WELDING

Newby welding

Will this be anygood for welding car bodywork...

Anyone have any experience of using one ?

230V 90AMP GASLESS MIG WELDER Works along the same principles as a conventional MIG welder, but uses a filler wire with a flux core. During the weld process the flux melts and protects the weld, therefore no gas is required to shield the weld pool, thus making it ideal for use outdoors in windy conditions. Features include: adjustable power setting, thermal overload protection, torch and earth clamp. Supplied complete with face mask, spool of 0.9mm dia. flux cored wire (for mild steel), spare torch tip, spacer for 190mm dia. wire spool and wire brush. Carton packed.

Specification: Input voltage ... 230V/A.C. Input amperage (max. at full power) ... 10A Output amperage range ... 55 - 90 Max. input power ... 1.4kW Amperage at 16% duty ... 60 Open circuit voltage ... 25 - 30V Wire size ... 0.9mm Max. welding thickness (mild steel) ... 3 - 4mm Wire spool capacities ... mini and 5kg Weight ... 17kg

Big thanks for any info

Reply to
Capstick
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The message from "Capstick" contains these words:

Yes - but I'd prefer to use one with argoshield gas for thin sheet. I don't know how the gasless system stacks up but CO2 ain't anything like as good as argoshield for thin stuff. Great for angle iron etc!

If you're only doing a small amount of welding the cost of those narsty disposable cylinders ain't actually too bad so I'd be tempted to go for one that can at least have a conversion kit fitted.

Reply to
Guy King

My own experience with them was never good. THey burned holes very easily in rusty metal and the finish even on good metal couldn't compare at all with a conventional mig welder.

Reply to
Conor

Conor (conor snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Erm, why were you even attempting to weld rusty metal?

I'm no expert, but I thought the very basic first rule was to get back to bare, clean, shiny, solid metal before you even plugged the welder in?

Reply to
Adrian

Er, because most cars that fail MOTs on sills etc usually do so because they've gone rusty?

ROFL. You've obviously not welded on old cars then, especially ones that've failed MOTs because of it.

I've got a lovely MK2 Essie that needs some wings putting on. Good luck in finding any good metal on the wing rails.

Reply to
Conor

Conor (conor snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes.... So you cut back PAST the rust if it's actually weakening the metal or clean it back to shiny metal if it's just surface.

If there's nothing solid left to clean back and weld to, then you're wasting your time.

I'm not sure I see the problem. If the wing rails have no good solid metal that'll clean up, then they obviously need replacing, since they're obviously past-tense.

What *is* the point in welding new metal to crap?

Reply to
Adrian

Well I have, lots, and there is definitely no point in trying to weld to rust. I always grind back to solid metal before patching. Makes for a much better weld, and means that as long as you seal it up it won't all fall apart in a few weeks' time.

Then the rails need replacing too.

Reply to
Grunff

I noticed on a routine visit to my local motor factors that Sealey are doing refillable medium sized cylinders. Unfortunately I seemed to have lost the details. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Really? I'm sure the guy running a Volvo Amazon 1800 Coupe currently worth £28k would disagree.

So how far do I cut back...the inner wings or to the chassis?

Reply to
Conor

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Another year's MOT.

Reply to
Guy King

Conor (conor snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Make your mind up - is it an Amazon or is it a P1800?

I very much doubt either would be worth anything NEAR £28 grand. This month's Craptical Plastics price guide would seem to suggest just over £4k as being top whack for any Amazon and £5.5-6k for a P1800. While I wouldn't exactly bet my house on their valuations, I wouldn't say they'd be a factor of five out.

Solid metal.

If that's the inner wings, then fine.

If they're fooked too, then I'd seriously question whether it's worth doing anything bar crushing what's left of the bloody thing.

If you've got to go all the way back to a bare chassis, then you've obviously done the smart thing and got shot of the Escort (if that's what an "Essie" is) completely....

Reply to
Adrian

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Isn't that what last week's newspaper, pop-rivets, filler and underseal are for?

Reply to
Adrian

The message from Adrian contains these words:

I once used a chunk cut out of a shovel and the side of a redundant washing machine to repair an Austin 1100's subframe.

Also used a Mini roof to repair a Fiat's sills with. Welded in a flush repair, ground it flat and left it overnight before painting it. Next morning the Mini steel was still shiny - the Fiat stuff had gone red all over.

Reply to
Guy King

My old Merc consists largely of the sides of a combine harvester.

Rob Graham

Reply to
Robin Graham

The message from "Robin Graham" contains these words:

UREddieGrundyAICM£5

Reply to
Guy King
< snips the rust from this thread>

cheers for replies so far

Right i have ended up buying a SIP Migmate turbo 105 DP

DP = dual purpose ( for the uninitiated 'like me')

This is both gas or gasless.

so to rephrase my question

Anyone got a ' Polished Rust Free Opinion on if this welder is any good '?

Reply to
Capstick

IME SIPs are really poor. The most important single component in a MIG is the wirefeed. I've used 3 different SIPs, and the wirefeed was poor on all of them.

However, others have reported good results with SIPs, so maybe they changed the wirefeed, or maybe I was unlucky.

105 Amps will be fine for welding mild up to 3mm or so. I prefer gas, find it much cleaner than gasless, also better control of heat.
Reply to
Grunff

The message from "Capstick" contains these words:

To be honest - at this level a MIG welder is a MIG welder. If you're welding thin shit

Reply to
Guy King

I agree with all of the above. But would like to add, I used an SIP 150 a long time ago, and although the wire feed was a bit poor (a rebuild mostly sorted it out) it was a cracking good welder. The fan had a habit of falling off though.

Compared to a couple of cheapo hobby migs I've used, including my current Clarke thing, it was bloody brilliant. The Clarke has the worst wire feed I have ever known, tried welding a small plate on this week with it, took 4 hours, not finished. That was 3 minutes welding, 3 hours 57 taking the torch apart, trimming the wire that was kinked just after the motor, and re-feeding it every half inch of weld. True, the wire's not in the best nick, but it's always been crap, even with lovely new wire, tip, liner, etc.

As for gasless, never ever liked the wire. It's bloody expensive, and blows holes. I use .6mm, with CO2. Would use argoshield, but the easiest way to get gas around here is from the local motor factors, where you buy a 5kg bottle outright, then pay 15 quid for an exchange when you run out. Much cheaper than the disposables, and comparable to BOC depending on how much gas you get through in a year.

Reply to
Stuffed

Was it a brand new one?

Reply to
Dave Plowman

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