Budget Gas less mig welder

[Yazza54]

Have decided it's time I bought a welder, doesn't have to be anything fancy, compact and simple hence not wanting something that requires a tank.

Realistically it will only be used for rough and ready repairs or tacking bits together for someone else with better skills/equipment to finish off. For example I need to build myself an exhaust on a GTM Libra kit car and it should be fairly simple but it needs doing on the car, I'm perfectly capable of cutting it all to size and fit right, tacking it up and letting someone do a nice job of finishing the welding. Otherwise it means taking the whole car to someone which is just a massive ballache, so it's these kind of things I'm trying to avoid!

With this in mind it won't be doing any massive jobs so I don't want something that's overkill and will be blowing holes in everything. I think the tubing on the exhaust is around 2mm wall thickness, something like that..

Any recommendations??

[E-bmw]

Don't go no gas, especially for light work they are not so good.

These are pretty good & about the cheapest gassed mig around.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wolf-Mig140-Welder-Gas-N...

[Yazza54]

Do you have one of those?

Looks like it needs a 16A commando plug/socket

[Yazza54]

Also what's the score with welding stainless? Especially if there's any bits that are a mixture of mild and stainless, different wire required?

[E-bmw]

To weld stainless you need to use 100% Argon gas & stainless wire.

I don't have one, but have used a rental one before, they are cheap reliable & much better than gasless.

[Mr2Mike]

Yazza54 said:

Do you have one of those?

Looks like it needs a 16A commando plug/socket

Why do you say that? It will work of a standard 13amp socket, just as my 150Amp Clarke does. You might have get the occasional trip at the highest current setting if you have particularly sensitive breakers but mines been fine.

Gasless can have it's uses (e.g. welding outside in a breeze), but it leaves a messy weld covered in flux that needs to be cleaned up. If you don't use it often, a small disposable bottle of CO2 will last you ages, (provided you don't forget to turn the regulator of). I welded an entire Locost chassis on one 600g bottle. If you must have gassless then buy a convertible machine that can also be used with gas.

E-bmw said:

To weld stainless you need to use 100% Argon gas & stainless wire.

Pure argon does not work well for MIGing stainless. You need a small percentage of an oxidising gas to stabilise the arc, Argon/O2 or Argon/CO2 mix is the cheapest and most common.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Tuesday 26th April 09:10

[E-bmw]

Mr2Mike said:

Pure argon does not work well for MIGing stainless. You need a small percentage of an oxidising gas to stabilise the arc, Argon/O2 or Argon/CO2 mix is the cheapest and most common.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Tuesday 26th April 09:10

Sorry to disagree Mike, but I have welded several full length stainless exhausts from scratch & only ever used 100% argon. Whilst a few (maximum) percent of CO2 can be advantageous as you say almost all commonly available disposable bottle mixes are around 80-85% Argon, this is WAY too much CO2.

Look at the bottom of this one.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-gb/support/weldi...


Bottom of this one too.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/stainless.htm


Middle of this one.

http://www.gowelding.org/welding/mig-gmaw/stainles...

[Mr2Mike]

E-bmw said:

Sorry to disagree Mike, but I have welded several full length stainless exhausts from scratch & only ever used 100% argon. Whilst a few (maximum) percent of CO2 can be advantageous as you say almost all commonly available disposable bottle mixes are around 80-85% Argon, this is WAY too much CO2.

Sounds like you are agreeing with me? I certainly didn't suggest a 15% CO2 mix was suitable, but you can buy the correct gas mix pretty easily.

You obviously CAN weld with pure Argon, but from my own experience having the correct gas gives a noticeable improvement.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Tuesday 26th April 17:52

[E-bmw]

If you think I am agreeing, you really need to read what I am saying not what you think I am saying, so I will try again.

You said "pure argon does not work well with stainless" I said "I have welded several full length stainless exhausts from scratch & only ever used 100% argon" that is a disagreement.

I qualified it some more by saying you CAN use a small percentage of CO2 but virtually all commonly available disposable gas cylinders (the OP is talking about a hobby mig) have 80-85% argon which is WAY too much by even your opinion.

Going by EVERY bit of information I could get from the internet 95% + of Argon is the only way to weld stainless, therefore as 100% argon is pretty much the only available gas falling within this range that is the decision made for you.

Unless of course you can find me some disposable gas cylinders 95-99% argon.

[Yazza54]

Thanks for the info, I've managed to get a welder borrowed to do the immediate job of sorting the GTM exhaust but I am still going to look into getting one myself eventually

[hidetheelephants]

Yazza54 said:

Thanks for the info, I've managed to get a welder borrowed to do the immediate job of sorting the GTM exhaust but I am still going to look into getting one myself eventually

Direct yourself to Mig-Welding.co.uk for good advice and a strong risk of upselling; you may end up being persuaded that you need a Portamig.

[Mr2Mike]

E-bmw said:

If you think I am agreeing, you really need to read what I am saying not what you think I am saying, so I will try again.

You said "pure argon does not work well with stainless" I said "I have welded several full length stainless exhausts from scratch & only ever used 100% argon" that is a disagreement.

That means nothing. As I have already said, you CAN weld stainless with pure Argon and I have used it in the past, but the correct gas results in noticeably better welding. I don't know if a suitable gas mix is available in disposable bottles, but it certainly is from suppliers that do rent free refillable bottles which works out vastly cheaper.

From Lincoln welding

Lincoln welding said:

Therefore, you do not want to use a completely inert shielding gas, such as 100% helium or 100% argon for stainless steel MIG welding. The arc characteristics would be poor.

I guess you know more about MIG welding than Lincoln.

[normalbloke]

Argoshield light will work perfectly well as a shielding gas on mild steel and stainless. Unless you're planning to weld critical pressure components, the Argoshield will be perfectly adequate for stainless exhausts and the odd bracket.

[Yazza54]

Getting the mig on loan tonight just to tack the exhaust up when cut to size - it's got enough stainless wire but my mate says it may need more gas. Which would you recommend from these small disposable bottles 80 argon 20 co2 or 100% argon??

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/garage-work...

Don't know anywhere else I could just get it off the shelf

[E-bmw]

As I said earlier, 80% argon WILL PRODUCE CRAP welding.

YES, you should (as I also said, but was ignored) have a couple of percent of CO2/O2, unfortunately this is not available (as I also said) in disposable bottles, so you need 100% argon if you are using disposable (which I also said) bottles.

Not having a go at you, just those that don't listen/read properly.

[Yazza54]

Thanks

[E-bmw]

Double the price, over 3 x the gas if you can wait a couple of days.