What is the prefered welder for sheetmetal repair?
I have an OLD lincoln water cooled HF tig machine and want to know if it is usable on sheetmetal repair or do I need to invest in a mig?

You already have the ultimate sheetmetal repair machine. hands down, bar none.
I wish my Dad would give me his Lincolns..

I would use the TIG since you have one.

Yes, by all means,use the TIG if you are experienced with its function and can lay a good bead with it. Its much tougher to work with than a MIG. TIG is going to produce some beautiful welds that need less finish work, again, provided you are familiar with it. My guess is that the MIG would be a better choice,since the question was, will a TIG work? Yes it will, but you would not want to learn on your pride and joy. :)

I have been using this mig for a few years and I do pretty good with it. been doing alot of aluminum lately. Just wanted to know which one would be better for the resto. I do have a small lincoln mig at my disposal at my fathers place.

http://www.camaros.net/showroom/data/500/DSC01833.JPG

if your good with a tig use it. IF not go get a sheet of 18ga steel and 'weld up' for practice...:D jm.02

You have the TIG already, so invest a couple of hours with some 20 gauge cold rolled steel coupons and see if you have a knack for it. TIG will lay down a smaller and softer weld that is easier to metalfinish. However, you can get decent restoraton results with MIG with less experience. Lost of restorations are completed with MIG welders. It will take more grinding because the MIG lays in more wire than you need.

If you've ever don't some oxy/acetlyne welding, you're way ahead of the learning curve for TIG.

Here's an example of a practice coupon I did after a couple of hour tinkering with an econotig. It's two lengths 2" x 12" 20 gauge butt welded together like you would do for a fender or floor patch. Yours TIG with HF is a better unit that mine. Left of the test panel below is ground flush and metalfinished. The right side is as tig welded.

http://i15.tinypic.com/638z6o2.jpg

I have both and use both but, it depends on the application. TIG will really warp and pull the metal around. The heat is very concentrated and this can be a problem. On very thin stuff TIG is the only way to go but, you can easily stitch weld body panels/patch panels with a MIG and have very little to no warpage. If welding on the edge of a thin piece TIG is the only option. Try both it you can and see what you like best.

jump around while your welding ( not you but where your welding ) LOL also known as stitch welding . let it cool in between you can build up a lot of heat fast. DON"T weld it all at once or that light panel will look like the pacific ocean. the tig will give you a lot cleaner weld like others have said. some folks that really don't have the concept of welding can get the job done with a mig because it will gob on the metal with lots to grind off. practice and practice some more first. good luck