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What kind of welder should I use for chassis fabrication,1/8,3/16,1/4?

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1975 V8 Luv
1980 Bagged Luv

I'm not quite sure what your asking Dan.You talking about the welder itself or what rod to use?

Im thinking about buying a mig welder and which one should I get 20 to 95 amps 20 to 130 amps which in the 110 volt range, or should I go with 220 volts which is 30 to 180 amps which welds up to 1/4 steel.

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1975 V8 Luv
1980 Bagged Luv

Please stay away from using a mig welder unless you are planning on spending about 1500.00 or more on a good miller that will weld up to 1/4" plate with no problems. If all you are going to do is weld on a frame, I would highly recomend that you use an AC/DC stick welder. They cost around 600 plus and will do the job for you. If you like, you can even Dry rig the stick welder to TIG with! Trust me it works! Then you weld in those roll cages with a more professional look!

i agree w/ po' boy...its best to get something that can weld at least 1/4...that way you can do alot more...also if you consider buying a "gasless" mig (uses flux core wire)...get one that has the diffrent rollers and the option to use with argon....we have a 110 lincoln mig at my guard unit and i love it...does a great job on sheet metal and up to about 3/16.

hey po' boy....how do you "dry rig" a arc welder for TIG?...i have limited experiance w/ TIG..(mostly learned a bit in AIT)..but i have welded steel, stainless, and aluminum w/ TIG..
ive got a OLD forney stick welder here at the house and might wanna give this a try

whats w/ all the welding stuff here lately? ...i know a welder should come standard issue on a LUV ...but wow

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I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

Electrode positive, Ground negative! If you have a DC stick welder, you can use this rule to set up you efforts to tig! All you will need is a power nut connection that allows you the chance to bring the welding current and the 100% argon together into a tig line. It then runs through your tig torch. They make a special torch that allows you to open and close the gas flow on the torch. If your stick welder allows you to increase/decrease your amps (weld current) in minute increments (a must), then set your welder at about 60 amps and hold the cup of the torch to the base metal and start tig welding. Your lead will always have this amount of current (what you set it at) flowing through it so there a learned trick to striking an arc using this method. This arc isn't as stable as you might be use to with High Freq GTAW but it works! The power supply is set up for stick welding (SMAW) which has a wave pattern that is much more square (wider) than the power supply use to tig with.
If I knew as much about these Luv trucks as I forgot about welding I would have mine running by now!
Hope this helps! If not, I'll answer all the questions that I can.

ok i have used that type of torch...has a little button on the handle right?...ive also used the foot operated type.
i just went out and looked at my welder and it has a setting for 60 amps on the high side..it does not have a dial where you can fine tune the current..it uses the plug in leads..ill try and get a pic of it up if you are confused.

i wish i could find a decent fulltime welding job around here....that would allow me to expand my knowlage

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I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

Dude, sorry to inform you of this but you may not be able to use that welder. If it is an AC/DC welder I would still try it but I would not try to weld on anything to small if it works. You really need to have the ability to fine tune with the wave being so hard (wide).

oh well...I was an idea anyway.....

I still have access..(if only once a month ) to the army's equipment

drill days go something like this:

Capitan: "what ya building there?..Specialist Young?"
me: "its....a....uuuuhhhh....new type of 50 cal. mounting bracket for the M998 HMMWV sir"

Capitan: "looks like your getting some good training"
me: "oh yes sir...I am bettering myself for the benefit of the army"

Capitan:"carry on ..and keep up the good work then"
me:"yes sir" *go back to making a fuel pump block off plate for my 3.8 Buick engine

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I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

i use a 220 mig a lincoln 170 amp does every thing i would ever need i have 700.00 in it with the argon bottle the bigon done lots of pro street jobs with it gotta luv it