Which Welder - Welder

A

Archeyboy

New Member
Hi all

I'm looking for a bit of advice and i know that everyone has different views and feelings on this.

I need to do some welding on the old beast but i dont know what welder to buy ARC/MIG i can use both but have never welded a car before.

Also what sort of amps are needed as i see that there are different ones i know they are adjustable but some only go up to 85 amps.

Is this enough?

The Old Beast
 
I got a great MIG from an advert in the practical classics about 4/5 years ago. I think the company still advertise with them.

I ordered a 120 amp welder for £140, gas or gasless NUTOOL. they sent me a 150 which seemed generous but I think it was end of line, still I got a great deal.

It has welded everything I have put in front of if and is pretty good for the price, a lot cheaper than a mig mate or the likes.

I would look through the classic press for deals like this, I got an engine lift from tools by post (house of hastings) for £120 or somthing like that and it was blue instead of that crappy red. Not only was it cheaper than a few places it also saved me lugging it in an out of the car. great bargins to be had.

What I would adivse is buy a new (not second hand) welder that can use gas or gasless wire, and make sure it is big enough for the work you need to do and then some. I was advised that you don't want it working at full power as it will burn out quicker.

Another thing I discover when looking for a new liner was that I would have been better off with what I think is called euro connector for the torch. It is a standrard fit so it is good for spares and keeping the torch safe.

machine mart do big roll of wire, I always use gaslesswire.

Colin
 
Thanks for your advise i am looking at a gasless one in machine mart for £111 but it only goes up to 85 amps will this be powerful enough to weld the new sills on?
 
I bought a Pro 90 mig and I find it struggles to weld thick metal
If I was buying again I'd definitely go for 110 amps +
 
I'm not a big fan of gasless myself. The welder I'm using is an old Snap-on 130 turbo mig. It will weld heavier metal than a P6 inner sill, and will fit in the boot of your car, if you ever need to take it anywhere. I believe that this unit is a rebadged Cerbora 130. It will accept the larger spools of wire.

My friends have just bought a big Sealey mig. You definately would not fit this beast in the boot of your car!! But after playing with the settings, I'm really impressed with it. The weld quality is equal to some far superior machines I have used.
I definately wouldn't use an Arc welder on car bodywork. They can be a real pain with "sticking", and the heat they generate can easily distort car body panels.

For gas, I mostly use straight Co2. Pub bottles are cheapest probably, but you can also now get refillable bottles the size of desposable ones. They're pretty cheap too. If I'm doing non structural repairs, ie repairing wings, doors, etc, I like using a Co2/ Argon mix. This gives a far prettier weld.

Another benefit to a mig welder is that if you are feeling brave, you can change the liner and tip for a 1mm, buy a spool of aluminium wire, and a bottle of pure argon gas, and have a play with some alloy welding! This is probably better left to a specialist though!

I would definately buy a brand new machine. It would also be a good idea to get someone to give you a few welding lessons first, if you have never welded before. You at least need someone to show you how to set the welder up, and how to set the gas pressure. I always set the gas pressure slightly higher for outside use. Before attempting to weld anything on the car, practice on old scraps of metal first, until you are confident. Also treat flanges, and inside box sections to a coat of "weld through primer". It will help stop your new panels going rusty.

Safety wise, always make sure that the car has had plenty stripped out the way, so there is no fire hazard. Also remember that welding spatter will weld itself to your cars glass with ease!
Invest in a good quality welding mask, a good pair of gauntlets, and a pair of ear defenders for welding underneath. Believe me, welding spatter in your ear is really painful.

Best Wishes
Richard :)
 
I have tried the gas mig welding on an industrial machine.

It was fantastic made my mig look like a "my first playskool mig".

I always weld outdoor so used the gasless wire, it is good enough but the gas is a nicer weld. but I prefer to use gasless wire as it means I don't have a cylinder to clutter the garage up.

Get a machine that can do both and see what you prefer.

Colin
:blues:
 
I have the clarke 100en turbo no-gas welder, I've been using it for over 10 years now, mostly with no-gas wire, but recently with a large CO2 bottle since I moved to working indoors.

My first convertible was built using the no-gas wire, no problems at all welding 16 gauge strengthening sections into the sills etc.

Using the CO2 gives a much nicer weld, and is cheaper to run, nobody has mentioned that no-gas wire is approx 5 times the price of normal wire (but you don't need to buy gas).

For a beginner I would recommend the no-gas setup, but make sure you can convert to gas later.

As far as running costs go, 4.5kg of no-gas wire costs about £50, whereas 5kg of normal wire is about £12, although you then need gas, a largish bottle sufficient for a full 5kg roll if used indoors costs me £20 to refill. So its still about £20 cheaper per roll to run than no-gas. A full roll of wire does a lot of welding !! Probably enough to repair the common areas on a full P6 restoration.

I have tried both 0.8mm and 0.6mm wire and find the 0.6mm wire better for most uses, although the 0.8 is good for thick plate welding.
 
I have used a SIP Migmate 130 for many years & with trial, error & friendly advice would offer the following tips:
1. Use gas wherever possible
2. Use 'large' gas cylinders (I hire mine for around £50 per year + occasional refills), with a control guage set at around 10 psi output (I think, but can confirm if you wish). I was told that your welding improves 10-fold over using the small disposable cylinders - & that advice was pretty accurate!
3. Start your welding with a low power setting & take your time. It's far easier to control low-speed welding & you will soon get the hang of when the weld will penetrate properly. My MIG effectively has 6 settings; I usually use No.2 for good panel-thickness metal, but vary according to thickness/cleanliness, etc. I spent a year or so early on using too high a power & consequently had to hurry the torch in order not to burn holes in the metal. Also, I understand that wire speed is automatically adjusted according to the power setting, so it only needs fine tuning (mine's usually on something like '4').
4. Clean the metal as much as possible! Rust does nothing but spatter. You ideally need a smooth quietish crackle (like frying bacon); this may be hard to acheive on poorer metal.
5. Practice on scrap first.

Good luck!

Phil.
 
Lots of good sound advice here,I can remember many an hour welding up rot in rovers.The only problem I had was as soon as I got a nice run sounding like frying bacon on the go, I just wanted to go and make myself a nice bacon sandwich!
 
.... or just as you get a nice run going... you have to run and get the fire extinguisher to put out the car's interior !! :D
 
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