Affordable Mig welder?

[R.O.R-2.0]

I have had great luck with my miller 250 with sheet metal. Just have to get the .023 wire and drive rollers. If you go with .035 or .045 wire you can do sheet metal but it is a dance at best to try to melt the wire without going through as ROR suggested.

Bottom line is usually you will buy one welder cheap and then be looking for your next welder. I bought a "good" welder, but am now always wanting another toy. I would love to get the spool gun and then a nice tig. Maybe even that miller 110v for around 800.00 to leave the .023 wire in full time. It is almost as bad as the VW addiction, you'll see for yourself soon.

i dont like switching back and forth all the time tho.. i leave .045 wire in my miller, and run .023 in the hobart..

[745 turbogreasel]

I got the biggest Miller 110 at the time, and have no regrets.  Occasionally on truck parts, I wish i had a bigger machine.
The analog  wire speed and voltage knobs  seem to give me a nice advantage over some of the lesser machines.

Also with regards to switching, it is nice to have at least a few grinders to hand, even if some of them are HF cheapies.

[belchfire]

Yeah, get one with infinite variability. A B C voltage control is OK as long as you can fine tune the wire speed. On some of the old cracker boxes your only choices were stick or burn.

[srgtlord]

I am leaning towards the saving up for the lincon power mig 140c. Ive heard great things about it. I was going to buy a lincon pro mig 140 from lowes, but the powermig is not too much more. The family mechanic has a powermig and loves it. Hopefully I can get 2 months out of my car, which is the how much time it will take to pay for itself, and the time it will take me to graduate, and hopefully get some graduation money.

[belchfire]

Good choice. Be sure to have a few extra tips of the correct size and change them as needed.