Home welding kit

[Liokault]

Ok what kit is everyone using to weld at home?

I have used loads of professional kit (I was a professional automotive sheet metal worker for years) but I have never used a home kit…

What is the minimum I need, ideally using standard domestic power supply.

The job I’m looking at is a mx5 sill. Will probably only use it for a week (three areas of rust to fix) then never look at it again, so ideally as cheap as possible.

[chrisch77]

Unfortunately repairing a rusty car body means working with thin sheet steel, so the cheapest (MIG) welder may be a false economy due to the lack of control (i.e. on/off current) meaning you are more likely to blow holes in it. Cheapo welders are OK for thicker sections but can be a disaster for thin sheet.

I would suggest a mid range inverter MIG should be your starting point. I have an R tech MIG 180, which is around £400 to buy new.

[brman]

chrisch77 said:

Unfortunately repairing a rusty car body means working with thin sheet steel, so the cheapest (MIG) welder may be a false economy due to the lack of control (i.e. on/off current) meaning you are more likely to blow holes in it. Cheapo welders are OK for thicker sections but can be a disaster for thin sheet.

I would suggest a mid range inverter MIG should be your starting point. I have an R tech MIG 180, which is around £400 to buy new.

More like £500 now which becomes 600 to 700 when you add gas, protective kit etc. Sounds like a lot just for a (hopefully) one off job.

I would have thought that, if you are experienced with a welder even a cheap inverter stick welder would do the job? Or an inverter gasless mig? I say inverter as they are cheaper now and tend to go to lower currents. Although even with my old clarke transformer mig I can do pretty thin sheet if I do a series of tacks rather than a continous weld. Though with continuous welds I am quite capable of burning through 2mm sheet.....
What is the phrase? "A grinder and paint makes me the welder I aint"

[steveo3002]

i get by with a clarke mig90 , fine for bodywork repairs , no doubt wouldnt stand up to non stop use but its done me well for the odd repair here n there

[boombang]

I own a Clarke Pro 90, for anything thin it's perfectly useable so long as fill wire is clean, tension on reel not too tight etc. It's passively cooled so on longer jobs I've had to bodge a fan to help keep it running ok. It's only got 4 power settings but that's not been a major issue in use. For anything thicker than a couple of mm but not structural I've ground the join diagonally and filled, worked out very neat.

I've used other welders (including an expensive one that used to get raved about a decade ago) and the results were not worse than any other, especially for the money - it just lacks that fine control and outright power.

[Krikkit]

I have a Supermig 150 which is great as it has a 30A mode which is good for thin stuff.

You're welcome to borrow it if you're in the NW OP.

[Liokault]

Krikkit said:

I have a Supermig 150 which is great as it has a 30A mode which is good for thin stuff.

You're welcome to borrow it if you're in the NW OP.

Appreciate it mate, but I’m south.

Is there a valid option to commercially rent domestic welders from tool hire?I had a bit of a look but it’s all over kill.

[steveo3002]

cheaper to buy and resell your own welder vs trying to rent one...

[Chris32345]

Ifs it's just a one off job you'd be better for as much prop work yourself as you can e.g strip Interior grind paint off around area then get a garage to do the welding rather spend a few hundred in a welder

[alabbasi]

The UK has 240v in all household sockets which should give you plenty of amps for anything you need on a car. The cost of decent welders has gone down considerably with Chinese companies spitting out decent quality inverter welders at reasonable costs. I would not bother with transformer welders these days.

I don't know what brands are out there in the UK, we have Lincoln, Hobart and Miller as the three main brands and those are the ones that you can't go wrong with because you'll find parts for them 50 years from now. But the Chinese welders are pretty good these days as long as you understand that it might be hard to get some parts for them after a few years. It's a trade off between buy once cry once or or get a cheap new one today and a cheap new one in 10 years should it break.

My only suggestion is that whatever you buy. Don't buy a gasless MIG and get one with at least a 9ft Cord and more than just 4 power settings. Inverter welders make more sense because they're smaller and lighter which make them easy to move around and their duty cycle is pretty good compared to similar price transformer welders.

Edited by alabbasi on Friday 1st April 00:35

[finishing touch]

Buy a better MIG second hand, then if you buy wisely you can sell on for what you paid for it.

Effectively you can do your job for the cost of the consumables used, even hand the gas cylinder back
if you get one from Hobbyweld.

[Liokault]

finishing touch said:

Buy a better MIG second hand, then if you buy wisely you can sell on for what you paid for it.

Effectively you can do your job for the cost of the consumables used, even hand the gas cylinder back
if you get one from Hobbyweld.

I have looked at that, anything worth buying is always miles from my house and welding kit is always collect.

Still, I’m in no great hurry, so this robably what I’ll be doing…still not sure what I’m looking for really In a home kit.

[finishing touch]

Liokault said:

I have looked at that, anything worth buying is always miles from my house and welding kit is always collect.

Still, I’m in no great hurry, so this robably what I’ll be doing…still not sure what I’m looking for really In a home kit.

I have a Lincoln 210 set up with 0.8 wire for 3 to 6mm, and a Migatronic 180 set up with 0.6 wire for car body type work.
I found that Sod's Law applied in that the next job was never the same as the last. They are still worth what I payed for them.