What welder shall I buy?

[fo0manchu]

whats your budget? i'm guessing if you are asking these questions then you are looking for a welder to learn on?  I've had my lincoln for almost 10 years now, never skipped a beat.  It was about $4-500 from Home Depot.  Works great for hobby use.  I also have a thermal arc tig, but i still use the lincoln for hard to get places and for a quick weld or tacking things up.  To absorb heat on thin metal you can also use a copper or aluminum backing plate so it doesn't warp.  Good luck and have fun!

[KlassicMotion]

There are a few different products on the market for heat sink material for that matter:

 

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-anti-heat-compound-1-qt.html

[datzenmike]

I read Hot Rod magazine when a kid in the '60s. There was an article about a custom Thunderbird rear deck having a panel cut out and lowered and welded. They used wet cloths

[91hrdbdy]

i own several welders i have a miller 140 for my every day small fab stuff. I also have a miller D.V.I. wire feed for my aluminum m.i.g. welding and thicker fab stuff. and i have a Miller dialarc 300 hf for all my t.i.g. needs now most home garages will be fine with just a miller 140 but i really would get  a miller unit i have had my 140 in my shop being used every day since 2005 never had to to any thing but replace the expendables. its a really good unit and can be bought for less that 800 out the door. i felt the miller unit is far superior to the Lincoln counterpart and the have a feature called auto set for the learners and it work fairly well.