MIG Welderisti

I'd like to try my hand at a touch of welding. I've got one of those
cheapy Clarke arc jobs that only seems to be good at blowing damn great
holes in things.

I look on ebay now and then but there don't seem to be any real
bargains, so I was thinking of something like this:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/151te-turbo-mig-welder/path/diy-mig-welders

For general stuff. First thing I want to do is sort out some well worn
centre stand mounting points.

Any advice from the FOAK please?

TIA

 

As an owner/use of both a Snap-on 200amp Mig and a Clarke 151 Turbo, I can
tell you that the 151 will do just about ANYTHING you ask of it in relation
to bikes From welding plates to mudguards to welding the main frames of
Harley's. Reliable as you could ask for (never broken down, never failed to
do what I've asked of it)

Your centre stand mounting points won't stand a chance against that 151.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Doesn't that depend which gas you use with it? Presumably you can switch
it to an 'I' gas for welding other materials?

Would that make it a MIG/MAG welder?

 

Best way to learn how to use a cheapy arc welder is to learn on a pro
kit - you get the feel for how it should be and then learn to use the
cheap one to the best of its capability. Trouble is, most of the cheap
ones are pretty crap at regulating small currents for thin stuff and a
pro one is good at that.
You can use the stick welder happily on thicker stuff, but you still
have to be reasonably sure of how good the welds are if you're putting
anything structural together.

The small DIY/hobby MIG sets are usually ok for body repair work and
smallish sections, but the above advice still applies - it would be
worth your while to see if any FE colleges near you are offering a
welding course; you get the chance to use good kit while you're
learning.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

On the face of it, that one looks OK. I bought a cheapy many years ago
and, though it worked fine for the first couple of years, it became
more and more prone to jamming, which is a right royal PITA. I found
that keping the wire spools in the airing cupboard helped (actually I
kept the whole welder there, but that was when I was a free man).

A fan-cooled one should have a better duty cycle: go for the biggest
best cooled one you can afford because having to wait half an hour or
more for the thermal trip to reset is also a damn' nuisance.

I'm actually seriously considering replacing my MIG and arc welders
with a TIG set: one inverter does both jobs.

 

On Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:51:20 +0100, Pip Luscher

snip>

Just remember that money and lots of it is the most important factor
when you buy a TIG set.

If, and it's a very big if, I ever decided to buy a welding set it'd
be a TIG set that I could use for MMA as well as TIG.

 

Well, that's what's making me hold back. I don't absolutely *need*
TIG, apart from the fact that I /need/ it, IYSWIM.