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May 21, 2017 13:54:57 GMT
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Looking for a little advice
Been looking at gasless mig welders on ebay the Web etc around the £100-150 mark
100 amp
What sort of welding can these actually be used for?
Have a few little projects in mind like a adult size trike and a game of thrones style throne from old car parts
Any advice would be great
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VW nut 1984 MK2 golf type 19e
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May 21, 2017 14:02:49 GMT
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I would not bother .
They will be horrible/difficult to use
Spares my well be a problem
It will make learning much more difficult
Not good value at all
Gasless is messier and more difficult .
Really only good for slapping bits of scrap together
Not very powerful , it will have a low duty cycle , which is the mount of time you can weld ata certain power- just because it says 100 amps does not mean you can run it that all day.
You really would be better of spending more , either by saving or paying monthly for something , and if you get it from somewhere like machine mart you have backup and spares .
Names to bear in mind are Rtech , clarke and sealey . Anything upwards of £300 is going to be better .
Its totally your decision but you will be seriously dissapointed with what your suggesting .
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May 21, 2017 14:50:14 GMT
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Totally agree with that^^^^ Although I'm not a experienced welder I'd stick with a traditional Gas Mig, Very easy to learn how to use them, just watch a few YouTube clips and then practice practice practice. Depending on what you're planning on doing will dictate the amount of power you need, A 130-150amp Mig will have the range of power for most jobs.
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steveg
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,565
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May 21, 2017 15:38:33 GMT
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Do any of the welding suppliers sell used machines ? For limited use get the best you can afford, a removable torch seems like a good idea. If you aren't doing much you might get away with using small throw away CO2 bottles but the argon CO2 ones really aren't worth bothering with as they last for so little time. Getting a auto dimming helmet was one of the best things I have done and you can get them quite cheaply now.
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May 21, 2017 16:31:39 GMT
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Don't bother with a gasless welder they are about as much use as a big soldering iron. All it will do is put you off welding as its so hard to get anything resembling a decent weld out of it.
Save a bit more money and keep an eye out on eBay or similar for a second hand welder in your price range.
Oh and i would also add get yourself a light re-active helmet rather than a flip down/hand held jobbie. Makes it easier by far to get on with.
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taurus
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,084
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May 21, 2017 16:46:34 GMT
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Keep your eye out for a decent second hand item. I bought a Clarke mig on here for £40 - I'm no expert but it's kept my daily on the road for the past 3 years so I reckon that's a bargain. Much better value than a cheap new one.
Also - the auto-dimming helmets make life much easier.
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May 21, 2017 17:31:50 GMT
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As well as the auto-dimming helmet, the biggest improvement I had is when I switched from my old live-torch welder, to one with a torch that's only live when the trigger is pulled. My "new" one is a gas/gasless one, but I've never used it without gas. It was £50 from an autojumble a few years back, but if buying used it's probably better to keep an eye on classifieds on here so you've got more idea it'll work.
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May 21, 2017 17:50:53 GMT
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TBH i think you would be hard pushed to find a new one for sale with a constant live torch .
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True, it was very old. I was really expanding on the previous post of buying a used one.
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May 22, 2017 12:40:22 GMT
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Flux core ( no shielding gas) is a valid welding process; if it were not, industry would not have the supply of wire that it does. A lot of field welding gets done with flux core. Go to youtube and check out the videos on the subject.
What lets it down is the cheap welders that adopt the process in order to sell to the budget challenged market and the marketing that makes it seem suitable to the car hobby beginner. If you want to save SOME money and have the option of gassing up in the future, at least buy a name-brand welder like the Lincoln 185 or equivalent, and use flux core wire so as to save on the up-front cost of the gas.
Where I think I would have trouble with a flux core is because when I do sheet-metal welding, (most of what I do) I use a series of start and stop short burst. The flux core leaves a layer of flux on top of the bead much like a stick welder, and I suspect that would be an issue when trying to pick-up from one tack to the next; yo are meant to chip the slag off the weld before you re-start.
Knowing what I know now, if I were a cash deprived person that wanted to get into car restoration and be able to join metal, I would force myself up the steep learning curve and learn gas welding.
