Yazza54
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 08:23 AM |
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Recommend me a budget gasless mig
Have decided it's time I bought a welder, doesn't have to be anything fancy, compact and simple hence not wanting something that requires
a tank.
Realistically it will only be used for rough and ready repairs or tacking bits together for someone else with better skills/equipment to finish off.
For example I need to build myself an exhaust on a GTM Libra kit car and it should be fairly simple but it needs doing on the car, I'm perfectly
capable of cutting it all to size and fit right, tacking it up and letting someone do a nice job of finishing the welding. Otherwise it means taking
the whole car to someone which is just a massive ballache, so it's these kind of things I'm trying to avoid!
With this in mind it won't be doing any massive jobs so I don't want something that's overkill and will be blowing holes in
everything. I think the tubing on the exhaust is around 2mm wall thickness, something like that..
Any recommendations??
I'm unhappy cos I eat and I eat cos I'm unhappy
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tegwin
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 08:30 AM |
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In my opinion a gas less mig is a false economy! I started with a hobby gasless welder and the quality of the welds was horrific, the wire feed was
poor and it generally sucked... I converted it to gas and things improved a lot...
Why get a welder and then only use it to tack stuff together? Spend a teeny bit more and get a proper welder with a gas cylinder!
I bought a second hand 200a cebora(sp?) for around £200 a few years ago... Far better than the Clarke 151 it replaced! You will be supersede how easy
mig welding is with the right kit!
[Edited on 25/4/16 by tegwin]
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Would the last person who leaves the country please switch off the lights and close the door!
www.verticalhorizonsmedia.tv
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Yazza54
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 08:51 AM |
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Space is a bit of an issue, I'm already tripping over stuff and rebuilding the GTM in my shitty little garage has been a bit of a chore. But at
the same time I can see where you're coming from. Could spend £125 or so on a cheap gasless mig and wind up wanting something better in no time.
I'd love to be able to do the whole thing myself, maybe with a bit of practice and a slightly better welder that could be possible...
I'm unhappy cos I eat and I eat cos I'm unhappy
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tegwin
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 08:55 AM |
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The clarke 151 I had was a gas/gasless welder which I quickly switched to gas. it was ok for basic jobs but I found the wire feed hopeless meaning
consistent welding was impossible.
Spend a bit more, get a decent welder and then you won't have to pay anyone else to weld for you. Get the machine set up right and you will have
no issues welding your entire car.
I would suggest having a play with the new machine, weld some scrap together as practice and post images of the welds (plus ideally slice through the
part to see the weld cross section) to get feedback. There's plenty of youtube videos too which show the best way to move the torch etc.
I learned through trial and error...
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Would the last person who leaves the country please switch off the lights and close the door!
www.verticalhorizonsmedia.tv
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 09:07 AM |
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I had a clarke 90 gasless, restored 2 cars including chassis work with that. Slow, and not fan cooled so kept having to stop on the chassis. Nice
welds on panels though.
SIP 130 was pants
Clarke 151 gasless is pretty good, and ok for 5mm stuff.
moral, for exhaust, panels etc a low power mig is fine. A used clarke 90 should be cheap....but get one with wire feed speed control, some just have
switches which do power and speed together...
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britishtrident
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 09:10 AM |
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Avoid Sip the feed mech on their hobby migs is pants, Clarke are much better
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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nick205
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 09:11 AM |
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I have a gas Clarke 151 MIG welder and have to say it works very well. One of my first projects was a set of castor (borrowed from work) and
construction of a trolley to hold the welder and small Argoshield gas bottle. For info the Argoshield bottle was purchased with gas for £60ish and
can be refilled if needed. Personally I'd go gas for ease and quality of weld. In fairness I've not used gasless MIG so can't
really comment on it from a quality perspective, but gas was cheap to setup and works well for me. The canister I've got is waist height and
approx. 200mm diameter so small enough to manhandle and store on the trolley with the welder itself.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 10:05 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
The clarke 151 I had was a gas/gasless welder which I quickly switched to gas. it was ok for basic jobs but I found the wire feed hopeless meaning
consistent welding was impossible.
