Spec me a welder?

[northwind]

Something I can't do, and would like to mess about with... 4 things I'd like to be able to do with it- one, make simple stuff like exhaust and headlight brackets from steel rod, preferably stainless. Two, mutilate and rebuild a subframe (which is mild steel). 3, possibly make stuff like that from scratch from ally or steel- preferably ally. And 4- if I ever buy that VW bug or Ford Capri, being able to weld in my own repair panels would be handy :)

So ideally, I'd like something half decent but reasonably cheap, easyish to use... If it can't do all of that stuff above that's OK, but that's the ideal. Losing the ally stuff would be the best of the four if I have to lose something

Basically, you're more of a man if you can weld, and I have much to compensate for :)

[independentphoto]

Get yourself of to some evening class and learn all about it. You can practise and bugger up their stuff and suss out what's best for you. Might save an expense too if you can't hack it.

Thought about doing this from time to time myself. TIG seems to be the way to go if "Build or Bust", "Biker Build-Off" & "American Chopper" etc are anything to go by.

Cheers,

Garry;)

[northwind]

Never found a local evening class that'd cover it... Stevensons did one but it wasn't for beginners. GTG does one, I think, but that's a bit more professional training. It'd be ideal otherwise though.

But I don't mind learning through trial and error... Well, error and error ;) That's how I learned everything else I've inflicted on my bike...

MIG seems like the easiest approach for a beginner, but won't do everything I'm looking at I reckon.

[Spider]

never tried MIG, apparently it`s all about the set up, feed speeds n stuff. Arc is all about pratice and experience, only got mild steel experience haven`t tried Ally and my fav is TIG, clean, easy and you can get a great finish. Definately get some tuition, easy to learn the basics but some stuff you just can`t teach yourself, onioning etc

[Tris]

For the home/occasional use I'd go for "gas less" MIG. Saves all the "b$%%£$ing" about and cost of argon bottles.

I've had one for a while now and easily does sheet metal work on cars. A real blessing when I still had the Montego!

I'm not sure if you can get the flux cored wire to allow you to do stainless as its not something I've needed to do yet

Mines an 90 amp machine from Machinemart which can be converted to gas operation should you decide you want to do aluminium or something else clever. Go here http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/mig-90en-no-gas-mig-welder/path/dual-purpose-and-no-gas-mig-welders/brand/clarke

On the down side, because its a small machine, if you do a lot of welding the thermal cut of shuts it down to cool off, so enforced tea breaks.:cool: I modified mine to include the fan from a microwave oven to help with the cooling - all the mounting holes are allready there

[northwind]

Yep, that's the one I kind of had my eye on... Clarke stuff's worked well for me in the past, and I don't expect to be doing heavy work with it. Though I suppose that depends how rusty that car is :)

Not sure how realistic proper tuition is, but there's a guy down my road who I've been helping put a Locost kit car together, and I know he used to be a sheet metal fabricator so I can probably get some hands-on help there. He thinks he owes me ;)

[Born again]

The secret with welding is making sure everything is clean, especialy with mig/tig. Oxyacetaline is easy so is mig on mild steal, ally is harder. I would not use gasless equipment it works ok but not nearly as good as using gas.
There is no reason you cant teach yourself to a reasonable hobby standard, doing light work. As I said get everything spotless set the flow rate, correct wire etc and practice. Its fun when you get the hang of it
You can pick up good quality gear cheap at auction (the ones that sell factory bankrupt stock). Then its a case of reading and practice, here is a link that explaines the basics. Have fun.........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_tungsten_arc_welding#Aluminum_and_magnesium

[BILLY]

I taught myself how to weld just practice on some scrap! As for welders I got the clarke gas mig welder once you have it set up right and cleaned the metal it's easy going:rolleyes: As for welding different metals you just need the different wire and gas!

[northwind]

Nice one, cheers folks

[Robw#70]

Gasless Mig is ok on 100% clean steel, anything else it pops and farts and generally makes a mess.
Mig with argon/co2 mix is cleanest, stainless and alloy are a pain with mig and the results aren't great.

Best bet is a small tig, they're not much more than a mig and the results are alot better once mastered, However if you want to do alloy the price jumps to around £1k for a reasonable ac/dc unit.
But hobby stuff something like this:-
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/arc-tig-85-power-inverter
Or dearer
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/arc-tig-110-power-inverter

You'll need gas and a cable set too

[$tevo]

If you're on friendly terms with the landlord of the local, ask him for a bottle of CO2 - much cheaper:)

[northwind]

All good stuff, cheers folks.

[suicidesam]

Would not even look at a Tig if you are planning on welding "old" metal.. eg your VW etc, Tig is only good for very clean metal with no rust/paint/dirt etc. Best to stick to mig for someone that has not done any welding before, it's a dam sight easier :cool:
If it's just small jobs, gasless 90 amp ish machines are ok, but quite messy, you can get flux cored stainless wire but it costs a few quid.. and not good to work with! If you plan on doing panel repairs an the likes you are better with a 130+ amp with gas, but then you have the cost of the small cans or bottle rental to pay for :(

If you want to learn the basics come through for a coffee/Beer sometime an i'll show you the ropes.. Got a mig in the garage you can play with. Apart from that.. it's been a few years since i had an apprentice :mrgreen: