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Aldi's got welding stuff this Thursday
givemethebighammer - 20/5/07 at 07:24 PM

NTDWM

http://www.aldi-stores.co.uk/

Thursday 24th May

mangogrooveworkshop - 20/5/07 at 07:28 PM

need one for the workshop

ReMan - 20/5/07 at 07:30 PM

NTDWM
And I thought your middle name was Aldi

Macbeast - 20/5/07 at 07:34 PM

Is 130 amps good enough ?

damn! Forget it. I'm working day shift Thursday.

[Edited on 20/5/07 by Macbeast]

givemethebighammer - 20/5/07 at 07:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by ReMan
NTDWM
And I thought your middle name was Aldi


It normally is, only I already have enough welding stuff to fix a battleship.

scottc - 20/5/07 at 07:45 PM

Is it worth getting a 'gas less' welder?

I've heard they can be a nightmare for beginners?

Keith Weiland - 20/5/07 at 11:07 PM

I don't think the welder is worth it, you get what you pay for and you aren't getting much for £99, plus I understand that gasless is messy. Some of the other gear might be worth a look.

speedyxjs - 21/5/07 at 06:56 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ReMan
NTDWM
And I thought your middle name was Aldi


givemetheALDIbighammer

MikeRJ - 21/5/07 at 07:56 AM

quote:
Originally posted by scottc
Is it worth getting a 'gas less' welder?

I've heard they can be a nightmare for beginners?


It's no harder to use than a gas setup IME, my first Clarke welder was a gas/gasless one and I was thankful for the gasless operation when doing work outside.

The welds and surrounding area do end up with a white coating of flux though, which is a bit of a pain to wire brush off, but the welds themselves can be just as neat as using gas. The wire is very expensive though (but v.good deal on wire at Aldi), and as the Aldi welder makes no mention of possible gas operation I'd give it a miss for anyone intending to build a chassis with it.

David Jenkins - 21/5/07 at 08:35 AM

The thing that confused me with gasless welding is the diameter of the wire - it's usually slightly larger than plain MIG wire, 0.9mm instead of 0.8mm. I couldn't work out why it kept jamming! It worked OK after running a 0.9mm drill bit down the nose of a spare tip.

I found gasless to be very useful for occasional jobs, where it would have been silly to keep paying rental on a gas bottle - it's a lot of money when I was only welding stuff 3 or 4 times a year. It does work, but leaves a dusty white deposit around the weld. This is easily removed with a hand-held wire brush.

Now I have a CO2 bottle on which I don't pay rental so the gasless wire has been put away.

It may still get used for outdoor jobs though, as it isn't bothered by gusts of wind (not mine - the weather ).

I look upon it as a stick-welding substitute.

HTH,
David