Reccomend a decent gas / no gas MIG welder

[Harg88]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a dual gas / no gas mig welder. Mainly so I have the option of both.

Budget is £150 - £300.

I've got a rusty Mk1 mx5 to weld but also have some fabrication projects in mind so want to be able to weld up to 4 / 5 mm thick.

Any advice appreciated

[B'stard Child]

Buy cheap buy twice - I did that

A good welder will last you a lifetime and will be easy to learn and improve with

A cheap Chinese box mover with make you frustrated with lack of progress and question your own abilities and frustrate the heck out of you

Up your budget - clearly you want to repair your own cars as a hobby get something decent

[GC8]

Good, fabrication and gas / flux core are mutually exclusive. Clarke 151 Turbo or a 160 is the entry level for decent and useable. They cant be converted though.

[Hol]

I still (hardly ever) use the same Clarke 100E I bought 25years ago to weld up Escorts, banger racers and hotrods. Its been borrowed and used by loads of my mates in recent years as they get rid of kit that they assumed they would never need again.

[finishing touch]

No such thing as a decent no gas welder.


When I was a coded welder making vessels we had Murex come and demonstrate a machine costing many thousands.


The guvnor told them afterwards that if we sent work out looking like that we'd never get another job.

[B'stard Child]

finishing touch said:

No such thing as a decent no gas welder.

Arc Welder???

finishing touch said:

When I was a coded welder making vessels we had Murex come and demonstrate a machine costing many thousands.


The guvnor told them afterwards that if we sent work out looking like that we'd never get another job.

I must admit I did run out of gas once and had a little job to do so used flux cored wire that came free with the SIP for it

It fogged out the garage and took ages to clear

The welds were OK but looked utter crap

I ground it all out and did it again when I got some gas and binned the rest of the wire

So broadly I agree

[B'stard Child]

GC8 said:

Good, fabrication and gas / flux core are mutually exclusive.

Did you mean aren't???

[996Keef]

Good Lord don't bother with flux. Get a pub co2 bottle and regulator and crack on.

An MX5 won't need many amps, just make sure you get back to shiny metal and go hot and fast., zap zap zap.



4/5mm thick is a different matter , 150a would do it, but you'd have to V everything and it wouldn't be much fun.

[B'stard Child]

996Keef said:

Good Lord don't bother with flux. Get a pub co2 bottle and regulator and crack on.

An MX5 won't need many amps, just make sure you get back to shiny metal and go hot and fast., zap zap zap.

I'd say get a bottle of Adams Argoshield light - CO2 is fine on the thick stuff but the arc is unstable at lower amps (ie on thin stuff) and decent gas on tinfoil metal makes a huge difference

996Keef said:

4/5mm thick is a different matter , 150a would do it, but you'd have to V everything and it wouldn't by much fun.

At least 185 would be required for thicker work I would say - I've welded up to 5mm with my Portamig 185 and it didn't need the highest setting (1 more to go)

[996Keef]

Was trying to stay within OP's budget , but yeah agree with your points.

I'm used to co2 and can do a nice job down to about 0.8mm thickness with a .6 wire and a couple beers , any thinner or soberer and I start to blow through

[B'stard Child]

996Keef said:

Was trying to stay within OP's budget , but yeah agree with your points.

I realise that however if everyone says yeah you can get something that welds bacofoil to 5mm thick steel and you can get it for £300 the OP will think it's possible

996Keef said:

I'm used to co2 and can do a nice job down to about 0.8mm thickness with a .6 wire and a couple beers , any thinner or soberer and I start to blow through

I learnt with CO2 and a cheap box mover welder that was 15 amp on min - on 0.6mm wire and 1 mm sheet it was terrible to get any sort of control the arc was too unstable - 0.8mm wire and argoshield light it was completely controllable

Even my portamig hates 0.6mm wire and CO2 - on 0.8mm it's beautiful and so easy to control.

I still have a bottle of pub gas and if I'm doing some box section framing or making a gate I'll swap to that rather than use argoshield because the splatter doesn't matter or can be easily cleaned without affecting strength

At £150-£300 budget I would not be looking at new - I'd be trying to find something old but servicable

[GC8]

B'stard Child said:

GC8 said:

Good, fabrication and gas / flux core are mutually exclusive.

