Noob welding

[Stubby]

Yes thanks but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone here, particularly a beginner. Its not suitable for tree surgeon DIY for many reasons.

 

Yea understood . Was a tool maker back in the day and used it to repair injection mould tools .....

[agg221]

So no one el;se has done TIG ??

 

Yes, I'm much better at TIG than anything else. Great for real control, range of thickness and doing stainless and aluminium, but the need for argon doesn't make it user-friendly for domestic use.

 

Really enjoy it though - ideal for fixing broken bits of chainsaw!

 

Alec

[Graham]

So no one el;se has done TIG ??

 

Yes. It's a good one to master. I started gas welding and it's similar. Excellent if you want to start welding ali but the equipment is expensive for that. To the op: if you're buying mig make sure the amps will drop to about 30 or you'll struggle with car body panels.

[predator]

my mate was a pro welder and used to do bits for me, he gave me a couple of lessons, made me weld two long bars together full length repeatedly so i could get a feel for the way it 'flows', was mig. might just get the arc, at 40 quid cant loose as long as it works, and just fool around with it.

 

you would be far far better off buying a second hand ebay AC OIL COOLED stick welder and a box of 2.5mm e6013 rods you will be able to weld outside with the wind n rain etc. You will pick a decent 180 amper single phase for £50/60 and will out last you no matter how hard you use it as long as you have a 30 amp supply it will weld anything you throw at it

 

i have both a 180 mig for thin light steel indoor use no fumes and a 180 amp stick stay clear of the buzz box welders as they have a very short duty cycle and will keep trippin out when they get hot as a oil cooled jobby will weld all day and never cut out for same amount of money and you will get a far better weld too very easy to strike up better arc control too

[Brett]

you would be far far better off buying a second hand ebay AC OIL COOLED stick welder and a box of 2.5mm e6013 rods you will be able to weld outside with the wind n rain etc. You will pick a decent 180 amper single phase for £50/60 and will out last you no matter how hard you use it as long as you have a 30 amp supply it will weld anything you throw at it

 

i have both a 180 mig for thin light steel indoor use no fumes and a 180 amp stick stay clear of the buzz box welders as they have a very short duty cycle and will keep trippin out when they get hot as a oil cooled jobby will weld all day and never cut out for same amount of money and you will get a far better weld too very easy to strike up better arc control too

 

Tonco 140 AMP Oil Cooled Arc / Stick Welder 230volt | eBay

is this what you mean, i could only find this one?

[Ben farrimond]

IF your out side welding get a stick set but if your inside get a mig far more forgiving for beginners and if u can avoide single phase sets they are usless on anything over about 1/4" also some agri techs run basic welding courses well worth doing am loyds coded in mma tig and mig and have seen some really good looking welds fail so well worth doing a basic course good luck!!

[Coletti]

I may get slated for this suggestion but I would suggest getting a half decent gassles mig with decent quality flux core wire, recently I've been using a Clarke 100amp gassles and can weld really thin stuff with that but can also blow holes through 6mm steel if I wanted too so can weld a good range of stuff, no need for gas contracts and can still wel outside in the wind with no problem

[carlos]

i reckon an inverter arc welder would be best for general repair work , small easy to transport and just need rods and away you go. i thinks its all down to what thickness you wish to weld and where.

i have a cheapy arc unit and have done loads with it, would love an inverter tho!

cant recomend a course enough i had a welder for ages and it was always a bit hit and miss, then did a year evening course and now fairly confident(ish).

oh and an auto shield.

gd luck.carl

[predator]

IF your out side welding get a stick set but if your inside get a mig far more forgiving for beginners and if u can avoide single phase sets they are usless on anything over about 1/4" also some agri techs run basic welding courses well worth doing am loyds coded in mma tig and mig and have seen some really good looking welds fail so well worth doing a basic course good luck!!

 

point taken ben about single phase

but not everyone has 3 phase etc i,ve had no problems with tripping out the lecky with my stick as its only drawing at max amps 30 amps and as my house has a 100amp feed its not a problem and have been welding fabricating 35mm thickforklift forks together to use in my log splitter build with same rods that built the m6 thelwall viaduct e7016 rods low hydrogen if i want to burn the rod well in i do a run about 20mm then whilst its still hot run backwards over same run and another tip on rusty steel use a 6013 rod do a run of weld to bring all the cack out the steel grind back the slag out then do a run with either e7016 or e7018 rod and you will end up with a very very strong weld @ 70000 lb psi the steel will rip before the weld gives out

[agrimog]

you can weld a lot thicker than 1/4" with a single phase mig, never heard of a root pass and multi runs, If your serious about learning to weld, check out your local colleges, then think about your machine. Theres a lot of cheap reasonable quality welders out there, but all need practice, a good welder can weld with a crap machine, but a crap welder wont make a good weld with a good machine, I myself use mig, tig and mma, depending on the job, 3 seperate machines(and a plasma to cut up things for repair), but thats the needs of running custom built equipment for milling in strange places, I cant buy many replacement bits off the shelf...lol