welding? and buying a welder?

[sharky]

im thinking about buying a welder as i can think of many occasions in the past when one would have come in handy.

it would be used for general car repairs and metalwork (building metal frames)
....the problem is that i have no idea about welding, i dont know how to do it and i dont know what kind of welder would be best for me (bareing in mind that it will probably only be used a few times a year).

The Questions:

Is welding easy to do/learn?
Is there some basic information online somewhere that will teach me how to weld?
what kind of welder would be best for me? (i dont really want to mess about with gas)

cheers

chris

[t16omcat]

get a hobby type mig welder. very usefull for thin gauge metal on cars.
practice on some offcuts till you get the hang of it.
dont get the very cheapest ones with low power & lack of fine adjustment.
safety gear is very important, buy a quality shield a gauntlets. HTH.

[weirdjam]

Nah just go whole hog and get oxycetalynle!!! mmwwaaahh haa haaa mmmmwwwwwaahhhhhaaa haaaahaaaa

They're leting me loose with it in my next job!!

Luckily though i got a GCSE in engineering

Whatever you chose just be careful!

this might be of interest its nearby ish.
http://www.bridgwater.ac.uk/adult/courses.asp?aos_code=LR603

[roverturbo]

take my advice welding is sh'te,its a pain in the donkey boy.

Great if your a british bla bla gas trained level2 etc but a decent welder is £300 +

I sound like a moaner but Ive known people in the past and theyve got certificates etc but there welding was still@@@@, Its a precision thing that takes ages to learn and perfect your best off paying someone else.unless your dedicated

[sharky]

cheers guys

so whats the difference between
mig
tig
ark
and any others there are?

[Brent]

mig is for mild steel, tig is for aluminium and arc is old version stick welding good for penitration but a pain stopping every minute to put in another rod
HTH
Brent
( A Welder/Fabricator )

[mach1rob]

Deffo go for mig, more expensive than an arc welder but much better IMO. Depends on your budget really. Get an old wing or bonnet (nick one from your local body repair shop that they've binned ) cut it up and practice away Practice and fiddle with the controls you'll soon get the basic hang of it. May not look pretty at first though!

[sharky]

but mig welders use gas dont they?

whats the 1 with the clamp that doesn't use gas?

[mach1rob]

Yeah migs use gas, but only to stop the oxydation while welding, all you have to worry about with that is turning the gas on Arc welders use a clamp (as do migs) and a rod coated in flux

[MGTurbo]

You can get gasless MIG's but the wire is very expensive and the end result is not as clean as a proper MIG weld with co2/argon gas.

You need a Mig with at least 100 amp's, gas model, Clarke, or SiP are well known names, get a good one, will last a very long time.

MIG welding is very easy, a few practice runs and you'll see. No.1 most important rule is cleanliness of the metal.

Gareth

[sharky]

would this be any good? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... tegory=633

[sharky]

ok then, how about this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... tegory=632
how long does the gas last?

[mach1rob]

Pros and cons for both, and as Gareth said no gas wire is expensive, personally I'd go for the second one out of the two. Depends on how much you use it, but gas should last a good while

[sharky]

ok then, how about this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... tegory=632
£150
brand new,
comes with everything?

[MGTurbo]

Looks ideal for most things on car bodywork. Good price too.

Gareth

PS gas last's a lot longer if you undo the regulator everytime you use it