What welder to buy ??

[emu 0]

Need to weld few things in raddo like new handles, remove of badges, exhaust etc. Because people always asking to much to do this and I just can't trust they do a proper job decided to do it myself. Never welded in my life so time to get new skills, off course I will practice on some spare parts before I'm happy to touch my car but... what to buy. Must be gas less, can't be bother with that. Budget up to 200 quid. What to buy, mig, tig ot what ?? Anybody can help ??

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

, i use a siegen mini mig 130, its cheap as chips, my m8 got it on special offer for like £250 but looking on ebay they seem to be around that, its a gas mig and it goes through gas like anything! at £15.00 a bottle it is a pita! so gas less would be the choice if i was gona buy one, mig welding is easy your pick it up inabout 5minutes!, point n shoot!

[aide 0]

i bought a clarke te151 turbo which is a mig welder and probs nearer £300, really easy to pick up mig welding, but arc welding with a stick is a whole lot trickier to master. if you're going to be an occassional welder, i'd recomend mig, but give it enough time and you'd master arc too, horses for courses. go onto mig welding forums as they have loads of tips on what to look for in the different types of welder.

 

its the best tool i've bought in ages, i bought it to repair round my filler cap, and i've used it too do loads of bodywork stuff, a couple of recaro seat bases and repaired the wifes exhaust all of which i would have had to pay £000's to someone else to do without it. its seriously satisfying melting bits of metal together too lol

 

you'll need a further £50 for a set of decent gauntlet gloves and an auto dimming helmet too.

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

arch/stick would burn straight through ya panels so its not exactly what you want for body work, a nice little mig is what you want for body panels . i dont know much about tig other then the welds can be very neat and tidey, think its more for welding where your welds are on display? like on stainless steel handrails, hand made bike frames etc

Edited April 24, 2012 by VW_OwneR_85

[aide 0]

some old boys swear by stick welding for panel work, but then they've been welding a long time so have the skills to handle it with low enough amps and smaller electrodes, agree mig is much easier to get started on panels, i wouldn't try it with a stick thats for sure!

[Anton Sobriquet 0]

I did a course last year at a local college. Forget tig and arc, it's for experts, working on aluminium, stainless and for producing showy welds. Fairly easy to get going with mig but equally easy to blow bl**dy great holes in your piece and to produce welds that look OK but subsequently fail in use. You need to know what you're doing unless you're gifted. "Disegno, disegno, disegno, Antonio..." I found it great fun.

 

I think if you want gas less you'll need 4 phase power and to spend quite a bit more than your budget.

 

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Wild-Animal 0]

If you can, go on a welding course to be shown the ropes, its a lot easier to be shown how to start off. Often the hardest parts is setting the welder up correctly not the actual welding.

 

Definitely go for a MIG welder and use gas, the gas is cheap enough and you will get far better results.

 

I have had many years of experience of welding, cars are bit of pain so plenty of practice will help.

You will also want to buy an electronic welding helmet, especially if your welding bits on cars far easier to work with. Basically means you can see through the mask when you are not welding

[dragon green 5]

Another vote here for the Clarke 150 turbo,good for panel work,and will do a depth of 6mm.just change the gas and wire,it will weld stainless, have tried ally,but really need a top feed gun for that !

I did the whole night school thing years ago ! But they only taught us gas welding ! lol

Same principle, but mig is easy to use,stick welding in my opinion ,is a little harder,and more suited to agriculture !

Just my 2p

[emu 0]

Thanks everybody for replays. What I'm looking for must take very little space in storage so defo must be without gas bottle. I don't really want argue with my GF when she see gas bottle in a flat as don't have acces to power in my garage so welding will be in my garden or outside front doors. I'm no bother to use a grinder to flat my welds as long I won't burn big holes in panels. I do need it to do few little things and save some money not paying somebody else to do this, well if the wouldn't be asking like 50 quid to weld rounded rear badge I would let them to do this but doing it myself will be much cheaper and satisfaction.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The 150 and 151 turbos can't be plugged into standard 13 amp sockets though? It's going to need a bigger fuse in that ring main / socket or do people just put a 15 amp fuse in the plug?

 

Instead, consider the 135TE turbo. The only difference I can see between that and 150/151 1mm maximum weld thickness, but it can be plugged into a normal socket.

 

Until a few weeks ago, I'd never welded before either but after only 5 minutes, I had the hang of the wire speed and technique to get the best penetration. Joining two bits of metal together is a lot trickier though and Gasless, honestly, I would seriously not recommend it. Get the clarke and you can run it with or without gas. Stick some gasless wire in it and see what happens. Then try Gas. You won't go near gasless again! :D

[aide 0]

you can get the small refils, like the size of a 3l coke bottle, yeh they're £15 a pop but I'm only on my second having welded quite a lot, i'll get a proper full size bottle when i start making gates :)

 

kev you're completely right its supposed to be a 15A socket for the 151te, but if you're doing low amps at low frequency then a 13a plug carries the power fine...... so far anyway

[dragon green 5]

I've had my 150 for about 15 years, it came with a 13amp plug on it,never had no problems !

I used to have a "pub" bottle on mine,gas seemed cleaner,lasted ages,just got to find a friendly landlord to let me swap it !

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Ah cool, sounds like the 151TE will work OK on the mains then. That's the one I wanted originally as well!

 

As for the gas, yeah the disposable canisters are a complete rip off. I might also look into larger canisters. I did play around with gasless wire and the splattering can be horrendous! The gas gives you a nice & neat weld :D

[leeeeshad 0]

I think if you want gas less you'll need 4 phase power and to spend quite a bit more than your budget.

 

Its 3 phase not 4, and you don't need it, unless you have a massive industrial welder (like the AC/DC TIG where I work), gasless is no more expensive, you just use wire with a gas producing core.

[dannyboy 0]

I'm buying a tig/wig ac/dc welder at the moment but they cost quite a bit more.they give a brilliant weld with very little splatter but can be tricky to learn.bit like oxy/acete but electric version. I've got trade-fade on welding so interesting to see but I'll pick it up again. If its your first time welding use Mig as its easiest but as some of the guys said you should take a short course on learning d basics. Lucky enough when I was doing my upgrade course for mechanic it had welding included so I was able to learn a bit for free

 

Takes a quite a bit of practice but hobby machines like Clarke ones that are single phase are good for small jobs. Three phase machines are quite expensive and really only if your doing pro work.

Just little info that might help you

 

---------- Post added at 4:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 4:24 PM ----------

 

Try stay away from Mag as well,its crude like arc and you get splatter all over

[emu 0]

Now I know what to buy. I do really need it for few little job, the most complicated job I'm planing to do will be custom exhaust downpipe and new handles in doors so nothing to big. I have very good manual skills so shouldn't be bad to pick it up quickly. Clarke 150 turbo is bit out of my budget as I really ned it for few jobs then probably sell it. Might even buy used ones.

 

What do you think about this one ??

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mig-150-Amp-Gas-Gasless-Welder-Turbo-Fan-9325T-Quality-Engineered-No-KF-/190586901932?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c5fdd55ac

 

---------- Post added at 7:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 7:10 PM ----------

 

This one should be good enough for what I need. What you think ??

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-Mightymig100-Gasless-No-Gas-100A-Mig-Welder-/320867865893?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ab5371525

[leeeeshad 0]

That sealey one in the 2nd link is the one I have, it's a good welder and it'll be good for what you want I'd have though.

Edited April 25, 2012 by leeeeshad

[emu 0]

Might get a bargain

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330722795833&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en