Sell me on a welder type for thinwall steel, dirty steel.

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I have a Lincoln 200 tig.  I have problems with thinwall galvanized, painted or dirty sheet metal,- stuff that is too thin to easily stick weld, and too dirty for tig. Think farm repair. Would a mig welder with flux core make it easier to weld this sort of thing? What sort of amp range and wire size would be good? I was thinking something like a Miller 141 or 211 , Hobart 210MVP, Lincoln powermig 210,etc.  budget under 2K .This is for home shop use- general repair,and fabrication. Thanks for your help!Last edited by stoneaxe; 16 Hours Ago at 11:48 AM.
Reply:I really like my Lincoln 210 mp.For galvanized sheet metal, silicon bronze wire works best (and  you don't have to grind off the galvanizing first).For thicker rusty metal, I'd use stick welding with 6013.Miller Trailblazer Pro 350DMiller Suitcase MIGMiller Spectrum 2050Miller Syncrowave 250DXLincoln 210MP
Reply:What is "thinwall" to you?   ⅛" wall?  or 0.020" wall thickness?

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Reply:You are going to get a lot of opinions here which is different than helping you choose the right welder for you and the good news is it can be done well under 2K and even less if you want to work at it.   For constant thin work, if this was a real operation would have an 023 140 dedicated to it, own bottle, makes it a spare for the machine you should have here number 1 is a 210 class mig 030 solid wire.  If you do not have this already rush to get it now, charge card in hand this afternoon, a Hobart 190-210, Lincoln Pro 180 or similar, well under a K for machine itself,  buy it today and use the thing and you will be here thanking me by tomorrow.  It will tolerate some of that stuff depending on thickness and even position.  You can improve cleaning and paint will often burn off, flash with torch and as long as its not interfering with arc somewhat tolerernt for simple work. Surprising some tar and oil not a great problem for everything, it is never a good thing but you gotta get it done.Last edited by Sberry; 15 Hours Ago at 12:37 PM.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:That machine will use a smaller wire but i am a daily driver and hate changing stuff.  I had 140 a while and it was handy with small wire, right down to foil.  For general I like 030, it gives it a lot more punch on the high end and can turn down better than 035 in a bigger machine which is another leap.  Basically the 200 will deliver 2x the current with a size larger wire than the 140 and a 250 will double it with size larger wire.  If you are paying men to do thyis the larger machines are free quickly.  Use a larger cheaper spool of wire but for the home diy, sheet fix it 1/8 andle and tube crowd the 200 compact feeder is the right machine 4 u.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:How thin is thin? Is that the only thickness you will weld or just occasionally?Are you going to have another machine to do thicker work or will you want to do most work with this setup? (you got a TIG setup, but what about heavier gauge rust scrap?)If you are trying to weld paper thin sheet to tubing why not just use rivets? sheet metal screws may be easier, but I could understand not wanting the screw heads sticking out that much. For 16/18ga you could still stick weld it with 6011 3/32. Just have to move very quick to keep it from burning through. Fast freeze rod, and whipping it farther out then you normally would letting it cool enough for another dab. Wire feeder will be faster. Can still burn off gunk with solid wire. 16/18ga would be find .030, would need to stich weld it, couldn't run continuously for too long. .024 would allow you to run a longer bead without stopping on real light stuff, but would be slow if you needed to weld something like 1/8" or up on the same setup.Airco Auto-Pak 130Forney 235AC/DC