Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[cos918]

Hi allNeed some advice . I am looking to make a frame up using 20mm by 20mm box steel. about 6m length . Cost about £35ish. I need to buy a welder. I am looking at the Mig welder route .Used one years ago.
Looking in tool station and Machine mart I see there are two types . Gas and Gasless which apear to be cheaper. The welding metal on a spool I see breakes down in to two types as far as I can see. type 1 which is used with a gas machine price low type two used with a non gas machine flux coated expensive.Apart from cost is there any major pros and cons of each system ?any info I should note?
John

[coch y bonddu]

Gas less Mig welders are simply PANTS ....dont waste your money on them buy a proper one and get along to your nearest pub and ask them nicely if they will lend you a Co2 bottle and simply buy a Regulator for it....far stronger and reliable welds....I weld on a daily basis as well as Spraying




Dave

[cos918]

Hi Dave
been looking on You tube at diffrent videos . Question some welders saw Gas / Gasless does this mean they can run both?
John

[malcf]

Hi John some are advertised as both but the pipe and regulator and gas bottle are an optional extra, I would go for the gas one  as trust me the gasless are not worth the effort ugly weld and loads of weld spatter, the disposable gas canisters work out expensive so if you can opt for a regulator and proper gas bottle a lot of welding suppliers now have gas bottles for you to put down a deposit on and then just pay for the gas when it is empty but the downside is the initial deposit pub co2 is the easiest if you know an obliging landlord.

[portside II]

Get a stick welder and have some fun, i have had mig in both gas and gasless, true the gasless is very rough and expensive, but gas wire is cheap but requires the gas to sheild the arc.
However stick is a simple form of welding, and if you get an invertor welder then its much more mobile, my leads weigh more than my welder, and a pack of rods are inexpensive.daz

[TailUK]

You might consider renting a welding set, could work out a lot cheaper.  I second the comment about gas less MIG sets, very tricky to get them to work well.

[john44]

Don,t go gassles more trouble than they are worth, you waste a lot of wire and time setting
The feed rate and amperage, if you intend to do a lot of welding in the future buy a welder
If not as tailuk sudgests rent one.


John

[Mark T]

You might consider renting a welding set, could work out a lot cheaper.  I second the comment about gas less MIG sets, very tricky to get them to work well.

I second this as an ex coded welder (32 years ago!!!) - All welding needs a shield to remove the oxygen from the process and actually the advice above about using CO2 is sound.  Its really cheap and used in the pub industry and everyone has a pub near by.  Regulators are as cheap as chips now.  I have never really liked MIG welding much as the cheaper sets have poor wire drives that are intermittent at best and slip once coated by the wire itself.


If your welding metal that is 3mm thick minimum arc would be the way to go for small jobs as sticks are dirt cheap and it'll do the job nicely. Its also quite fun to have a go at especially if you haven't done it before.   If I was doing sheet metal now I go would go for TIG.  Think of oxyacetylene welding without the huge gas bottles and that just about sums it up.  The cheap sets work far better than the cheap MIG sets.  I welded a load of stainless steel pipework for a mate using a cheap TIG set and it worked fine.  Try renting some and see which you like best.


Or - take your metal to your local college that does welding courses and weld it there.  You can use their gear and get some decent training too.

[warspite]

I go in Aldi and Lidl and one of them - around here at least sell a small set for the car repair enthusiast uses wire on a roll, not sure if tig or mig, also the helmets.

[cos918]

Hi all thaks for the replys. I was quoted £440+vat to make a very simple frame. I can buy the metal for £36 inc vat so the quote was a real rip off price. So I am thinking of buying a welder. I am aware the more you spend the better you get. But it will only be used for a few jobs if that. I real dont want to go down the route of big Co2 cilinders . Or big machine due to storage.
I will look and see if any rents them .

John

[john44]

Hi John, I think you have answered your own question, welder may be used now and then.
find the cost of a rental set. Making a simple frame as you say would probably take a days rental.
You can always brows the hire quip to see who is the cheapest.


John

[warspite]

Lidl's parkside welding kits, usually around £90, though after use its probably a good idea to remove the welding wire (flux core type welder by the way) by drawing it back up the feed tube, then store this wire in a sealed container to prevent it rusting as this appears to be a common fault for it failing with long periods between the use.

[phillnjack3]

get a secondhand mig welder, go to motor shop and buy yourself a gas bottle about 3ft tall. your going tio want argon 5% . its the cheapest way to go. dont fart around with the silly little 1ft tall disposable they are crap. and dont use the co2 thats also crap.
get a mig welder from 100 to 135 amps and you can run that on normal 13 amp plug. any more you need to go 16 amp  ( plug by the cooker socket in the kitchen is 16 amp)...  use 0.8 wire and buy a auto darkening helmet that is solar powered not battery, so every time you strike up it charges itself and is the only way to go. forget the old fashioned helmets you will end uop with arc eye using thios bloody things.. sticka  bot of cloth overthe back of the welding helmet to stop 1 / any sparks comming back up and over on tothe bonce, and 2/ most importantly will stop any light coming in from round the back to stop yo useeing your welds.. get a nice used set up for about £80 to £100..... or a new 135 clarke mig for about 300 onwards....