Arc Welding Anyone?

[squirrel_hunter]

As I couldn't make any rideouts this morning due to work commitments I was feeling a little down. But some kind sole left a copy of Aldi's latest catalog on my desk so I had a quick flick through and took a little detour on the way home to cheer myself up.

So for 40 English pounds I now own this Arc Welder...



Bargain. I had a quick look around and £40 is a good price for this bit of kit. Unfortunately for some reason it doesn't have a plug attached so I'll pick one up in a couple of days and fire it up. Which then leads nicely to my next question; how do you weld?



As a little footnote it quite heavy and its a fairly bulky box. I got a few odd looks and laughs riding home like this...


(Oh and before anyone says, yes it needs a clean. But I believe in riding not washing, and anyway I gave it a bath before I put it away)

Well welding is all about getting the right temperature/amps setting for the thickness and material you are welding , once that is established you need a good clean surface to weld against , no rust or paint .

Then you earth what you are welding , put the gloves and mask on , and the end of the rod is tapped onto what you are welding and drawn back about 2mm , if it sputters you may be too far back or not enough amps . You then need to build a small pool of weld without burning a hole in your work and run that weld/fillet along the line of the join , that`s it in a nutshell

Oh and sometimes it helps to have the welding rod at an angle so you can see what you are welding , always use the mask and do not weld with closed eyes and such without a mask , you can get arch eye and it HURTS .

[northwind]

Cor. I could go for one of those, even if it's mince, I can't weld so that's no disadvantage

Get yourselves some nice thick bits of metal to practice on , chamfer the edges heavily of the 2 parts you want to weld and give it a go , don`t use something too thin as you`ll blow holes in it and get fed up , start chunky and perfect your art . A good weld will look like molten Lava that has cooled , a bad weld will look like the bottom of a birds cage

What are you going to weld with it?

Arc welders are fine for farmyard-type duties, (oh and by the way keep your welding rods wrapped-up in newspaper somewhere dry and warm, Arc rods LOVE to absorb moisture, and then they're USELESS, we have to keep them in heated vaults at work 24/7

I find for general automotive duty a MIG is a better option, even cranked-down to MINIMUM an Arc will blow holes in body panels an even chassis-work.............

I have an Arc, a mig, and oxy/acetylene, But I find Arc welding probably the most enjoyable, but it takes a bit of skill and practice to do a good job..... the novice usually finds the most trouble striking-up an initial arc and then smoothly compensating for the continually shortening of the rod....

Nice bit of kit!!!

[timwilky]

Originally Posted by xXBADGERXx

you can get arch eye and it HURTS .

HURTS, stop making it sound trivial. Arc eye feels like somebody has hammered 6 inch nails through your eyes into your brain.

OK, when you go to A&E they put some drops in and suddenly you can see again. but they then put pads over the eyes don't take off for 36 hours.

That is the time you realise what it would be like to be blind. How do you make a brew. Go to the bog etc.

Arc eye is not fun. It is bloody painful.

Badger is right about the pigeon poo. You also think you have got it lovely. chip the slag and find there is nothing there. Also interceptor I agree, always MIG for automotive




My advice with these cheap welders. Go out and buy a proper mask. throw away that little shield.

I think it personally feels like somebody dragging the tines of a fork down the backs of your eyeballs ......... slowly , whilst having half of Blackpool beach surrounding the fleshy pink bits ................. GRIND , GRAVEL , CREAK go the eyes ..... oh the pain !!!!!

Originally Posted by squirrel_hunter

Unfortunately for some reason it doesn't have a plug attached so I'll pick one up in a couple of days and fire it up.

Common with some products from Aldi, they sell the same thing throughout Europe and it is a lot easier to supply a product with no plug than send certain stock to certain countries,

Originally Posted by squirrel_hunter

Which then leads nicely to my next question; how do you weld?

Ha,ha,ha... I like that.

Arc welders are cool

When I weld, there is more pidgin **** about than Trafalgar square mind!!

The bigest limitation with an arc welder is that you can't weld ali ... which bearing in mind 80% of the bike is Alli/magalloy, is a real sod.

Two tips, use the thinnest rods, greatly reduces the chances of blowing a hole in something. And secondly welding rusty stuff is really hard .. (see my first comment ) so try and get the metal back to shiny before trying to weld.

When do they stop the line at Aldi? I got a mate who keeps borrowing mine ...

[squirrel_hunter]

Thanks all for the advice. Sounds as if this is going to be fun! As for the mask, yeah it looks a little flimsy I think I'll order a different one from somewhere. I held it up to a very bright halogen light to see if I could see through it as its opaque in natural light and the filament had a green glow, cool.

Originally Posted by Interceptor

What are you going to weld with it?

Now that is a good question. To be honest I don't have any real use for it, I just felt that my manhood was being called into question by the lack of welding equipment in my garage. But seriously, I suppose eventually to fabricate brackets and make repairs when needed. But for now I need to teach myself how to use it. So I'll get some metal (see whats in the garage) and just start welding it, see how it goes.

Blue and Northy (cause I knew you'd be interested) they are on sale from tomorrow. I had to have a little chat with one of the staff before he would give me one... and get me a welder from out back. Which was lucky as I'm in the orifice all day tomorrow, but a shame cause I won't be able to even get a plug to try mine out.