I have never attempted Mig welding before (only electron beam before, whole different kettle of fish). I am looking to purchase a Mig welder to a)
practice on old scrap steel with and b) to eventually build either the original book Locost or the new Haynes Roadster. What kind of power (amps)
would I be looking at as a minimum for chassis work? I am thinking 150amp. Something like the Clarke 151TE (Turbo) MIG Welder (Power settings from 30
- 150amps. Welds mild steel up to 6mm. Also accepts aluminium & stainless steel.). It seems a fair jump in price to the next level of 180amp.
Thanks in advance.
That will be perfect for building your chassis!
That will be fine for 3 ish mm.
quote:
Originally posted by Simon W
I have never attempted Mig welding before (only electron beam before,
Yep the 151TE is a cracking bit of kit for the price, not up to the quality of industrial type machines but dosnt have an industrial price tag
either!.
I have one myself and welded my entire chassis with it.
I have a 151te and i find its no problem for almost every thing i need.
Buy gauges and a large cyinder of argoshield, will be better in the long run.
Having said that I just bought a 160amp TIG , but thats for stainless and thin tube welding
I've also got the 151 te,easy to use (learnt to weld using it)
I use argoshield gas-found it seems to give a better weld,also use the smaller co2/argon bottles for when 'away from home' jobs crop up.
good choice
You can build the chassis with less - but i've got a 151
the only thing to be aware of ( and as far as i'm aware) its only failing is a poor wire feed.
If you search on here you'll see it comes up once in a while and you can get round it, use lighter wire spools, teflon liner etc.
Try to find someone close by who can MIG to help you set up and learn what is a good weld.
Oh, you can also get away with full power on a 13 amp plug ...... just 
The one I purchased years ago benefitted from a decent earth lead and clamp, made a big difference in the general stability of the arc.
Regards Mark
Another 151 owner here. I welded most of the basic chassis with a Clarke 105EN that was perfectly adequate for the 16 gauge ERW tubing but a little underpowered for anything heavier such as 3mm plate so bought the 151 which has be fine.
Should I be OK running this off a standard household 13amp plug?
I have a Seally Mighty Mig, (purchaced 1984), which produces the princely max of 80 amps, and that will weld anything up to, and including 3mm on
single pass, thicker if you do multi pass. Its just like the actress said to the bishop, "It aint what you got, its the way that you use
it" ATB, Ray
quote:
Originally posted by Simon W
Should I be OK running this off a standard household 13amp plug?
theoretically you can't run it on full power off a 13amp plug.
Reality is you can.
13amp plug is cabled on wire tested to 16amp & i've never had a 13 amp fuse go when using mine. To make sure i always use a good quality
extension lead (with an RCD) and run it from a cooker socket with a 30amp cable. On anything less than full power i just plug it in.
Bear in mind different people have different views on what you can weld with what power. 150amp on 3mm is about max for an industrial quality weld.
I've welded 3mm on a 100 amp using a christmas tree technique (instead of welding in a straight line you do a series of triangles) which i
believe was acceptable - others may disagree (like the bloke at work who ended up getting fully coded upto working on oil rigs! he's our IT
security expert.)
what
s everyone's thoughts on this one?
^clicky
seems to be the same paower, takes a slightly thicker wire, same power, has the 'advantage' of running no-gas wire (good for tacking) and
also the ADVANTAGE of being £200, and bit cheaper than the other one
EDIT: oh, but 30amp power supply... I have a 30amp supply for my compressor, but would be handy on 15amps...
[Edited on 10/3/07 by blakep82]
I bought a clarke 140 E Mk2 in 1987, used it semi professionally for 10 years, hobby use for 7 years and locost build for 2. Still as good as the day
I bought it, but a bit battered around the edges.
Fluxed wires/nogas welding is a total waste of space/time/effort unless for a specific industrial application, and then it is usually in conjuction
with a shield gas.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
13amp plug is cabled on wire tested to 16amp & i've never had a 13 amp fuse go when using mine.
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
Fluxed wires/nogas welding is a total waste of space/time/effort unless for a specific industrial application, and then it is usually in conjuction with a shield gas.
I'm learning to weld with the 151 te. It's great. You'll need to buy a plug, a fuse, and some 0.6 guage wire (it comes with 0.8).
I heard the wire feed isn't great, but can't say that I have had any problems yet, saying that I set mine up using this advice
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/wire-feed.htm
i have the 151te and i am using the wire 0.8mm that came with it and have tacked the bottom rails and had a bit of practice on off cuts. should i be
using 0.6mm wire? if so. why does it make much of a difference
[Edited on 31/5/07 by davie h]
quote:
Originally posted by Taz Surfleet
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
Fluxed wires/nogas welding is a total waste of space/time/effort unless for a specific industrial application, and then it is usually in conjuction with a shield gas.
BOLLOCKS !!
u can get a really good weld from the clarke 150 en the only thing to watch for is the splatter which is usually down to having the wire speed set too high and can be virtually eliminated with anti splatter spray (I use machine marts)
No comment to make on Clarke welders good or bad, but I do a fair bit of welding with fluxed wire and it gets unfairly maligned IMO, it can give a
perfectly acceptable weld thats every bit as good as gas mig and better if welding outdoors.
It does tend to give a lot of splatter and there are vast differences in the quality of wire available, some of which are just plain crap and near
impossible to weld with, but get good wire (machinemart .9mm stuff being one) and it works well 
Anyway, just my pennys worth
Cheers
Alex
Hi Alan
nope no misunderstanding the clarke 151tn is a gassless/gas machine and as I dont have use of a garage the gasless is fine.
quote:
Originally posted by Taz Surfleet
Hi Alan
nope no misunderstanding the clarke 151tn is a gassless/gas machine and as I dont have use of a garage the gasless is fine.