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what specs does my welder need to have?
Louis M - 11/6/04 at 09:20 PM

I will be building a locost chassis w/ tubing no greater than 2"... what specs do I need to pay attention to and decide if that welder is good for me?

Mark Allanson - 11/6/04 at 09:55 PM

Get the best you can afford, avoid gasless like the plague. 100A as an absolute minimum, 180A max if you are using a domestic supply on anything like full power. Disposable gas 'bottles' work out more expensive in the log run, so try to get one with a proper size regulator.

I have a Clarke 140, and have beaten the living cr@p out of it for about 12 years and it is still going strong

britishtrident - 11/6/04 at 10:05 PM

Don't buy a SIP hobby welder the feed mech motor is under sized.. Also the feed/voltage controls are confusing to a beginner..

Clarke and Ferm are better value for money,.

JoelP - 11/6/04 at 10:42 PM

ditto as all the above, but especially what mark says about disposable bottles. I've used at least 10 so far, thats about £100, and they always run out when you're on a roll. apparently pub bottles of co2 are good, or hire a big bottle whilst you're doing most of the welding.

DavidM - 11/6/04 at 10:44 PM

Mine's a Clarke 135amp. I found it to be very good. Disposable bottles are OK as long as you use the minimum gas flow required to adequately shield the weld. It's tempting to turn it up too high.
Have completed all of the welding on my build and am on third bottle.

PeterGT4 - 12/6/04 at 03:55 AM

Although much more expensive, but I love it so much more than MIG, I have a Miller Econotig TIG welder... I haven't built the Locost yet, but I've used this machine for many other home projects (and small jobs on the side) and its a great machine. Who doesn't love a nice-looking TIG weld! Its an AC/DC welder so it will do aluminum TIG welding, although it runs out of balls welding anything thicker than 3/16" (will weld 1/4" aluminum plate if you preheat it with a oxy-acetylene torch).

Rob Allison - 16/6/04 at 01:59 PM

Its not true about the gasless set they can also be used as a gas set and they allow the polarity of the electrode tobe changed

britishtrident - 16/6/04 at 06:18 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Rob Allison
Its not true about the gasless set they can also be used as a gas set and they allow the polarity of the electrode tobe changed


Gasless is different from Dual purpose Sip sell GAS, Gasles and DP models.

Gasless wire welds just fine quailty is as good as CO2 -- but the flux deposit need a light wire brushing off

[Edited on 16/6/04 by britishtrident]

NS Dev - 17/6/04 at 08:30 PM

I used to have a Clarke 150TE mig (150 amp max) this welded two rally cars up )including weld-in cages so not too bad, but I got fed up with it's constant need for tweaking and the fact that it doesn't straighten the wire very well so it wanders around in the weld pool a bit, plus although on paper it can weld 5-6mm, I found 4mm about the max for good penetration, which stopped me doing a few jobs for people.

I bought an "ERP 230" a year and a half ago and this is SUPERB!!!!!!! These welders are from the factory that supplies Sealey (they are made in Italy) but not badged sealey. It is the biggest machine I can run from single phase and is 215 amp max output. I paid £400 all-in for it from Weld-Uk ltd (www.welduk.com)

Even if you do not need the full power output, the bigger machine is superb on smaller work and I would not go back to the Clarke now! However, the ERP is twice the price of the Clarke, but then equally my welds are probably not far off twice as good!

It's all horses for courses, as Mark Allanson says, if you are after a budget MIG (i.e around the £200 mark, less than this is not very good new) then get a Clarke, but if you can afford it then spend £400 and get a "semi-industrial" welder, and try and do a few jobs for others to help pay for it!!!!!!

NS Dev - 17/6/04 at 08:33 PM

quote:
Originally posted by PeterGT4
Although much more expensive, but I love it so much more than MIG, I have a Miller Econotig TIG welder... I haven't built the Locost yet, but I've used this machine for many other home projects (and small jobs on the side) and its a great machine. Who doesn't love a nice-looking TIG weld! Its an AC/DC welder so it will do aluminum TIG welding, although it runs out of balls welding anything thicker than 3/16" (will weld 1/4" aluminum plate if you preheat it with a oxy-acetylene torch).


Peter GT4, how much did the miller econotig cost you? I am very interested in getting a TIG set and the prices in the UK are not cheap, realistically for an AC-DC Tig you are looking at a minimum of £1500 with all the bits you need to get started. I was wondering if it would be cheaper to get one from the states or Canada and import it?

PeterGT4 - 18/6/04 at 04:11 AM

quote:
Peter GT4, how much did the miller econotig cost you? I am very interested in getting a TIG set and the prices in the UK are not cheap, realistically for an AC-DC Tig you are looking at a minimum of £1500 with all the bits you need to get started. I was wondering if it would be cheaper to get one from the states or Canada and import it?



The machine, plus the accessories (foot-pedal control, gas regulator, TIG torch, stick-welding stinger and an 80 cu ft bottle of argon [mine outright, no lease/renting]) came out to around $2200 Cdn. This was four years ago.

Be aware that we run 60Hz cycles here, I know you folks run on 50Hz, so there may be compatability problems. Although, when a good friend of mine moved to England, he bought a small inverter TIG welding machine there and when he moved back to Canada, he took it with him and was able to use it here. Apparently, with the inverter types, they are "smart" enough to recognise different power inputs and can change over. I know Miller has some smart machines like this too. This machine of mine is Single phase, 230V, 60Hz.

Check the Miller website for more info:

http://www.millerwelds.com/

PeterGT4 - 19/6/04 at 03:37 AM

I did some more searching and Lincoln offers some nice inverter TIG machines (Invertec V205T), that'll run on either combinations of 110 or 230V, 50 or 60Hz. It'll do AC/DC TIG welding. Don't know for how much...

http://www.lincolnelectric.com

Louis M - 23/6/04 at 02:38 AM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident

Gasless is different from Dual purpose Sip sell GAS, Gasles and DP models.

Gasless wire welds just fine quailty is as good as CO2 -- but the flux deposit need a light wire brushing off

[Edited on 16/6/04 by britishtrident]


so the only problem w/ gasless is that you'll have to wire brush some flux off?

David Jenkins - 23/6/04 at 07:31 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Louis M
so the only problem w/ gasless is that you'll have to wire brush some flux off?


I use gasless to do the remaining odd jobs on my car.

Other issues/problems you'll encounter are:

- the wire is expensive.
- you get a LOT of smoke and fumes (almost as bad as stick welding). These are probably harmful... they certainly make me cough.
- I get a lot more spatter than I ever did when using ordinary wire and proper welding gas (as opposed to CO2). This also has to be cleaned up.
- apart from the white dust that covers everything, there's also a harder slag that sticks in the corners and which can be a sod to remove.

I can put up with these issues as I no longer have to do much welding. I don't think I'd want to use it for an entire chassis.

rgds,

David

britishtrident - 23/6/04 at 07:32 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Louis M
so the only problem w/ gasless is that you'll have to wire brush some flux off?


Its a bit messy the flux deposit is powdery but it brushes off easily and gasless gives more spatter than argon but less than pure CO2.

Gasless actually gives better shielding than gas when welding in a more exposed area -- ie not flat on the bench, this why it is very good for welding in the open air.
Apart from cost the downside comes when welding thin material -- on anything below 1.2 mm you have less control over the heat that goes into the parent material than with gas MIG.