Mig Welders

[matt-k 0]

Hi, ive decided to buy a gas mig welder and wonderd if anyone on here could give any advice on what to buy & where from? I dont want o spend a fortune as its only going to be used now and a again for relatively small jobs so i was hoping to get one as cheap as possible! Ive had a quick look on the net and seen that Clark & also Sip sell these for arround £150. Do you think these are any good or will i be waisting my money?

 

Thanks for any info, Matt.

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Hi, ive decided to buy a gas mig welder and wonderd if anyone on here could give any advice on what to buy & where from? I dont want o spend a fortune as its only going to be used now and a again for relatively small jobs so i was hoping to get one as cheap as possible! Ive had a quick look on the net and seen that Clark & also Sip sell these for arround £150. Do you think these are any good or will i be waisting my money?

 

Thanks for any info, Matt.

 

I bought a clarke 90 gas/gasless one for around £110 i think, its good for litle jobs, making brackets, patching up body work etc etc, but the only problem with mine is it clogs like mad, but im sure thats down to my lack of ability!! in hinesite (sp) id have bough a more powerful one say 130 as mine strugles to penetrate anything thicker than say 3 or 4mm

 

If you can get an auto darkening mask, i bopugh one off ebay for about 40 quid, makes life 1 million time easier!!!

[TurboSam 5]

As well as my 205, I also own a few minis, which means I tend to do quite a lot of welding

 

What amp rating are the welders your looking at?

 

Do they have gas or gasless? Personally I wouldn't bother with a gasless again as the welds are SO much better on a machine that uses gas.

[AdamP 0]

Go for a Clarke 151 TE if you can stretch the budget a bit (£220 new... can be picked up 2nd hand). They're the first in the clarke range (price wise) to have a fan (or were when i had mine) which increases the duty cycle hugely.

 

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/...diy-mig-welders

 

Will last years and years (mine's about about 7 years old i think and still going strong) and weld most things you want to throw at it.

 

It's honestly worth the extra money.

 

Only problem is that sometimes it can blow 13amp fuses when running full whack... but you probably won't be doing that very often!

[vanny 0]

If you want to know about welders from a users point of view, and what to get and where from, then i would strongly recommend reading the following thread;

 

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=19375

 

you dont need to be logged, and you do have to remember that these guys are doing much larger scale welding, but much of the advice is still valid. I know several people who have bought welders based on the advice there.

[Rom 0]

Anything over 100 amp is fine for light use. Bodywork, fabrication etc.

Something like a 150 with a fan is plenty for all but the heaviest of stuff. Theres little point having a great big welder when you have to have it on number 1 all the time because it blows holes !

 

For home use etc, crank up the power and even a small welder is very capable. Its all about practise,mainly of setting them up as opposed to actually welding. A well setup welder is so easy to weld with. Its knowing what to adjust to make it weld properly on the next item which is the skill

 

Depending how much welding your planning on doing. Look at ones that hold the bigger spools of wire. And can cope with different gauge wire too. Also the small hobby gas bottle dont last long, so look at getting a bigger bottle from BOC or similar.

[jonnie205 1]

I've had my sip for about 5 years and its been fine, for car work you dont need anything mega powerfull and as has been said its all in the setting up and operators skill,. There is a lot to welding and if you are welding your car then i would advise spending a few weeks playing about with scrap first. It is very difficult to do a neat and strong job especially on cars which is mainly thin panels, rust and sealer etc. It not something that you can pick up straight away and you are best of with a gas mig and auto mask

[welshpug 1,624]

spend as much as possible on a welding mask, arc eye is horrible! get the fastest changing lens you can, Speedglass by a Swedish company is the best out there apparently, so good infact that Snap-on uk sell the speedglass off the vans instead of their own brand mask!

 

make sure you have time after finishing the welding just in case something is hot/smouldering.

 

always have a bucket of water handy, and if possible someone that can keep an eye out for smoke.

[TurboSam 5]

welshpug is spot on there, I used to have a cheap ebay autodarkening mask and it was awful!

 

I couldn't see what I was doing, so dark! And you get a flash where its slow to react... and the helmet was so uncomfortable

 

I got pissed off with it in the end, and bought a speedglas 9002x, which is bloody awesome.. my welding is 100 times better now I can actually see what I' doing.. it really makes such a difference

 

Its true about the power settings too, I've got a Sealey supermig 185, and only really use the 1&2 power settings.. but I've found when I was looking for a welder the more powerful, the better quality it is (generally)

Edited December 8, 2007 by TurboSam

[welshpug 1,624]

I cant remember what the welder at work is, but its usually set to 5, and there's 6 settings...

 

its got a 5 foot bottle strapped to it as well

 

but I work on trucks and trailers so I need the power

 

practice makes perfect as they say, just get a load of scrap and have a play with the settigns, then when you find a reasonable one have a go at doing different kinds of weld.

 

bend the plates, do butt welds, fill the holes you've blown through....

 

I've used a Speedglass (cant remember which model) and it was good, I;ve also borrowed a sealey onje, which worked very well but it didn't cover your head that much so if you have your back to a lightsource you cant see much, it was also a tad small for my head!!!

 

to give you an idea of how much a decent mask is the Speedglass range starts from £145 + vat! but there are plenty of £100 masks around that are good enough for the DIY'er.

[matt-k 0]

I had'nt realised the masks were so expensive but i see the reasoning to have a good one. The two welders i have my eye on at the moment are a Sip weldmate T105p which is 25-105 amp and the Sip T130p which is 25-130. I understand its good to have a low 25 amp setting for thin 205 panels? The prices for these are £169 and £189 respectivly and thats delivered. Do you think 105 amp is good enough. I know its only a matter of 20 quid but i have a pricey mask to buy now!!

 

Cheers, Matt.

[matt-k 0]

Ive just been on ebay and there is a Seally Siegen 30-130 Amp mig for £141.95 Are these any good or do i need a lower 25 amp for thin stuff??

 

Also there is a Welding Helmet Autodarkening from america for £24.99 Can you let me know what you think of these. Ill try and post a link but im that good with computers so it may not work!

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...s_promot_widget

 

Ebay Clicky

[brianthemagical 1]

ifyour watching the pennies i'd try and buy one from a shop to save on postage, mine ways a ton. try as many motorfactors and hardware stores ad yo can. i got my sip from beenets, 25-130 with a fan for about £130.

[swordfish210 20]

All of our welders at college are Lincon Electric ones. They're damm good welders and they're pretty easy to set up