Which welder for rookie?

I had one of those 130 snap on welders when first teaching myself how to weld and it was a massive struggle. I eventually upgraded to a Clark 160 and suddenly everything dropped into place, it was like night and day and my welding came on in leaps and bounds as soon as I wasn't struggling with a curse word machine.

I would certainly go with a gas welder, don't bother with those little disposable gas bottles, they are a waste of time. I used to use pub gas, they are less portable but will help with the weld as you are not constantly struggling against the bottle pressure dropping or gas running out. An experienced welder could probably pick up a gasless mig and run a good weld, but when teaching yourself you want to make it as easy for yourself as possible imo. Teaching yourself welding itself takes a lot of trial and error, fighting against a curse word or difficult to use machine will only ever make it harder to learn.

This is the one I have www.machinemart.co.uk/p/mig160tm-welder/?da=1&TC=GS-010111160&gclid=Cj0KEQiAtMSzBRDs7fvDosLZmpoBEiQADzG1vJKxMvcnFlGp7W3kjEqOyrMDTn66L-XToYcjHP82EcYaAj4P8P8HAQ

I picked mine up on ebay a couple of years back for £200, second hand but with pretty much no use.

As for masks I am still using a self tinting esab one I bought years ago. I keep meaning to get another one because the size adjuster on the head band has broken, but I taped that up as a quick fix about a year ago and it just keeps on doing its job, all I've had to replace is the perspex screens as they get scratched after a while.

This is the one I had I think
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/151901549019?adgroupid=16885268106&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=pla-124272974706&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F710-134428-41853-0%252F2%253Fipn%253Dicep%2526icep_id%253D67%2526mtid%253D1673%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp%253D64198248666_563391%2526icep_item_id%253D151901549019%2526itemid%253D151901549019%2526icep_meta_categ_id%253D12576%2526icep_etrs%253DN%2526icep_epid%253D-999%2526icep_ctlg%253D-999%2526icep_cond%253DNew%2526targetid%253D124272974706%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-124272974706%2526rpc%253D0.12%2526rpc_upld_id%253D60556%2526device%253Dm%2526icep_msku_flag%253Dy%2526icep_cbt%253Dn%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526loc%253D9045999%2526poi%253D9044915%2526campaignid%253D270621186%2526adgroupid%253D16885268106%2526gclid%253DCj0KEQiAtMSzBRDs7fvDosLZmpoBEiQADzG1vCz4Io5j1vxbITUVh7LxIaCdg9Np-X3xuMbBBRUH-P4aAku98P8HAQ%2526srcrot%253D710-134428-41853-0%2526rvr_id%253D951744900923&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=9044915&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&ff19=0&device=m&chn=ps&campaignid=270621186&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80

I bought an old Clarke welder on here for £40, added a cylinder of pub gas and it's fine for what I need. If you're willing to be patient you may get a better welder for your budget 2nd hand.

Pub gas isn't brilliant and if can go for the proper stuff then do so. It will make like much easier to learn with.

The critical thing is to get a welder that will allow you to adjust the amps and wire flow to find the setting that works for you. Also make sure you can control the gas flow accurately. Those self-tinting masks make a huge difference.

You need a good earth, clean metal, don't use cheap extension leads (if possible plug directly into the power supply), decent quality wire.

I started out practising on bits of scrap which is totally different from welding on a car body. I found welding on the bodywork was much easier than messing about with bits of scrap metal, even brand new sheet metal. So see if you can scrounge a wing or something from a scrappies to practice on.

See if you can pick up a second hand portamig.

Mig welding guide


www.r-techwelding.co.uk/mig-welding-how-to-use-a-mig-welder-guide

I've had great success teaching myself to weld with a Clarke 151TE.

I would personally not buy second hand if you have £300 to spend, or you'll forever be wondering if parts are worn out or in need of replacing, whereas brand new you'll know it's all down to your abilities. Just my opinion though.

there are now companies that will sell you a bottle of gas,the way it works is, you buy the bottle, have no rental fee but refills are more expensive. they usually advertise in classic car mags.
wire wise if you can make sure the welder takes big rolls that weigh 15kg makes it easier, less changing of rolls.
if doing car welding and box section upto 3mm wall i would say 0.6mm wire.

I think they might mean you need a supply on 16 amp instead of 13 like you have to your cooker i think . Ive heard that mentioned a lot in the past - i suppose it will heat up your wiring nicely otheriwse and trip out all the time .

Can some one more elctrickery elaborate dodgerover ?

I bought a 135 TE from machine mart to learn with and have been really happy with it. I learned by welding the inner sill and welding on a repair panel on my MX5, results were good.

I also don't understand the stick the disposable bottles get, I done loads of odd jobs before my first little bottle of C02 run out and they cost about 12 quid? Certainly don't want to rent a massive bottle I won't even use just doing the odd bit of welding on my own car.

I run my Clarke 160tm off of a normal socket and 13amp fuse with no issues, have done for about 2 years. The reason I bought this particular machine was because the user's on the mig welding forums said it was one of the most powerful machines that you could run off a normal socket.