well i was told that this is the best place to put this so here you go:

Okay well I know that the majority of you here have welders and I was wondering what would be the best bang for your buck for a welder? Brands, output, voltage.. what should I look for, what should I stay away from?
I am not planing on doing anything too serious right now, just mounts, perches things of that nature... so what do you all think?

Best bang for the buck would probably be a used MM185 or MM200 since they upgraded these in the past couple years to new models. You can get em for a good price and they're both excellent 220 welders. Thats as far as migs go. I've also had a used hobart tr250 stick box that was an awesome deal. These are all fairly big machines. But I've never heard anyone complain that they had too much welder.

millermatic 130 is about the best 110 welder I've run across, the only one I've used that the power supply will hold the duty cycle long enough to actually weld.

millermatic 200, 220, and 250s are nice machines as well.


Joe

If you really want bang for buck, as opposed to just a good welder, you would have to go with a used buzz box for $100. You can do a lot of serious welding with one, but they aren't too good on sheet metal and other thin stuff. You could use it for a few years and it will still be worth $100.

For the most part if a mount or perch busts off while driving it is serious so don't buy some cheapass welder. Get a 220v welder of no less than 150amps and if you can't afford a mig of that size then buy a stick welder.

I just picked up a used Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC stick at a pawn shop for $200.

Big enough for anything I'll ever weld and using DCEN and 3/32 7018AC I can weld 14 guage sheet.