17 replies to this topic

[philanio]

hey guys. hope i posted this in the right section. i was just wanting some advice on which welders are best to use. i would ideally want to get a gasless welder but i'm unsure of the strength of the welds or the problems i may come across. and my budget isnt huge, maybe 300pound so i'm also unsure if i could get a decent welder with it.

please help lol

cheers

[stuwhitfield]

http://www.mig-weldi...forum/index.php

this site has been a great resource for me in starting out...

lots of people complain about gasless welders so I plumped for a used sealey supermig with a BOC rental of argonlite. I wouldn't say my welding is good yet, but it passed an MOT so I was pleased enough.

[philanio]

http://www.mig-weldi...forum/index.php

this site has been a great resource for me in starting out...

lots of people complain about gasless welders so I plumped for a used sealey supermig with a BOC rental of argonlite. I wouldn't say my welding is good yet, but it passed an MOT so I was pleased enough.

how much is it to rent the bottles for the year and how much each time to get it filled up?

[grahama]

£300 Oh to have that budget for a welder lol. Plenty out there for that money, but more experienced welders will advise. (not done any yet !!! )

[philanio]

£300 Oh to have that budget for a welder lol. Plenty out there for that money, but more experienced welders will advise. (not done any yet !!! )

obviously the less i have to spend the better but a dont want to be gettin aload of rubbish lol

[Shifty]

£300 may sound a lot but you also need to factor in a mask/gloves/gas reg etc in as well, thats £80 done already.

Clarke stuff is pretty good, I'd be looking at something around the 130amp mark.

Don't forget you want a minimum ampage of 30amps for bodywork, any less and you'll be blowing holes everywhere.

A decent auto mask is essential

Depending on the amount you've got to do then its either gas-less(not my choice), disposible bottles or big bottles.

Most of the smaller Clarke can run gasless, so its handy to have when on a Sunday afternoon you run out of gas and just need to glue some bits together.

[philanio]

this is true. i've got quite a bit of work to do on it but not sure were to get the bottles from

[nickcooper]

definatly use a mig for bodywork, arc is to strong unless youare very talented.
i brought a gasless Clarke mig from machinemart a while ago, my main reason for this is because gasless is easyer to use out door. but mine is convertable to gas, just by buying the gassed wire and a gas bottle.

if your going to weld outside, go for a gasless in my opinion, but get a convertable one so if you do want to go gassed you can.
Gasless welds are a bit dirtyer tho because of the flux going everywere lol

hope this helped.
nick

[nickcooper]

oh and halfords do a light reactive welding mask for £60 , which in my opinion is real good for the money, ive used ones that are around £200 that arnt much differant.
nick

[coopermpi]

ive been using a clarke 131te and found it great! Easy to use and great welds. Disposables can work out expensive in the long run. Ive just bought a clarke 151te, the next one up for the bargain price of £150 (2nd hand but brand new in the box, long explination!) Check ebay, theres a few deals on there, but i would get the auto tinting mask too, not the hand held things!

[nickcooper]

lol you wont belive the differant from using a hand held mask, when you change to a face mask lol.
not to mention the lack of arc eye lol, when you got alot to do you do catch it every now and then.

nick

[lrostoke]

This is a good helmet, been using it for a while now I Just missed out on the special offer they were doing where you got a free pair of gauntlets . Oh well just under £55 for the pair inc delivery

http://www.mig-weldi...lite-helmet.htm

SifLite Auto Darkening Welding Helmet
Quantity: 1
Total: £44.95

MIG Welding Gauntlets
Quantity: 1
Total: £2.96

Shipping: £6.95
Total: £54.86

[philanio]

definatly use a mig for bodywork, arc is to strong unless youare very talented.
i brought a gasless Clarke mig from machinemart a while ago, my main reason for this is because gasless is easyer to use out door. but mine is convertable to gas, just by buying the gassed wire and a gas bottle.

if your going to weld outside, go for a gasless in my opinion, but get a convertable one so if you do want to go gassed you can.
Gasless welds are a bit dirtyer tho because of the flux going everywere lol

hope this helped.
nick

were the welds strong using the flux core? thats my main concern with gasless. not too botherd about neatness as i've gt plenty of time to tidy them up

[nickcooper]

yea, pretty much as strong as gassed. depends on your ability really. i used mine for ages and never had a problem.
are you welding outdoors?

nick

[philanio]

probably mostly indoors. just prefered the sound of gasless due to not having to mess about with gas bottles lol