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[RSGeorge]

Ayup Ladies and Gents, roll up roll up come give me some advice

Gonna be starting work on the car soon and gonna be doing a little welding. However I have never welded in my life and know nothing about welders

Im not stupid and Im a fast learner but can anyone give me some advice on what to get as an easy to use/gonna do the job welder? I dont want some uber super smashing great welder thats gonna cost me £10,000 but also I dont want something thats gonna break the moment it thinks its got some work to do.

What are you guys using and how do you rate it for ease of use. Please if you work in a Mclaren Prototype Engineering Workshop dont tell me about the futuristic welding gadgets you got at work Just some piece of kit thats gonna last, easy to get parts for and comes with a trained monkey to teach me lol

[niracka]

Just get a cheap ish mig plant preferebly with the use of gas. any plant thats been looked after shouldn't give you any problems. There so simple even if it did go wrong you'd be able to fix it yourself probably.

Hope this helps mate. Might come and show you how to use it sometime when i'm down for christmas lol.

Ollie

[jayrs]

i would advise against gasless migs tbh, there alright, but gas migs are better.

also with some cheapers ones, they can cut out more through thermal overload (it gets too hot) if a lot of welding is done at one time due to the type of transformer in them.

we have a couple of mig welders, one being a clark, i forget the model number now but the only thing i can find like it on machine mart is this one, and we have never had a problem with it

this is like the one we have but seems to be a bit smaller
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... mig-welder

also, get your self a co2 regulator that fits proper bottles, the throw away bottles dont last that long and there like a tenner a pop (or was when i was forced to buy one)

i use co2 fire extinguisher's as i can now get them for a tenner each for a 2kg one when i return a empty one soi it might be worth finding place near you that does them and ask if they could maybe help you out with some co2 to help with costs, as BOC is expensive

[RSGeorge]

Cheers guys. Will look at that Clarke one tomorrow, machine mart is only down the road from me

[martin xr2L]

i have a snap-on welder and its spot on just over 100 amp it does the job well from little detail to big steel. i bought mine from the dealer but im sure you will get a second hand one some were. and Jay them bottles are expensive nearly 15 quid with vat work buy them for me for doing there welding. cant go wrong free gas but its the expensive way of doing it. i tryed telling them lol.

[jayrs]

very expensive way of doing it mate, but it could be cheaper in the long run if they dont do much welding, when you add bottle rent, handling charges and the cost of the gas it self when you go to BOC.

[philip_d]

I've got a cheap Sealey gas one and I use the Pub CO2 bottles with it, smaller than the big BOC bottles but last about 20 times longer than the small crap ones you get in halford and etc. I get my bottles form local garden Center, I know people who work there so I just pay for the gas which was about £15 last year. You can get the regulators of ebay for between £20 & £40

[niracka]

It had never crossed my mind to do that to be honest. I only weld at work and we use all BOC gas but if I get my own plant or "liberate" one from work i'l be getting myself some fire extinguishers lol

Ollie

[lachojski2005]

ive just bought myself a welder but wont be doing much welding till i get my own place and get a project car so the disposable ones will do for now.which fire bottles are they that you use jay?as i seen a couple on ebay and emailed asking if it was possible to fill it with co2/argon and they shouted at me saying ABSOLUTLY NOT.lol.

[jayrs]

, no one will refill it with the co2 argon mix, tbh no one will refill it with co2 apart from a company that recharges fire extinguishers in all fairness, although you might be lucky to find someone but i wouldnt hold ya breath.

best bet is to just use the extinguisher as it is, then try and swap it once empty for a full one, if you really want argoshield then your going to have to get it from BOC in one of there bottles, or a gas supply company like BOC.
due to pressure ratings on bottles, and health and saftey, i cant see anyone putting it in a bottle that isnt ment for it fella

[lachojski2005]

o right.lol.i thought thats what you were doing lol.when i read up about what gas to use the argon and co2 mix was being said to be better than just co2.does it really make that much difference?i have found a supplier just up the road from me that does the throw aways 2 for £20.

[jayrs]

no mate, just normal co2 from a extinguisher
argoshield is a better shielding gas than co2 on its own.

i have set up a account with BOC so i could use argoshield if i get it from them, but the cost is a bit higher than std co2, and when you consider i can get a 2kg co2 extinguisher for a tenner, its not worth paying the extra for what little gain argosheild has, co2 plenty good enough for car work though mate.

as for the throw away bottle, 2 for £20 isnt that much of a saving, i got one many moons ago and it was about a tenner, now i guess maybe £12, but belive me mate, they dont last long

[martin xr2L]

Your not wrong there jay I switched from small co2 bottles to small argon and I used the whole bottle today I could not believe it!!! But according to the guy that surplies my gas he says you can't get a medium bottle of argon or a large refill??

[jayrs]

yeah they dont last long mate.

BOC do a large and medium size bottle of argon i believe, you can get what ever size you want.
if your not doing much welding dont bother with a big one, get a small one, i know theres a charge for swaping the bottle, but it could work out cheaper than the extended rental on the larger bottle.

best thing to do is give BOC a bell and speak to them, i did, although for me, BOC sub it out over here so not everything i was told was true, such as prices, they bung them up a bit as it comes over on the ferry

[snake]

Had a bottle of argonshield for over 10 years now, waist height, not had it refilled yet!, dont use it much anymore as most of the dealers i have been at have their own gear so use that instead, but defo get big bottles, theirs nothing worse than running out of gas! been their done that on those disposable ones!

It is that expensive these days? i got mine on a 5 year rental about 13 years ago now, and i only paid for the first year, they seemed to have lost my details lol, it was £35 a year for rental and think it was 25-30 notes to get it refilled!

[jayrs]

when i asked about Co2, it was years rental at about £75, gas was about a £10 +vat, and a handling charge of £11 +vat.
and it would of been gas charge plus handling charge everytime i swapped it for a full one, and it was for a medium size bottle, didnt bother asking for big bottle size as wouldnt use it quick enough so not worth the extra lay out.