I was going to take my car to a very good fabricator I know to have the front upper a-arm brackets seam welded.

But a friend suggested that for as much as that will end up costing me, I should probably just buy a tig welder.

So now I'm thinking about it. Anyone have advice on this? I'm looking for something dirt cheap. Preferably a used setup for under $300.

 

Most of the used TIG's I've seen go for a bit more, usually around 1k. I don't trust my welding skills enough on my ride, So I'd take the car to the best welder you can find.

 

You will most likely never find a DC/AC tig welder at that price. Also, TIG welding is not even close to as easy as the other welding methods. It is by far the hardest standard of welding and really takes a lot of practice to get strong, deep, even beaded welds. It's really not something I would try on my cars major components because if you have too little amps, it's not doing anything useful. Too much amps, you burn a hole right through your chassis. There is also a pretty fine line between them depending on the metal. To weld very thick metals (over 3/16") a standard TIG welder wont be able to provide enough amps to penetrate through well enough to make a strong weld.

It's not worth buying a TIG welder unless you know you're going to put some real use out of it. The cheapest good tig welders new go for about $1600. $300 used is a stretch.

 

I was planning to spend quite a bit of time practicing on scrap before trying to do the seams for the a-arm brackets.

I saw a few scattered on ebay for just over $300, but I don't know enough to tell if they're acceptable. Any make/model I should look for that's good and cheap?

I found a bunch of new ones in the 1200-1600 range.

Should I just get a cheap mig welder for this kind of stuff?

 

A MIG welder can do what you're looking to do and much easily. When practicing, get the same material metal with the same thickness and perform the same type of weld (i.e. fillet, butt, lap). This will get you to the right amperage.

For a TIG welder, the Lincoln Electric TIG-185 or Miller 180SD (I have this one) are both great choices for small work and has a range upto 150amps. The Lincoln is better because it has a built in pulser which makes it easier to weld for people just getting started.

A MIG can do what a TIG can, but with speed minus the look of the TIG welds. TIG welds are really mainly for precision and appearance.

 

I'm not sure that It weld on my suspension, even though I weld other stuff quite often. A bad weld could be worse than no weld.

Also - to add to kane's advice - make sure you section your practice welds & check to make sure you have good penetration, and make sure you destructively test them.

 

I have an ARC One Mini 80 Inverter Welder. It can be used as a stick welder or TIG welder. It's 115V, and has a maximum output of 80 amps. I think I paid around $150.00 for it about 5 years ago. I don't believe it is made anymore, but they make a newer model, the I 90 STS

As a stick welder, I feel that the Mini 80 is underpowered. You really can't strike a decent arc with a 115 volt welder. It's OK for small, light gauge welding, but it's pretty frustrating because you really need more than 80 amps to do a good job.

As a TIG welder, it's not bad. The arc is pretty steady, and you can do some really meticulous welding. The unit doesn't come with a gas tank, so you have to buy that separately. But it's great for welding just about anything, including stainless steel and aluminum.

I don't buy the argument that it's hard to weld with a TIG welder. I think it's about as easy as it gets. And the weld looks really professional! You really have to practice to get good at it, though. If I had to do it over again, I'd pick up a more powerful inverter welder, maybe 230 volts. That way I have enough juice to have it do a good job as a stick welder.