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<x-charset iso-8859-1>I have a cheap MiG plant and it goes up to 120 amp, bit of overkill maybe but it was only a few pounds more to go up a model and the extra power is there if you need it. Mine doesn't have a fan and works fine but if you're going to be doing long hard hours it may become important. Definitely don't go the gasless route, nice idea but the welds tend to be a bit nasty. cheers, Dan '73 Fastback ---- -----Original Message----- From: Big Al [mailto:Big.Al@hvwc.net] Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 3:52 AM To: HVWC List; T3 List; Vintage VW Subject: [T3] welding and UN-welding Hi all, Well, here's an update on what I've been doing. Found an automotive paint supply store that had a 3/8" rotary spot weld cutter! It's like a drill bit with a spring-loaded centering spike (holds you in place) and an outer saw ring very similar to a wood hole cutter (like the tool you use to cut a door to add a deadbolt or door handle, but only 3/8" wide). It set me back $10.13 including sales tax. ($9.36 before tax) I tried it out and cut out 10 (ten) spot welds in about 5 minutes. It took about 2 of those minutes to figure out that you still need to punch a divit in the center of the spot weld to hold the centering spike in place, otherwise the bit will walk away as soon as the teeth on the bit find solid metal. So, I'm on a roll! Now about Welders... current feedback from three VW email lists I'm on says that I should have bought a MIG welder instead of an ARC welder for the body sheet metal, but it will still come in handy when welding on something of a thicker steel than sheet metal, say pipe or angle or solid rod. So, I haven't waisted my money, I just have ANOTHER tool to store untill I need it... (hey, allow me my dilusions, ok?) So what I need is a MIG Welder. Anyone who has a MIG welder care to tell me what range or power I should be looking for with the intent that it will be used for sheet metal and knowing that I ALSO have a 60-100AMP ARC welder? (I'm assuming that since I will have both ARC and MIG that I won't need as high output of a MIG welder than if I was buying a MIG welder to do the job of sheet metal and thicker stock. Is this a correct assumption?) And I was shoping and found reference to Gas and Gas-less MIG welders Any comments on these? Do I need Gas? for reference examples see: total list: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?CategoryID=292 Look at the last two items, same model: Gas: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=39496 Gas-less: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41601 What does the gas do for the welding? Big Al ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org </x-charset>