Did you mean aren't???

No. You can’t have them all.

[Harg88]

Thanks for the replies,

Sadly the budget is fixed, I've got a list of tools that I'm trying to kit the garage workshop out with. Plus any more and it will be worth more than the MX5 itself :-)

I'm coming round to the idea of gas, are the small bottles ( machine mart style ) worth it, or am I better off getting a 1/2 decent refillable one?

I'm also thinking of going 2nd hand to get time better spec, 4 -5 mm would be novelty feature, in reality 3mm is probably the max I need for the projects in mind.

I've seen a Clarke 135 te for sale with a trolley. Gas bottle, reg and mask for £350. Might see if there's a deal to be had

Edited by Harg88 on Thursday 6th September 23:19

[B'stard Child]

Harg88 said:

Thanks for the replies,

Sadly the budget is fixed, I've got a list of tools that I'm trying to kit the garage workshop out with. Plus any more and it will be worth more than the MX5 itself :-)

Unfix it - postpone other purchases and put money to something that will last you a lifetime

Harg88 said:

I'm coming round to the idea of gas, are the small bottles ( machine mart style ) worth it, or am I better off getting a 1/2 decent refillable one?

I'm also thinking of going 2nd hand to get time better spec, 4 -5 mm would be novelty feature, in reality 3mm is probably the max I need for the projects in mind.

I've seen a Clarke 135 te for sale with a trolley. Gas bottle, reg and mask for £350. Might see if there's a deal to be had

Go on www.mig-welding,co.uk

They have a sections on welding machines by brand

The quietest sections indicate the best welders

Steer clear of SIP

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/new-us...

Don't ask me how I know this

[paintman]

Harg88 said:

Thanks for the replies,


I'm coming round to the idea of gas, are the small bottles ( machine mart style ) worth it, or am I better off getting a 1/2 decent refillable one?

I'm also thinking of going 2nd hand to get time better spec, 4 -5 mm would be novelty feature, in reality 3mm is probably the max I need for the projects in mind.

I've seen a Clarke 135 te for sale with a trolley. Gas bottle, reg and mask for £350. Might see if there's a deal to be had

Get a decent refillable one.
Mine's a Clarke 151EN which I converted to a eurotorch a couple of years ago.
I tried the no-gas flux when I first got it as it could originally do both but it was rubbish & I don't think it would work with flux core now I've converted.
I also use Argoshield Light & it's much nicer to work with than CO2.
Strategically placed sheets of cardboard (old boxes) or hardboard will help reduce wind blowing the gas away.
Auto-darkening mask is an essential.

[GC8]

B'stard Child said:

Steer clear of SIP

Poor wire feed?

[B'stard Child]

GC8 said:

B'stard Child said:

Steer clear of SIP

Poor wire feed?

And a million other things

[Harg88]

Any one got any experience of a sealey super mig 180.

Found one with a euro torch and large bottle of gas that's the top of my budget. But wondering if its worth the £

Cheers

[Harg88]

Any one got any experience of a sealey super mig 180.

Found one with a euro torch and large bottle of gas that's the top of my budget. But wondering if its worth the £

Cheers

[Hol]

Harg88 said:

Thanks for the replies,

Sadly the budget is fixed, I've got a list of tools that I'm trying to kit the garage workshop out with. Plus any more and it will be worth more than the MX5 itself :-)

I'm coming round to the idea of gas, are the small bottles ( machine mart style ) worth it, or am I better off getting a 1/2 decent refillable one?

I'm also thinking of going 2nd hand to get time better spec, 4 -5 mm would be novelty feature, in reality 3mm is probably the max I need for the projects in mind.

I've seen a Clarke 135 te for sale with a trolley. Gas bottle, reg and mask for £350. Might see if there's a deal to be had

Edited by Harg88 on Thursday 6th September 23:19

Where do you live?

I’m shorty clearing out any tools that do not fit out of sight, in the new cabinets I’m buying. Basically I’m going for a show room space type garage as I don’t have time to tinker like I used to.


That includes the bigger rolling tools like my engine hoist, engine stands, ramps, rolling cabinets and the welding stuff.

Edited by Hol on Monday 10th September 18:26