Stick welder or MIG for frame repair on my 84 F150?

I'm patching rust on an old farm truck frame and gotta choose between a cheap stick welder I borrowed and renting a MIG setup for the weekend. Went with the stick because it was free but now I'm fighting slag inclusions and wondering if the $80 rental would've saved me four hours of grinding. For guys who do this kind of work, is stick ever actually better than MIG for thin frame sections, or did I just make a dumb bet on my time?

2 comments

2 Comments

jana_price5d ago

...and now you know why that stick welder was free. Look, I've been there, standing over a pile of grinding discs wondering if saving 80 bucks was really worth my whole Saturday. For thin frame sections on an old farm truck? MIG wins every time. Stick is great for thick stuff and outdoor work where the wind would blow your gas away, but on thin metal it's like trying to write with a crayon. You didn't make a dumb bet, you made the bet that your time was worthless. Go rent the MIG next weekend, you'll thank yourself when you're done in two hours instead of two days.

the_sandra5d ago

Man that part about writing with a crayon hit me right in the gut because that's exactly what it felt like when I tried to patch a rust hole in my old Civic with stick. I spent a whole Sunday grinding and blowing through rods, ended up with this mess of slag and holes that looked worse than when I started. Finally broke down and rented a MIG from Home Depot with some flux core wire, and I had the whole panel patched and ground smooth in maybe 3 hours. The rental fee was like 60 bucks and I honestly would have paid double just to get my weekend back. I think there's this dumb pride thing about stick welding that makes us all try it first on stuff it was never meant for.