Excuse me if I posted this in the wrong place.
I see that most people fab most of the things themselves, and I am going start myself. I know some welding basics, and wanted to [erhaps buy a welder. I have an Lincoln 225 AC/DC now that works fine.
In the past I have used an Arc welder on things, and it has worked fine for what I was doing. Yet most people use Mig or Wire feed welders. My question is , can I still use my Arc welder? or do I need to buy a mig?. I mainly will be doing stuff like making my own sliders or bumpers, etc. Will an Arc welder do fine?. I see that the mig makes a nicer bead, but strength for strength, wont a Stick do the same?

If you are comfortable with stick, and like your results, stay with it.

I just built/modified some diff drop brackets. I was working in a buddy's shop where I have access to stick, MIG, TIG, and oxy-fuel. In this case I used stick, only because I would have had to change the wire in the MIG machine.

I have a Lincoln 225AC stick that I used for years and years before going wire-feed. It did a fine job for my rear bumper and countless other projects; and does still get used on occasion.

I think the big appeal of the wire-feed (GMAW or FCAW) for people is that its easier to lay a bead... no sticking the rod. The problem is that ease in starting the arc can make inexperienced people overconfident. Laying a bead is not the same as getting good penetration; but someone starting out that doesn't do their research doesn't know the difference and can fall into the trap of thinking a weld is good just because the two pieces of metal are stuck together ("hot glue gun of welders" is a phrase I read somewhere). If you have been stick welding for years, you surely know how to watch/manipulate the puddle and get good penetration, avoid undercutting, etc. All of these things transfer over to the wire-feed machines. If you have a stick welder and it serves your purposes, don't feel like you need to buy a MIG to 'keep up with the Jones'. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

MIG is also easier to operate. for example, take welding up a long seam on a new bumper. you could get the job done just as effectively using ARC and changing sticks like 50 times. Or you could run one continuous bead from start to finish without lifting your mask.

first and foremost, stick with where you're comfortable. but if you do a lot of welding, especially continuous (fab work like bumpers, rails, etc), you'll thank yourself for having that MIG machine. Drawback of MIG though is it takes a lot more $$$ to get good penetration into the thicker material (you really wanna be on a 220v machine)

-Rob