What welder?

[Harvy]

Morning all,

It looks like my transit is going to need to have some welding done to it. I intend to do this myself to help keep costs down. I’ve not owned a welder before so I’m not sure what to get. I’m after a mig welder (not gas less) and it doesn’t have to be new or fancy. What do you guys use/find successful?

Thanks.

[dumper]

I used to have one from Machine Mart and run it on pub co2 gas from the local pub it works ok but the boc argon mix gas we had at work works a lot better. When you get a mig get one with variable adjustment on the speed and amps the ones that had fixed steps of speed and amps sometimes you couldn’t get the right when doing body work .Its worth getting the anti splatter spray for the gun end and we always used to spray some WD 40 on the reel of welding wire helps it feed out of the gun .
A mate had a gasless one and used to borrow mine as he said it was crap.

[Harvy]

Thanks for the info, I’ve looked in a couple of other places too and it seems the fairly cheap ones will serve my purpose. Thanks for the variable adjustment tip.

[metalworker0]

Don't go spraying wd40 on the wire, it will make it slip in the drive rollers.

For a car or van , you'll want one that goes up to 150 amp, think any more amps than that and you will not be able to fit a three pin plug ..you'll need a industrial commando plug set up, wired to its own MCB in your consumer unit.

Like dumper; says infinitely variable wire speed and lots of power settings ..mine has 8 and is a Danish machine - Migatronic 180mxe

The better welders are European or USA made and have:
A Euro torch - that's a detachable whole hose and torch, they have a far bigger nozzle and take the larger tips.

Come on a platform and wheels that is able to hold the larger gas bottles. note important, as quite easy to knock bottle over and smash your gauges.

Hold the larger drums of wire 15kgs i think.

Come with a wire drive roller that drives 0.6 or 0.8 wire and is capable of mounting a drive roller for the 1.2mm wire.

Are a Transformer based welder for reliability. ( think what happens if you accidentally touch the machine with the torch, nothing much with a transformer machine)

Don't ask about inverter ones , as i don't know ,, all i know is that they will be a bunch of electronics, that will become obsolete quickly and impossible to fix.

all the best.mark

[Harvy]

Thanks. Some very detailed advice there it will help narrow my search. Much appreciated.

[andz327]

Gasless actually work good especially if doing it out side or in a draft which would blow your expensive gas away, Gasless gets bit more spatter but you can buy anti spatter sprays to help, but quick buff with grinder sorts out the spatter marks
also it's easier to see weld as your moving along as you don't require the gas shroud on it , you can get a narrow shroud to protect tip but can do without
I bought this mig £160

Sent from my SM-G990B using Tapatalk

[metalworker0]

Not tried gasless myself , but Andy has a point about wind ..only a light breeze will cause the normal one not to weld properly ..meaning canceled days. if doing it outside. add that to the canceled rainy days, don't feel like doing it days, cold days, and you are soon into months.

all the best.mark

[dumper]

Yes gas less would be better if in windy conditions outdoors as for using WD40 on the wire roll never had a problem myself the welders at work used to borrow our cans to spray there’s that’s were I got the tip from
which was handy used to swop WD for weld spatter for home use .

[metalworker0]

there is another accessory some welders come with, that joins the driving wheel to the idler wire feed wheel with gears, this make both driver wheels and helps stop slippage which often occures when you have the torch lead/hose bent too much.

here's my drive unit for my welder showing the accessory gears

[MinorMatt]

Transformer welders are old hat now. Inverter welders are where its at.

They are smaller and lighter and more controllable - but they do have a different feel. Nothing major but its different. You can normally wind them a lot lower for much thinner material too.

I have the R-Tech 180A (the older model) and its fantastic. First inverter welder after having a couple of tranformer ones. My Cebora 130A was the best of those.

[ned]

Transformer welders are old hat now. Inverter welders are where its at.

They are smaller and lighter and more controllable - but they do have a different feel. Nothing major but its different. You can normally wind them a lot lower for much thinner material too.

I have the R-Tech 180A (the older model) and its fantastic. First inverter welder after having a couple of tranformer ones. My Cebora 130A was the best of those.

I bought this little one earlier in the year,

IMG_9101.jpeg

It’s tiny compared to my gas welder, much more adjustability on it, can also be stick and tig (need a tig torch)

[Harvy]

I’m finally at the stage of needing to buy one.

Will this one do?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284298648988 ... gKcLvD_BwE

It seems to have the adjustability required and it’s an inverter welder. Can do gas or no gas too.

[Altransit]

Has anyone used one of these?

https://www.sakertool.co.uk/products/sa ... c3EALw_wcB

[Harvy]

Has anyone used one of these?

https://www.sakertool.co.uk/products/sa ... c3EALw_wcB

I’ve seen a couple of YouTube videos about these or very similar. The consensus seems to be that they are not bad to have as an emergency backup in your van if you need it, and are better than expected. You can’t expect them to replace a normal welder though.

[Altransit]

Has anyone used one of these?

https://www.sakertool.co.uk/products/sa ... c3EALw_wcB

I’ve seen a couple of YouTube videos about these or very similar. The consensus seems to be that they are not bad to have as an emergency backup in your van if you need it, and are better than expected. You can’t expect them to replace a normal welder though.

Cheers buddy, thanks for the feedback. I had no illusions that it was a serious welder, my days of serious welding have long gone, I used to use Oxy/Acty and have never used a MIG welder!
It just looked like a bit of fun to use on small domestic jobs