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May 22, 2017 12:44:59 GMT
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Flux core is fine for laying down miles of wrkd on a ship but rather less applicable to diy car repairs. And a Lincoln welder would be very expensive. You would be better off with something cheaper and easier with argon mix gas
Let's not confuse the chap with technicalities!
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May 22, 2017 15:07:36 GMT
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Best advice -> Spend good money and get a decent welder. It's all about consistent wire feed and voltage that isn't all over the place.
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May 22, 2017 16:35:45 GMT
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Some good advice already prompted by several members and I can but only agree - gas fed mig is far better than gasless one - however no one has yet to mention transformer based mig (which all of the budget end of the market are) vs inverter based mig's which are superior - basically it gives you stepless control and hence the ability to weld the thinnest of metals - good invertor based machines can be had on a budget if you shop around and are well worth looking into prior to investing in a outdated transformer based mig.
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May 22, 2017 20:08:16 GMT
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When I got set up for welding, initially I was going to go down the low end Clarke route, but ended up spending £400 on a second hand (but very lightly used) Portamig 185, 12 power settings, and goes down to 15amps, infinitely variable wire speed. Seems like a bit of an extravagance but although it's a transformer machine they last forever and hold their value very well so I will always get back what I paid for it if I need to release some cash.
Don't forget you can only run up to about 140-150amps from a 13A domestic supply, bigger machines should work ok on lower settings but will blow the fuse in the plug or trip the breaker if you turn them up too high.
I had no problems learning to stick 1mm sheet together by myself in a couple of sessions in the garage. Fixed up my BMW, the MOT tester even complimented the standard of welding and asked who did it.
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May 23, 2017 10:07:25 GMT
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Don't forget you can only run up to about 140-150amps from a 13A domestic supply, bigger machines should work ok on lower settings but will blow the fuse in the plug or trip the breaker if you turn them up too high. A very good point, and also consider that can drop a little if you need to run it down an extension lead. My shed is very long and narrow, with the socket at the front end and the car I'm working on at the back end, and while it's a reasonably good extension there is some noticeable drop.
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May 23, 2017 10:41:28 GMT
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Don't forget you can only run up to about 140-150amps from a 13A domestic supply, bigger machines should work ok on lower settings but will blow the fuse in the plug or trip the breaker if you turn them up too high. A very good point, and also consider that can drop a little if you need to run it down an extension lead. My shed is very long and narrow, with the socket at the front end and the car I'm working on at the back end, and while it's a reasonably good extension there is some noticeable drop. One of the other advantages of inverter welders is they draw nothing like the current that a transformer based MIG does - I weld on pretty high settings without any fear of fuses tripping
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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First time welding duncanmartin
@duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member 70
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May 23, 2017 21:02:14 GMT
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When you are talking about an adult sized trike, I assume you're talking about chopping up old bikes or using chunky box section? Here's my thread on that process using AtomicZombie plans: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/191762/recumbent-tricyle-eventually-foldableI found a local welding supplier and bought a refurbished welder from them. It's old, but it's been sorted out by someone who knows what they are doing, it came with a big reel of wire, a good regulator for a full size gas bottle and a few bits and bobs. You can get gas rent free from someone like hobbyweld for a sensible sum, and unless you want to weld outside in the wind, it's so much easier to use regular wire and gas than gasless wire. The migwelding forum is fantastic. Once you've got the welder you should buy a bunch of steel sheet off-cuts from your local steel supplier and then weld them together, posting the results onto a thread on that forum and let the regulars tell you what you're doing wrong. It doesn't take too long to get reasonably competent when you have people who know what they are doing telling you how to improve. Good luck.
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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First time welding slater
@slater
Club Retro Rides Member 78
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To be honest just go and buy a second hand old skool 240v mig around 150-200amp and a proper bottle of gas. Its the cheapest way really. Will work, do everything you want on cars and won't cost much.
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Badger
Part of things
Posts: 250
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May 24, 2017 16:58:24 GMT
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As above, you really want a gas one. Regarding quality, obviously buy the best you can afford, but I've had a Clarke 151TE for about ten years which has welded up a Mini (pretty much a new bottom end), two kit car chassis and more odd jobs than I can remember. Not the best by any means but pretty capable.
Also go for proper sized gas bottles from a place which doesn't charge bottle rent - a bit more expensive up front but very much worth it in the long run.
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