information especially for a beginner like me. But I do have a few questions for all of you professionals out there, I am looking at buying a new welder. I want a Mig welder because I already have a vintage Lincoln arc welder and I want something I can get some really nice quick strong welds with on 3/8" steel and thiner. I am just a rookie with experience only working on my farm equipment and building hitches for my trucks and tractors. I want to start a small fab shop down the road for automotive fabrication. But I have been looking at the Lincoln 180 dual and Hobart 210mvp but then I saw the Tweco/Thermal Arc 211i that does mig/tig/stick and was wondering whats the best choice? I would like to have a better mig then just my little 90amp fluxcore welder but the ability to have an all in one machine sounds really good. I know Lincoln and Hobart are both great companies and make really good products. But is tweco/ Thermal Arc a good welder that will last? My needs for a new welder are:
220v or dual power
3/8 minimum weldable thicknesss
Aluminum capable
decent duty cycle
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, thank you.

I bought a Tweco Fabricator 211i a couple months ago on the recommendation of the guy at my LWS. I already have a TIG machine, so I was looking at separate Miller Stick and MIG machines that are 240 volt supply. He recommended that I get the Tweco and get it all in one box and save some money. I did and I'm glad. It's a great machine with a really nice arc. A nice addition to the shop.

Tweco 211i or Lincoln 210mp.

Thats my two cents.

Quick + Strong+ 3/8 puts you over the 200~ish amp area in smaller MIGz.
The occasional 3/8 is one thing. Much structural in 3/8 or over puts you in 300 amp territory.
Quick, in my world, means 1 pass.
Now. If you're like the rest of the planet welding 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 stuff for columns, brackets, trailers and tools those 210-211 boxes will do you just fine.A whole lot of 1/4"+ and you might jump into the 250 class for a better duty cycle.

200 amps are not really 3/8 welding machines.. Tweco 252i or ESAB Rebel @240 amps. If you want multi function. I will just leave the whole welding hitches and automotive fab disaster and liability issue for someone else. Flux core is also NOT MIG welding.

Ok thank you guys this is the information I need. Oh I understand there are liability and insurance issues with the automotive fab industry. I think right now this is just an excuse for me to buy my toys and see how far I can get before actually calling it a "business".
I currently am in the process of building a 5'x8' CNC Plasma table for cutting out the pieces and doing some hobby art stuff to sell on the side. But I figured 3/8" would be the thickest material I would need a mig for, anything over that I would use my arc welder. And I understand that my fluxcore isn't considered mig, its just one I can use on the farm when I need a quick minor repair outdoors. But a 3 in 1 allprocess machine is not a must but would be nice. So what I am taking from your replies is that I would need atleast a 250 amp machine to do 3/8s in one pass? The 3/8s would mostly be just brackets and repairs on tractor buckets and such. I am only using a hypertherm powermax 45 for the plasma table so I would be limited to 3/8s. What would the 210mvp be recommended for and if I should look into the ironman 250(its a 250 or 230?) or a bigger lincoln or miller or hobart or what other brands do you recommend? Thank you for your replies guys. Everything helps!!

Love the site and Great tips. Im self taught and still learning after about 8years of using my welders. When i first started there wasn’t much online that was helpful and no one local wanted to take the time to help me out. A few friends guided me in the right direction but they all lived far away so i had to just take the little I learned from then and i was on my own. I have since taught a few of my friends the basics and most of them didn’t realize how much practice its takes and skill you have to learn.
When you are welding on other peoples rigs their lives and their families lives along with others are in your hands. Thats what people need to realize. So unless your are really confident in your work then its better to take the time and practice, practice, practice until your ready to work on others peoples rigs. I’ve seen shotty basic roll cages collapse after one roll up in the canyons only going like 15mph.
Patience and Engineering is the key to good steel fabrication.

I would consider the Power MIG 210 MP I've have it for three months or so. Haven't ran TIG yet I still need gas and regulator being that I just bought a torch.

I agree 100% with you on the certainty and quality of my workmanship. I do not plan on doing any heavy fabrication on anyone's rig until I am sure and I feel confident that it will be safe and preform as it should. I will not do work on anything for anyone if I would not feel safe as if it were my own rig. I plan on practicing a lot and I know I need to learn a lot. But for now its only mild fab work like bumpers, head ache racks and products like that. I will not work on anybody's vehicle until I understand all of the factors and elements that will take place. I do not plan on doing frame modifications or heavy work until farther down the road. For one my shop is not setup for that and I do not have the knowledge yet. For the time being I an only working on my rig and equipment for practice and prototypes as well as advertising. But thank you for your input, I appreciate it.

Timmontoya88 wrote:I would consider the Power MIG 210 MP I've have it for three months or so. Haven't ran TIG yet I still need gas and regulator being that I just bought a torch.

Thank you, I went to my LWS and looked at that model and they gave me some info on it and some other Lincoln machines.