anyone use or recommend a good mig welder for car bodywork repair for diy use only.is there much difference between gas and gasless mig.cheers

 

i use the clark ,turbo some thing or other, gs less mig (cn use gs if you want with it) i find it ok for home use , ive welded new out riggers on to my landrover with it mot tester comented on the good welds

the key with home mig welders is to make sure the metals are absolutaly spot less no rust (@ all) and no paint etc , as the dont have enougth power to burn off the impuritys and do a good weld , ive even manged to weld the thin gauge steel on my landrovr bulk head , was just going to spot weld it but was easy to seam weld it ..


i also found thathalford was the cheapist for replacment gas less welding wire , wasaround £4 per reel cheaper than motor factor

 

www.machinemart.co.uk

have LOADS of clarke ones. i think the gas ones are better (for indoor use).

there is another website, the welding warehouse or something and they do a good range of the "reaction" type welding helmets.

 

Get a gas one if you can, sooo much better

 

What are you welding exactly?

 

Gasless migs do not like thin steel and the welds suffer from porosity. My advice would be to go for a gas machine 130amp minimum with fan cooling. Try different makes to see which one has the most responsive trigger/wire feed. Some machines like the BOC ones were very slow and that can make 'pulsing' a right pain. I had a SIP for years and it worked great. Replacing the torch liner every 6 months is a must though as a sticky wire feed will have you cursing and throwing heavy objects around the garage

Try and get your hands on a proper bottle of gas, Argon preferably, if you have a lot of welding to do. Consider opening an account with BOC if your planning to keep your machine for a while. £80 bottle deposit and around £50 quid for a 1/2 size bottle of Argon isn't too bad and will pay for its self in the long run. You can use CO2 'pub' bottles as well but you won't get such clean weld. Those small bottles that you buy from DIY places should be avoided like the plague because they have a nasty habit of leaking at the valve once opened and will be empty before you know it.

Edited to say... 'Real' men use TIG anyway

[Edited by Scot123 - 2/25/2003 9:52:23 PM]

 

Sorry mate, must correct you.

real men do it with a rod.

And as stated above - get a speedglass screen- well worth the money.

[Edited by mj - 2/25/2003 9:57:18 PM]

 

Nick one of your mother in law, mine bough one as she had seen some woman making sculptures out of old steel, thought it was agood idea, bought a top Clarke mig set up and then tried it, realised it was hot, messy and scary and sort of gave up on the idea, I get it and set fire to a Metro GTI (Dont ask....)

put said Metro out with a pint of orange juice and a cup of coffee

 

Mmmmmm, I always though fishing was a bit g-hay!

 

had to do that once with a triumph accliam ( mint cars BTW), but could only find milk. Ohhh, the smell afterwards, this was a dasboard fire , caused by torching a wasp with a lighter and WD40, bad move, flames down the air vet , soundproofing on fire, etc etc. Was on a petrol station forecourt at the time, not reccomended.

 

I've got a SIP 150 amp mig, and it's been fine, though i did find one job which could have possibly done with a meatier machine.

As scot123 has said, if you're going to do much welding, get a bottle from BOC. Regulators are cheaper other places than BOC, but i got mine from them anyway as i was being lazy. The guy at the local BOC counter askled me what i was welding (16 guage box section for building a car chassis), and recomended argoshield light (argon with a touch of CO2 mixed in).

John.