Welders

The vid shows a good example of how the wafty edges affects the quality of the weld. Really interesting stuff, the basics aren't rocket science at all.

I've also been looking at all the tips and tricks for panel repair aswell, there seems to be a lot of different ways

I have had a Clarke or Sealy Mig for the last 10ish years and its still going strong.

Its not the right way to do it but I use a bottle of pub drinks gas (much cheaper than proper welding gas) and it works fine. I think it just needs to be there to remove the oxygen.

Also the mig will weld stainless steel even with mild steel wire, again works fine and I fabricated an exhaust this way a few years ago (still working), obviously the welds are mild steel and get a layer of rust on.

Like I said, not the right way but still just another way of doing things if your not too worried.

You can get stainless steel wire for a mig welders ...

I know, just too tight

So I've been meaning to update for awhile, I got this welder dirt cheap and it had hardly been used, it is by no means a good welder and probably bottom end of the market but i thought for the price it was good enough for me to start learning. Welded a few exhaust brackets. Going to buy some gas and start fookin around with some strap metal.

What amp and duty cycle does it have woody normally a sticker on it saying ..... you find poorer duty cycle and welds look like shite on some of the cheap machines  doesnt look to bad from the pic and has a nice stand too  if its been set up already for gasless wire then you will need to reverse the polarity for the torch and clamp ....always worth checking wich way round it is to start with ....

Amp is 40 to 120, not sure about duty cycle, probably piss poor I'm just going to have a go learning with it because it was cheap and eventually buy something decent later.

I wasnt knocking it mate .... mig is very easy to do so sure you will pick it up quickly .... its all good fun and your find yourself saying "its ok il weld that" on many occasions lol

I expect duty cycle is poor on high settings. Could possibly add a fan to it to help cooling of transformer.
Any welder better than no welder & it makes so many things possible when you got one.
should be fun introduction to welding, just get decent new wire & have a play on some thin metal .
Wire rust spots & wire feed are 2 most common issues on migs, I got eratic wire feed on mine at moment & got try sort it this weekend
Does look neat & tidy on the stand, should be easy sell on again if upgrade in future plus with little or no loss .
found a pdf manual if u not got one >
http://ozito-production.s3.amazonaws.com/system/product_files/documents/261/original/3718.pdf?1427083851

Im having trouble with my mig at the moment also .... i think just because its not all that great its a sealey  150 supermig it was a present last year i wish i didnt give away my old one  im going to check the polarity over the weekend if i get 5 minutes and try that ...as i mucked about with every setting and still welded shit ....

every time I get issue it either wire with tarnish spots, wire feed pulsing or i'm forgot turn gas valve lol.
tarnished wire been a cock for me, I converted mine take the small 0.7kg spools & bag & box them when not in use for longer periods.
Got to blow out liner on mine & inspect wire drive roller. was working perfect but wire feed issue started on last job & general quick tweaks not cured it

nomad wrote:I wasnt knocking it mate .... mig is very easy to do so sure you will pick it up quickly .... its all good fun and your find yourself  saying "its ok il weld that" on many occasions lol

It's all good mate, I didn't think you were knocking me it seems ok, used it a couple of times, still practicing though. It should actually do a lot of things I want it for but just from some googling I don't think the duty cycle is that great. It's good though, I've lost count of the number of times I've ran up to the exhaust shop so they can weld stuff for me.

Yeah ive had that i managed to get round it by wrapping a rag around the spool in the welder helps keep it from oxidising .... my last welder had a problem with the feeder i just wedged a piece of wood underneath the motor side of it as temp fix it worked well so i left it as it was lol .... the other problem i had was the liner had a slight kink it would slow the wire if it was stretched out right but it was a bloody good welder i miss it already

Mine seems touchy when I was putting wire in it. Too tight/too loose is not many turns difference. Looking forward to trying gas, flux is annoying.

I dont mind using flux wire but majority of my welding is done outside so it suits me more being uk and windy lol ...but i do prefer gas welding as its alot cleaner ....

should imagine flux is quite useful outside in bad wind where unable shield easily, gas is pita unless get sensible size bottles & good regulator, disposable bottles are not great & don't last long.
Gas is best but have seen some good results with flux wire, friend done a lot of fab work on a off road toyota & had some super neat welds with flux & machine was not top range.
can take a while set/learn a machine. Best way learn weld is from good welder on machine they set then move onto your own machine.
Think you'll find it useful, so easy knock up useful bits and overcome all those situations of 'if I had a welder could of welded that'
Have fun zapping stuff this weekend ...

Yeah gas is expensive in little bottles and like you say dont last long ..... only thing i dont like so much with flux wire is it can be quite spitty but fine tweaks can even it out slightly better .... what welder do you have mr b ....

an old sealey 180 turbo . must be 20 year old now, been really good besides current wire feed, probably need new sleeve.

I heard the sealey 180's are the best out of the range well i know the newer ones are atleast im hoping i can sort mine out as i have 3 decat pipes to weld up for two of my customers and cant put it off much longer if i cant then im going to have go buy a new welder .....

No idea on newer ones to be honest, mine been good, do check wire & wire feed as stuttering wire makes welding useless with hole blowing etc . A 150 supermig should be quite good & would expect decent service life from it. Sealey is hit & miss though, some models & years good others not as they change manufacture so much.

Any thoughts on gas what gas do you use lads

For mig welding .... argon/co2 mix gives best results johnny

Yea that's what I use just woundered when you use co2 or argon by itself

You can use either on there own but best results using 80% argon 20% co2 wich is what most gas manfactures use ....

Chris is regards to gas ring BOC and ask about Argosheild, there's a few types depending on what ur welding.