MIG Welding vs ARC Welding

If you’re new to the welding field, you might be confused with the presence or MIG welding or ARC welding. They’re two major categories of welding processes which are then developed into subcategories of methods, tools, and equipment. Which one is better for your work? You can learn welding at the vocational colleges and welding schools. Check the complete list of welding schools by state here.

Here some differences between MIG welding and ARC

Metal Inert Gas(MIG) Welding

• MIG welding works by continuously feeding a solid wire electrode with a welding gun to join two metal-based materials. MIG welding is ideal for indoor welding projects and can deal with light to heavy metals.
• Along with the feeding, MIG welding also requires the shielding gas which is also delivered through the gun in order to protect the welding from air or contamination during operation.
• The consumable MIG welding wire and the electrode don’t deal with rusts, dirt, stains, corrosion, and other contaminants on the metals you want to join. It made MIG welding process mandate pre-cleaning step where you’ll have to manually remove the rust, stains, and other contaminants before start welding. The pre-clean procedure should be well done to allows the weld to deeply penetrate the joints.
• The power usage would, of course, depend on various factors like metal type, object thickness, joint configuration, consumable wire measurement, the position of welding. However, MIG welding would likely require a bigger power consumption which makes it not suitable for the job site with a limited power source, like outdoor or remote projects.
• Experience and special treatments would be required to perform welding in specific positions especially vertical and upside head positions where gravity increase the challenge. In order to deliver the same quality welding on those positions, specific set up on amperage and voltage, shielding gas pressure, and other configurations are needed.

ARC Welding

• Arc Welding use electricity to weld and melt two metals in order to join them. When welding, the contacts would generate a very high temperature, high enough to melt two metals so they can bind each other with their own substances. Two metals would be strongly joined after cooling down.
• Even though it aims to melt down the metals, arc welding can use consumable electrodes as well. Arc welders can be powered with either AC or DC electricity which makes it more portable than the MIG welder. Some arc welders come with lower power consumption but keep the optimum performance as well.
• Arc welding is also more flexible in terms of processes as it can feature manual, semi-automatic, and automatic welding. However, the basic arc welding refers to the manual welding process.
• Unlike the MIG welder, you can take arc welder to outdoor welding projects. Since it can use DC electricity, the outdoor arc welding can be performed without depending on a huge, established power source. The flux core arc welding even allows you to finish the job outside when the weather is extremely cold or hot.
• Arc welding is basically auto-anti-contaminant so they not necessarily shielding gas to operate(depending on the sub-type or arc welding). It’s because a shield would be self-created from the coating around the rod when it begins to melt the metals.