welding info please??

[niftysteve]

Cheers Treequip, handy advice, looking at the Oxford migmaker 240, slightly over my budget, whats the difference between single phase & three phase? the Oxford 270 is being offered at the same price in either option.

 

single phase will work from a standard house hold socket

 

three phase is what most farms or businesses have although some domestic houses have it fitted if they want to have a 3 phase powered lathe or something similar

[treequip]

Cheers Treequip, handy advice, looking at the Oxford migmaker 240, slightly over my budget, whats the difference between single phase & three phase? the Oxford 270 is being offered at the same price in either option.

 

Single phase is your everyday domestic supply, three phase is industrial, if you have 3ph you can get a wayyyyyy better welder for cheap money (used)

[Big T]

Mig is fine for thinner metal up to approx 4mm, it depends on the output of your machine! If you do go for a mig get the biggest output single phase one you can, these will run (just) off of a 13 amp plug. Make sure you get one with a "Euro" torch as the cheaper ones have a naff spring steel arrangement inside the gun that makes the trigger hard to pull and will make it harder to get a nice weld. Go for makes like BOC Tradesmig, Miller or Cebora. Avoid the Clarke type of machines. All welding will require the steel to be clean, nothing a going over with an angle grinder wont cure. Avoid flux coated wire, its crap. As far as gas is concerned, rent a bottle from BOC, go for Argoshield, its alot better than straight CO2. You might be better off going for a small semi industrial MIG to do the thinner stuff and get an ARC for the bigger stuff and stainless. ARC welders are alot cheaper, will weld much thicker materal and have less to go wrong as its basically just a transformer in a box! You can also weld outside in the wind with an ARC as the electrode has a flux coating so you dont need to worry about the gas blowing away and giving you a pourous weld.

[Matthew Storrs]

Mig is fine for thinner metal up to approx 4mm, it depends on the output of your machine! If you do go for a mig get the biggest output single phase one you can, these will run (just) off of a 13 amp plug. Make sure you get one with a "Euro" torch as the cheaper ones have a naff spring steel arrangement inside the gun that makes the trigger hard to pull and will make it harder to get a nice weld. Go for makes like BOC Tradesmig, Miller or Cebora. Avoid the Clarke type of machines. All welding will require the steel to be clean, nothing a going over with an angle grinder wont cure. Avoid flux coated wire, its crap. As far as gas is concerned, rent a bottle from BOC, go for Argoshield, its alot better than straight CO2. You might be better off going for a small semi industrial MIG to do the thinner stuff and get an ARC for the bigger stuff and stainless. ARC welders are alot cheaper, will weld much thicker materal and have less to go wrong as its basically just a transformer in a box! You can also weld outside in the wind with an ARC as the electrode has a flux coating so you dont need to worry about the gas blowing away and giving you a pourous weld.

 

Cheers mate, that was another option buying a lower powered mig and getting an arc to bodge the bigger stuff, but I thought one powerful mig would be a better choice. I can't see myself needing to weld thicker than 10mm.

[agrimog]

before you even contemplate buying yourself a "welder" find out about about any welding courses at your local college. a lot of what you see posted/written is so called "experts" that cuoldnt stick two bits of metal together if there lifes depended on it!.

welding is a skill learbned over many years and has various forms, thin sheet metal ie :car bodies, a mig giving 25-140 amps and .6mm steel wire, at the other end of the scale, steel plate inches thick, a 500+ amp mig and 2mm wire, it comes down to horses for courses. you can weld steel, stainless and ally with a mig, just use the right filler wire and gas combination, your only limited by skill. should you choose stick/arc, great for thicker steel, a pain for thin stuff, and not a lot of use for much else.(yes you can get rods for stainless, cast iron, and even ally, but these are are pain in the ass to use, and are beyond the skill levels of joe average). tig machines are, depending on manufacturer, either brilliant or crap, require a reasonable skill to set up and operate, and are expensive to run. if your planing to stick to steel, up to 1/2" a good invertor driven mig is the boy, be willing to pay for it, names that spring to mind, miller, r-tech, lorch, and fronius, these are all expensive, but the back up and reliability more than make up for itand the best advice about welding is practice, practice, and more practice.

[Matthew Storrs]

Yes, I did think (am still thinking) about doing an evening course at college to help me on my feet with regards setting it up properly etc, it might save many hours/months/years of fiddliling around trying to work it out on my own, although i do know a couple competant welders. Unfortunatly I have always been rather put of college courses ever since doing my Arb course, maybe the evening courses have a bit more structure to them as it'l be mostly adult learners.

[carlos]

iam currently doing a city and giulds basic welding night class that covers arc, mig and tig.

finding it brilliant lots to be learnt plus we have spent a fair bit of time disscussing different plant options so the cousre may help you make an informed descion on which machine.

as others have said an auto darkening helmet is a must.

enjoy carl

[Matthew Storrs]

Thats good to hear. I will inquire see what they cost, do you do an evening a week?

[treequip]

a lot of what you see posted/written is so called "experts" that cuoldnt stick two bits of metal together if there lifes depended on it!.

 

But can they spell

[carlos]

Thats good to hear. I will inquire see what they cost, do you do an evening a week?

 

i do two evennings a week for the whole year ,one eve practicle and one related theory.

seems a good course.