Depends on the rod. Different rods for different purposes.

Hobart Handler 140. Miller or Lincoln make better welders at a much, much higher price. Harbor Freight makes junk at a lower price. Hobart is the Ford/Chevy that works for me. I have two different models of Hobart mig welders and both have been great. I have one set with a spool gun for aluminum and the other set up for mild or stainless. I keep four 90cf tanks of gas in my shop for different metals.

I have used flux core wire but welding with gas gives such a better weld. I did put both on harbor freight welding carts.

x2

Buy a 211, it is dual 110v / 220v.
There are three diameters of weld wire, set the knob for the one you have.
There is a setting for the thinnest material you are welding, it comes with a thickness gage, so set the knob to material thickness.
Get a gas bottle, I rent and refill mine from the supply house.

Get a descent auto tint helmet, Watch Youtube videos on stacking dimes and get good and seeing the puddle and moving it around.

Then its just practice, but that's literally all it takes.

It'd be easy to have $2,500 wrapped up in equipment, hard to justify for trap tuning, but then you can mig up to 3/8" of any steel material you needed to weld from then forward for you or anyone else.

$2500 / $50 = 50 $50 weld jobs to pay for the equipment... maybe 25 jobs would pay for half the equipment and the other half is moding your traps.

Welders need grinders for flap wheels and wire brushes. Clean material = good welds.

Anyway, that 211 is a good machine and easy enough to learn that I've taught myself to weld (with it) decently.

Good luck.

Another vote for the Millermatic 211

Like my Hobart Handler190....220V is the way to go, IMO.

X2, love mine with gas

Just curious if you've actually used a Titanium welder or not?

This is what I use, but for a guy starting out the 140 is plenty until he figures out if he even will use it IMO.

No. I have used a harbor freight mig welder but it was probably an older line of welders before they branded them titanium

I had an earlier Chicago Electric welder myself. The Titanium is much better. They are about to put the 125 flux core on sale for 129.99. I have one of those and it does a pretty good job. I'm by no means a welder, but have pretty good success with it. I also have a Dekopro 160 that I bought off of Amazon a couple of years ago that works well. It is a stick. It only cost $99.

I imagine the Hobart and Miller's are better quality, but for occasional light welding, these have been more than sufficient my needs.

Over 50 yrs a machinist, and most machine shops I've worked in had a Lincoln 225 as the only welder.

You folks sure don't disappoint! Thank you for all your thoughts and opinions, I appreciate it.

Did you buy one yet?

I would say buy what you can afford. I have an older stick welder I use on heavier material but if I want to work on items like traps I go to my sons and he has a Miller wire feed. That welder does a great job.

Not yet. Im waiting to go try a few out at a friend's shop, he has a couple that are mentioned on this tread. I figured I'd see if I can run any one better than the others before I go spend a bunch of money.

Thanks to everyone for a very useful thread!

Miller a great machine, but expensive. Dollar for dollar, best budget for someone that won't use it much is Hobart hands down . My old self I would buy the Miller. The new frugal me would buy the Titanium. If I used a welder often, but still just light hobby use, I'd buy the Hobart. Having the gas solenoid is a must. GMAW is much easier and cleaner than fluxcore

Also remember, if you get a multi process unit, you need to switch the drive wheels around for each process. The groves are different because regular wire and fluxcore are not the same shape.

Used my Hobart a little. You could weld these with about anything, but it sure is nice to make good looking welds and no slag to clean up and such.

Looks good ACD.