Welding options

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MikeT
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Welding options

Post by MikeT »

Having recently paid £50 for two sill repairs to my Dad's car I notice cheap migs can be had for about the same price so wonder if it's worth getting one? I have two small and one big welding job planned already and thought I could save myself money through DIY. What are your thoughts? Are the cheap kits any good and what are the "running costs" of them?
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Post by XantiaMan »

£50 quid for 2 bits of welding isnt that bad although i doubt that would have been a proper cut out job. I've been mig welding for years and i still hate it, its one of those things you have to do if you have an older car.

If its for the odd job once every 6 months you may want to look into a gasless mig. They make a bit of a mess but do work.

Cutting out and fabricating, cleaning the surrounding area and welding the new metal in takes time to master, its hot, stinks, burns holes through your trousers and shirts and dont forget the fire risk!

Ideally you will want a full face mask with auto-dimming, arc-eye really does hurt for a few days if you catch a glimpse.

For £100 its worth the investment as they tend to be reliable over the years, get some practice in and you may even enjoy it.
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MikeT
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Post by MikeT »

I've seen your pics of the Maestro and see what you mean about the prepping needed! Very impressive, though the jobs I have coming up are far less involved - just some capping off, adding a section of exhaust and a few brackets in the engine bay. Maybe later I'll consider tackling two badly rusting wheelarches on a different car.

Considering the cost of what I'd like done, I think £100 would be a good investment, if that's what it cost? I've seen some welders going for half that but they do advise it's for "light use" which makes me hesistant.
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Post by XantiaMan »

You need at least 100amp anything less and its struggles with the thicker stuff. It wont be an investment if the transformer goes after 2 uses. Clarke and Sealey are pretty good makes, we have a Sealey 185amp which is the most you can use on a domestic power supply and it has to be used on its lowest setting or it blows holes on my recycled baked bin can steel from china that austin rover used when they made my maestro, bastids! :P
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Post by reblack68 »

Buy one and start playing. My first, and only, "in anger" weld was on my Savanna a couple of years ago- upside down and in the dark. It wasn't pretty but lots of grinding and a few gallons of paint had it looking pretty good.

When I took it back for the retest the conversation went a bit like this.

Tester:- Did Dave weld it for you?
Me:- Err no, I did it myself
Tester:- I see, I'd better look at it then

After he'd approved it I confessed it was my first go. He said it was better than an unnamed garage in the town who regularly had their repairs rejected and had one repair rejected three times that day :lol: One of the other testers then appeared and named the dodgy garage.

There's obviously skill involved in welding but mostly it's about time. The more time you spend on the job the better it will look, for that reason it's worth learning to do it yourself.
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Post by CitroJim »

I've been arc welding on and off since I was a little 'un. I'm lucky to have a very high quality (but rather old) Oxford Arc welder with a an 80V low current tap. With small rods, I can weld thin metal quite successfully. With this set-up I've never really felt the need to look at MIG and it was only a couple of weeks ago I got to try out a MIG welder for the very first time.

It was one of those quite cheap gasless ones (using fluxed wire) although you could use gas if you wanted.

It was good :D So easy, it's a doddle! My only criticism is the welds were a bit "splattery" but apparantly using gas will mitigate that.

Practical Performance Car this month are running a review of MIG welders and it's not a bad article.

If you do go for a MIG Mike, get one that will take a proper gas regulator and a big bottle of gas. Those little disposable cartridges don't last long and work out expensive. If you are going to do lots of welding out of doors, a gasless one is a good idea as the wind can wreak havoc with the gas shielding and upset your weld as a result.

get yourself a good helmet too. Those auto darkening ones are a good idea but choose very carefully. Your eyes are valuable and arc eye is far from pleasant :evil:
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Post by citronut »

Mike i think reblack68 was refering to the price of the reactalight face shield with the 100 squide, but that said it dose pay to buy a mig of at the very least 130amps, the 100amp migs are ok but its beter to have one which can cope without splutering, f**ting and popping,

the main thing to be aware of when welding for the first time is the idea of a weld is the penatration of all the layers of metal you are TRYING to stick together, if you gety lots of spluttering, f**rting and popping, you almost certainly have not got/had penatration,

ARC EYE will feel like your eyes are full of grit when you wake up in the middle of the night rubbing them, and this can last for few days till the burnt layer of layer of the surface of your eyeballs have heald,

it is best to experiment with some scraps of new metal first, use thickish metal to start with and work down to backed bean can thickness,

once you can run a nice clean neat bead of weld on backed bean can thickness you have cracked it


YOU WILL HAVE FUN


ps.
i dont advise a gasless mig i have been weldding for many a moon and when i tried one i found it to be crap
regards malcolm
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