I got myself a Clarke welder second hand very recently, after hours of faffing around with the wire feed and having all sorts of trouble, I figured
that it was actually too tight!! Backing off the tensioner and then just tightening it until the wire moved was all it needed. It now works perfectly
with no issues.
Yazza, I have to echo the other comments and suggest you buy a gas welder. Or if you really want to try gasless, buy one that's switchable. Get
yourself on Gumtree and keep an eye out for a decent brand welder (basically anything other than SIP). I was patient when looking for my second
welder, and got myself £300 of Clarke welder for £100. It needed a new tip and shroud, and a replacement earth clamp (and a bit of a cleanup!) but I
was very happy with the outcome.
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big_wasa
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 10:09 AM |
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As above cheap migs are a waste of time. Much better for your purpose would be a cheap inverter mma with dc tig.
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loggyboy
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 10:32 AM |
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I have a Clarke 90EN gas/gasless. Picked up for £50 about 10 years ago and its been good for every conceivable DIY job ive attempted. Its not perfect
on difficult situations (very thin/bad condition metal, very thick (6mm plus). its possible to get a clean weld when everything is just right, ands
possible to get serviceable but messy weld when they are not. I use 0.6mm wire to keep feed smooth and always use it with Gas - cheap disposables
(Halfords) suit me for fact i use it sporadically and use little space.
Mistral Motorsport
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Yazza54
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 01:04 PM |
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Ooook so a gas welder would be better. That's fine I guess I'll be able to stick it somewhere. Bit of feng shuei in the garage.
What's the score with welding stainless? Especially if there's any bits that are a mixture of mild and stainless, different wire
required?
Am I going to have a problem with power supplies? A few I've seen were single phase but said 16A socket and I don't have any commando
sockets or spare ways to take one from in the garage.
I'm unhappy cos I eat and I eat cos I'm unhappy
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nick205
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 02:37 PM |
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Not welded stainless so not really sure if you need different (stainless) wire or not. I'd imagine you do to avoid rust patches appearing after
a while. Bloke I used to work with insisted on welding stainless with a TIG welder, but it's fair to say he was a bit a welding artist.
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nye
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 02:48 PM |
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I have to agree with going for gas! I had a gas less and everything welded just looked untidy! I Got a really old SIP needing a wire mech for £40
delivered but just fixed it and been fine since, only problem I've had is when making a bell housing had to wait a couple of times for it to
cool down! Well worth the omoney over gas less though!
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britishtrident
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 03:45 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Yazza54
Ooook so a gas welder would be better. That's fine I guess I'll be able to stick it somewhere. Bit of feng shuei in the garage.
What's the score with welding stainless? Especially if there's any bits that are a mixture of mild and stainless, different wire
required?
Am I going to have a problem with power supplies? A few I've seen were single phase but said 16A socket and I don't have any commando
sockets or spare ways to take one from in the garage.
Stainless is just not just one type of steel it is dozens of different types of steels with different metallurgies so the result is a lottery,
unless you really know what you are welding.
Lets put it this way If your life is really going to depend on the weld don't weld normal steel to stainless.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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christim
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| posted on 25/4/16 at 09:05 PM |
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Clarke 151en has been great for me. I started gasless just to get the hang of it, but as soon as i went onto gas the welds improved 100%. If you get
gasless/gas you can convert if (when) you move on to gas (im not using anything fancy just a bottle of CO2)
[Edited on 25/4/16 by christim]
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Yazza54
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| posted on 26/4/16 at 10:02 PM |
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Thanks for the info, I've managed to get a welder borrowed to do the immediate job of sorting the GTM exhaust but I am still going to look into
getting one myself eventually
I'm unhappy cos I eat and I eat cos I'm unhappy
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