Choosing a process
The process decides more than the machine. MIG is the easiest to learn and needs clean metal and still air; stick works outdoors on rust and is the cheapest to own; TIG is the most controllable and the slowest to learn. Pick the process for your work, then pick the machine.
The process decides more than the machine. MIG is the easiest to learn and needs clean metal and still air; stick works outdoors on rust and is the cheapest to own; TIG is the most controllable and the slowest to learn. Pick the process for your work, then pick the machine.
Mild steel, medium thickness, beads nobody will look at. MIG is fastest here, and stick is the easiest to carry.
Shielding gas blows away in the slightest draft. That leaves stick and flux-cored, which carry their protection in the consumable.
AC TIG is the normal route for aluminum; MIG with a spool gun is the other. Aluminum stick electrodes exist but stay unrewarding.
Furniture, railings, parts on show: TIG gives a bead that needs no grinding, which makes up for how slow it is.
| Process | What it does well | What it demands |
|---|---|---|
| Gas MIG | Speed, thin sheet, even beads | A draft-free space and a bottle |
| Gasless flux-cored | Outdoors, medium steel, self-contained | Chipping the bead every time |
| Stick | Outdoors, imperfect metal, thick steel | A strike to learn and slag to chip |
| TIG | Stainless, aluminum, finished beads | Two hands, clean metal, time |
Each process is maintained in a different place: the torch for MIG, the electrode and holder for stick, the tungsten and ceramic cup for TIG. A machine that "welds worse than it used to" is nearly always a torch due for attention.
All three produce ultraviolet radiation able to burn eyes and skin at a distance, and fume classified a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
20–160 A · 4-in-1 · 6.8 kg (15 lb) · €220
Four processes in a 6.8 kg (15 lb) case, and the only machine here whose lower limit — 20 A — is published as well as its ceiling.
Best for: A small workshop that wants one box for occasional stick, TIG and MIG work
200 A · hot start · overheat protection · €90
Ninety dollars for a 200 A stick inverter — the cheapest way to weld outdoors on steel you have not cleaned.
Best for: Outdoor repairs on rusty, painted or galvanized steel, at the lowest possible entry price
140 A DC · lift start · no HF · €128
The cheapest way into TIG, and the one machine here that starts without high frequency — which is a feature, not only a saving.
Best for: Finding out whether you like TIG before spending €400 on one
160 A · gasless only · 3-in-1 · €200
A gasless-only machine, on purpose: no bottle, no regulator, no shielding to be blown away — for people who weld outdoors.
Best for: Gates, trailers, fence posts and anything welded where you cannot close a door
Several here claim to, and the claim is broadly true with caveats. A 4-in-1 inverter will run MIG, flux-cored, stick and lift TIG — but its TIG mode scratch-starts rather than using high frequency, which contaminates the tungsten and makes fine work harder. As a way to try all three cheaply it is excellent; as a substitute for a dedicated TIG machine it is not.
Stick, marginally — there is no gas cylinder, no wire feed to jam, and the process tolerates poor preparation. What it does not tolerate is thin metal, which is where beginners often start. MIG on 2 mm (0.08 in) steel with a synergic machine is the gentlest introduction to a good-looking weld.
That depends on the process and on how regularly you practice, not on a number of hours anyone could quote. MIG gives a presentable result very early; TIG needs sustained practice before it is under control.
A used machine from a distributed brand is often a better buy than a new one with no importer behind it. What to check is the torch and the availability of consumables, more than how the machine looks.
Below a millimeter every process gets difficult and TIG takes the lead. MIG gets there by successive tacks rather than a continuous bead, which remains the usual method in bodywork.
Arc eye is a burn to the cornea, painful and usually reversible. Permanent protection is what prevents repeated exposure, whose effects add up. That is why a helmet is not something to pick at random.
It can, but it is difficult: cast iron cracks on cooling and needs preheating, specific electrodes and slow cooling. It is not a first job, and brazing is sometimes the more sensible answer.
A failure of gas shielding: a draft, wrong flow, a fouled nozzle, dirty or damp metal, or an electrode that has taken up moisture. The machine is rarely at fault, and the settings less often than people think.
For work that: A small workshop that wants one box for occasional stick, TIG and MIG work
Where it is best: The 20 A lower limit is published — that is the figure that decides what you can do on thin sheet
Where it is worst: Not sold on the British market at the time of checking
For work that: Outdoor repairs on rusty, painted or galvanized steel, at the lowest possible entry price
Where it is best: Hot start, which is the feature that decides whether a beginner strikes an arc or glues an electrode to the plate
Where it is worst: No published duty cycle — assume brief bursts at the top of the range
For work that: Finding out whether you like TIG before spending €400 on one
Where it is best: Lift start emits no high-frequency interference — nothing in the house gets upset
Where it is worst: DC only: no aluminum, ever, whatever the listing photographs suggest
For work that: Gates, trailers, fence posts and anything welded where you cannot close a door
Where it is best: No gas bottle to rent, fill, store or carry — the running cost is wire alone
Where it is worst: Gasless only: you cannot fit a bottle later and weld clean MIG with it
Tips, nozzles, wire and gas from the same aisle, at the price we read. Confirm they suit the machine you choose before ordering: it turns on the torch and the part number, which the product page gives.
Welder against welder, where the comparison is already written up.
The welders here are taken from the catalog of this site. Specifications come from the maker and from the Amazon product page; prices are what Keepa reported for the date shown, and both move. The order rests on declared specifications, on stated strengths against stated limits, and on price. No machine here has struck an arc in our hands, and nothing on this page pretends it has.
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Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
Welders and plasma cutters swing by a hundred dollars or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
