Welding

Need to start teaching myself to weld, cos I got a fair bit to do on the car!
Onebody know where's the best place to get equipment from? And indeed what brands are best?
Ta

You can get a cheapy MIG for £50 that'll do the job. It's gasless but would suit someone who just wants to mess around.

I've been looking on ebay, they seem to be cheapest there.

don't buy a cheapy mate-check here and see what is best for your needs-

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/

husky

Originally Posted by husky03

don't buy a cheapy mate-check here and see what is best for your needs-

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/

husky

I just found site that on a google search! Yeah looks pretty full of info I'll have a look around cheers

Have a look at a Clarke model from Machine Mart. I've been using a 100e MKII for nearly 20 years on cars and trailers. Just get somebody who can weld to spend a few hours with you putting you straight on what to look and listen for then it's down to practice - lots of it. As my dad always says - any fool can weld metal but welding rust takes skill, lol.

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Rocket

any fool can weld metal but welding rust takes skill, lol.

+1

[embee]

Like most things, it depends how much you want to spend on equipment.

You'll find that the better the equipment the easier it is to produce decent welds. It'll have more control over the settings and a better wire feed etc.

First thing is to understand what you're trying to achieve, how a weld actually works. What wire size (MIG) and what gas you need.
Then understand how to set the equipment according to the task in hand.

Then learn how to do the weld itself, you won't get a decent weld if you haven't got the right settings/wire size/feed etc.

In terms of equipment, the best investment I reckon is an auto helmet which darkens automatically when you strike the arc, it makes life much much easier.

I have a Murex machine, Lincoln and ESAB make excellent "industrial" spec machines. Not cheap but a different league to the DIY spec machines.

Consider the consumables, especially gas costs. Small canisters work out very expensive unless you're using it very little, but it's "pay-as-you-go".
I have a BOC contract, annual rental and refill costs add up but depends how much you use it.

The mig-welding site is a great website for learning.

Firstly you need to decided on what you will mostly be welding. Forget 'Stick' welding unless you're going to weld thick material all the time. MIG welders don't like rusty material so if you want to repair/bodge very rusty old cars then Gas welding might be more appropriate. Most people opt for MIG these days as it's versatile and easy to learn. I would buy the most expensive set that you can afford as the power regulation circuitry and wire feed mechanism will be better in a more expensive set. I personally use 0.6mm Dia wire, which will cope with stuff like car bodywork up to light fabrications like a set of garden gates. For the sheilding gas I use small bottles of pure CO2 that are designed for the brewing industry. The only problem with pure CO2 as aposed to a CO2/Argon mix is that the weld pool is hotter (risk of blowing through thin steel) and that the the weld finish is a little rougher. Hope this helps a bit.

[anna]

Do not buy cheap it´s not worth it, you wont be able to learn properly on rubbish equipment as you wont know what is you or what is the equipment.

Tig welding is for ali stuff so if that is what you are wanting to weld then perhaps it might be easier to learn gas welding first, its the same skill set you need but on an easier material to start with.

Gas welding is mainly used for decorative stuff, very thin steel, and is absolutely the best way of starting to learn. You learn the basics of watching your material and watching for the tell tale signs to start your weld and has a certain pleasure to it in being able to create lovely welds.

Mig in my opinion has always been a bit of a cheat, you can certainly weld thicker steel then with Gas welding however, it´s a bit of a point and shoot thing, it´s not difficult and you can pick it up quickly however, the basic skills of welding I will still argue are in gas welding.

Stick welding is as has been said above for thicker steel and pipe welding, again it´s a skill that can be developed from gas welding and is quite tricky to learn but once you get the hang of this, then the others are a breeze.

Thanks for your advise ladies and gents, you are all, as ever, quite a collective bunch of knowledgable people!
I'm mostly thinking of MIG, from what I've read it's the most suited for what I need to be doing and easyish to pick up. Strangely enough for an old ford, I dont have a lot of rusty metal to work on, so that shouldn't affect things too much. I guess.
A couple of posts have mentioned spending as much as you (I) can afford. Always good advice but what is considered to be the cheaper/expensiverprice range?
This one -
http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/scripts/...p&product=1427
- seems quite highly rated, any views?

Oh yeah and the first thing I'll buy will be an automask like embee says, no way I'll use anything else I think!