mig welder advice

[HDI Dave]

Hi all,

Buying meself a welder,early xmas prez

Now I'm not an experienced welder, in fact I only have an arc welder.

As you all know, arcs aren't really good for thin car metal etc, (I'm wanting a half decent diy jobbie for the car/light fabrication etc), so I reckon a mig would be my ideal choice?

Looking around at migs I'm getting more confused!

What's the story with - some need a gas bottle,(co 2? how much cost and how long's it last etc)

...but some don't need a gas bottle...then why go for a gas bottled one??

few here I'm lookin at,upto around £250

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/searc ... any/page/3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

oh, and what's the tig jobbies about..they a lot more complicated?

Any other advice/tips?

Cheers, Dave

[RichardW]

Dave

MIG and TIG are different processes. TIG is 'better', although it's harder. You can weld more with TIG but unless you want to weld lots of stainless of aluminium it's probably overkill for DIY.

MIG needs to be gas shielded - either by separate gas or a 'gas' contained in the wire. Gassed is generally considered better, but there are advantages to gas less - the wind doesn't blow the shield away for a start if you're working outside.

CO2 is the normal gas used, although it can give rise a sightly hard, raised weld - argon or argoshield is better, but it is £££! The small disposable bottles are relatively expensive if you are going to be doing a lot, but the cylinder rent on argoshield outweighs this if you are not doing a massive amount - you get a lot more CO2 for your money as it is liquid in the cylinder.

Buy the biggest one you can afford - but 135 amp is about as high as you can go on a 13A plug - after that you need a dedicated 15A (or higher) outlet. A fan cooled machine is better, as it gives a better duty cycle at higher loads. I've got a Clarke 135 TE and it will weld up to about 4mm in one pass, but can turn down to weld 1mm without too much difficulty.

Best if you can get someone to give you a go with theirs, and some tuition - it's easier to watch someone else.

Oh, and buy an auto dimming mask!

[HDI Dave]

Cheers Richard,very informative,much obliged

"You can weld more with TIG but unless you want to weld lots of stainless of aluminium it's probably overkill for DIY"

Great, clears that up, mig it is then

So out of my Machine Mart link you reckon summat like this then?

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... TC=SRC-mig" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; welder

Not fussed about practicing with someone elses,I have plenty bits of tin/metal to practice on/wreck I got quite adept at welding even thinnish metal with me arc welder, but it's just totally not suited to car work, repairing cills etc is it!

Auto dimming masks..I have a standard 'pitch black see (-expletive removed-) all till weld mask!

Them auto dimmers look well funky/cool, and a lot more practical..how much tho?

Thanks again, Dave

[citronut]

i agree with Richard
appart from the gas less bit i find gas less crap,

a lot of the low end migs are both and just require the main heavy leads/cables swithching over to use gas or gas less,

also its not realy alowed but some drink suppliers to the trade will sell you cellar gas at a reasonable cost, the you will also need to purchase gauges,

the auto dim shields are wonderfull and you can buy them now for under £100 quid,

if you can get a perfectly satisfatory weld with and ARC welder MIG'ing will be a walk in the park, far more subttle than ARC,

its a bit like the coparisen between a sledge and a toffe hammer,

i personaly dont like Machinemarts after sales service after the guy in the next unit from mine had his steam cleaner go back repeatedly for the same repair, and on returning it to him the last time on a pallet and shrink wraped,

the mains cable had been draging alone the ground which beared all three cores on about a three inch length,
if we had not noticed befre pluging it in could have been disasterous especialy as it has water all about in use,

he ended up insistting on a full refund and tolled the to stick there service and the machine somewere

regards malcolm

[Deanxm]

I just got an auto dimming mask for £50 and its perfect, also use an inverter arc welder for car stuff and its fine, it does take more practice to weld thin stuff with but you dont have to faf about with gas and tips, you wont ever get feed problems with it either.

With Mig you need to make sure you get a good one that goes down to a low enough amperage and has a smooth wire feed, some cheap ones dont have a smooth feed and the amps dont go low enough and they are utter rubbish to work with, i find the same with gasless, useless, but then a lot of people get on fine with them and dont like gas setups for outdoor work like Richard says.

It just depends what your used to but whatever you get make sure its well researched first or you could end up with a machine you just cant get on with.

D

[davetherave]

As for the welding gas, It is expensive if you go for BOC.
But look around, I managed to rent a bottle for 10 years for about £100 and it costs only £20 for a refill!
Compared to BOC this is absolute peanuts.

[citronut]

i know of a drinks trade supplier you can get pug gas for around £16 quid a go with no other charges,

i do pay BOC a yearly licence fee and use there CO2 vaipor, its about £9 quid per refill then £9 quid handling charge,
i am thinking of dumpping them as its a rip off when i sometimes done get throught one bottle in a year,

i did quiz them about the exccesive fees and they say the fee also insures the bottle were ever it is,

regards malcolm

[CitroJim]

you can get pug gas for around £16 quid a go

That's all very well for Peugeots but what about if you want to weld a Citroen?

[citronut]

you can get pug gas for around £16 quid a go

That's all very well for Peugeots but what about if you want to weld a Citroën?

regards malcolmps.
Jim have you not recived an email i sent you a few weeks back and a pm i sent via this forum the other day