calling all welders

[ade]

Hi guys,

I'm thinking of investing in a welder and need help on which to get...

Everyone goes on about MIG welders and that for structural stuff like the front lower valance on my car I need a MIG and a bottle or Argon gas to make a clean weld.

However Ive seen these "Gasless" MIG's that use special flux cored wire...does anyone have any experience of these and are they as good/better than above?

And what can I expect price wise to pay - or is it cheaper to rent for weekend???

Also - has anyone welded a new front lower valance on to their Nova and whats involved? For those that dont know what it is, its the lower cross section that the tie bars bolt on to and the Radiator sits on. I'm replacing the whole thing, including the cross beam.

Ade

[Adam]

From what i have been told gas is far better than gasless

PErsonally, i would buy one, as it may come in useful sometime. Rather than just lending one for one job.

I think around ?150 should get you a decent enough one to do car jobs easily :)

I aiin't really a welding expert tho.

[srs1]

i bought my welder from machine mart and i asked bruce loads of info on these as he bought a gas welder.

i got a gasless one, 110n turbo i think its called.
the benifit to the gasless one is that you can weld in any conditions. ie high winds as the gas around the melting point (of weld) will not blow away.
the other benifit is that, you can add a gas botle to it to weld thicker steel etc.

mine cost about ?180
weld wire is about ?5-6 for 5kg roll.

consider that gas bottles cost about ?7-8 each and get about 30-40 mins of use out of them i decided to get the gasless. i recon if i use it a lot it will work out better, money wise.

talk to bruce about it. i took his info on board about which size etc

[Ste_Nova]

i've got a snap on 130 turbo gas, get loads of out it gas seems to last for ages (using 2 foot fat bottle) good for most stuff, use the 230 at the garage for silly fabricating :lol:

looks like this

http://www.migtigarc.co.uk/MIG_Welder/TURBO130sml.JPG

The Power 130 MIG is a serious welder. With 130 amps of output power at 30% duty cycle, it beats most competitive machines by almost 50%!! It welds up to approx. 5/16" and will weld 1/8" almost non-stop. Welding down to 24ga sheet metal is also a breeze with this machine. It does need to use gas and comes with the gas regulator, hoses, ground cable, torch, .023" wire, tips and mask.

?219.00 (exVAT)

[ade]

cool!

Just need to weld the front lower valance in place on me nova, do the camber mod and sort out light surrounds for Punto lights so will be using for a bit then prob not for ages...was thinking of hiring one.

Was also gonna borrow Bruces but it was in Kev's car when he crashed :(

No rush though - just curious on which to get.

Ade

[-tucny-]

iv got a gasless one, a machine mart special. it alright, but after using a gas one i wouldnt get another. iv also had a few problems with it due to the plastic wire liners getting peirced etc. so its worth saving a few extra pennies and getting one a bit more for the pro with metal liners etc..

[Stuart]

i hav a sealy 150 mig, from a local motor factors. was ?200 and that was about 2.5 years ago...

[Austin_Nova16]

Use Argoshield Light gas. You can rent the bottle and get the gas from B.O.C.

Its a mix of Argon and C02

[ade]

cool - yeah Kev said use Argon based gas to get a better stronger weld - especially as its a structural point.

Any idea how much a bottle is?

Ade

[Mel]

Thought I would give input as I have had the past 12 months as experience of welding with MIGs lol.

We had an OLD welder (30 odd years old as my dad had it when he first got a job! lol) and this of course would not be anywhere near ideal for the job we had.

We got a MIG welder..ours has the benefit of being a gass or gassless welder (was ?200 ish from screw fix direct), which does the job.

Basically, I found the welding crap on a gassless wire (with the flux included), and it felt horrible to work with - always left big bobbles on the weld and wouldn't always stick. I remember one weld, looked perfect and hit it lightly and it snapped off! Never had a problem with the gas welds, though.

The best gas to use is the 50/50 mix of Argon and Co2. Gave me the best weld out of the lot..just felt a lot smoother to work with and was always extremely strong (we used it on all structural bits and the lil bits and worked a charm).

For me, the gas was ?11.99 from my local Tanvic spares place and it lasted ages! I have bought a bottle of gas for ?8.99 and wire (gas wire) for ?3.98. The gasless wire was a bit more expensive, at ?5.98. They were from my local car shop, Wilco and they lasted a fair while. I had to buy countless bottles/wires so know the prices off by heart lol..

I would recommend the gas welder, but of course you can't use it very well in wind etc. But, the weld far outweighs the downfall. Especially if you use full co2 or Argon/Co2 mix gas :wink:

[Aragorn]

our welders in my hallway mate not in the car

100a-120a is fine and seriously get a proper gas mig or a dual one as the gas welds are better

argon/co2mix is what i suggested not pure argon as pure argon is expensive

[bump]

don't touch the gasless, they are just evil. i like my lincoln (Spelling??) but tis pretty heavy duty for car. a sip or sealey at about 120A will see you right.