not shure where to put this

[carracarra13]

please fell free to move this as not shure were to put it, my question is how hard is it to weld well with a mig welder,? why I ask is im thinking of buying one and what type would you recomend?

[V8MoneyPit]

Once you have a feel for setting power and wire feed rates, using a MIG is straight forward. As with everything, practice makes perfect..... or in my case practice makes acceptable.... ish!! My 13 year old son had a go a few weeks ago. First weld was a mess..... second attempt was as good as i could produce  :shock: But that's kids for you. Too smart for their own boots  :lol:

Your choice of machine depends on what you aim to use it for. If you want to do chassis welding, you will need a reasonably powerful one. My SIP 130 was always a bit on the limit for the heavy weight stuff on the chassis. It could be used, but I had to allow it to cool every so often. Otherwise the thermal cut out would trip. I would recommend a 150 Amp as a minimum to make life easy with heavy gauge work.

If you are only ever going to deal with thinner gauge steel, a smaller one would be fine.

Then the question of gas vs. gasless.
If you are only ever going to use it occasionally, consider a gasless one. The reels of wire are rather expensive, but you don't have to pay for gas.
If you anticipate using it more, it is worth getting a proper regulator and renting a bottle from BOC or similar. Use 5% Argon mix for general mild steel work. It is far superior to co2.

The SIP machines tend to suffer drive wheel slipage. Mine does. But it is 20 years old now! Not bad for a budget machine. I've just converted the torch liner to steel from plastic one that was fitted. A worthwhile mod.

And buy an auto darkening helmet. They are getting much cheaper these days and worth every penny.

There are some good tips on this web site:
www.mig-welding.co.uk/

If you want to have a play, you are welcome to have a go with mine.

I'm currently playing with TIG welding aluminium..... Now that's a totally different ball game!

[MuddyMike]

please fell free to move this as not shure were to put it, my question is how hard is it to weld well with a mig welder,? why I ask is im thinking of buying one and what type would you recomend?

Take a look at
http://www.expertvillage.com/video/11041_mig-welding-how-works.htm

You will find several more there as well.

Bin Weldin

[carracarra13]

 thanks m8, I might well take you up on that m8,

[Range Rover Blues]

How much will yo use it> if it's for you RRC then I'd suggest about 120 amps will be fine, it'l go weak enough for the thin stuff but still do 2.5-3mm.  Another point to ponder is that the cheaper ones don't have big wire feed motors and 5kg reels are just over twice the price of 0.5kg reels, but if your welder can't hack it.....

Also worth a turbo model, the fan keep the transformer cool.  Mine has a duty cycle of 20% and sometimes I hit that, but morover if you keep the thing coolit will last you longer, I'd had mine about 17 years now.

[V8MoneyPit]

How much will yo use it> if it's for you RRC then I'd suggest about 120 amps will be fine, it'l go weak enough for the thin stuff but still do 2.5-3mm.  Another point to ponder is that the cheaper ones don't have big wire feed motors and 5kg reels are just over twice the price of 0.5kg reels, but if your welder can't hack it.....

That's good advice. Forgot about that bit! The inertia in a new 5kg reel can be a problem on my old SIP 130. The wire can slip on the drive wheels. I've done a couple of mods which improve it though.

My comment on using a 150 Amp comes from mine tripping the cutout all the time when I was doing spring towers and chassis work on the old 110. If you stretch the budget to something of this power it's effective duty cycle would be greater because you aren't pushing it's limits. Most modern 150's will go low enough for 20 swg mild steel welding too.

[simdeb]

I have had both my welders for a long time , i use a stick welder for heavy duty work and find it easy to use on big stuff , then use the mig for smaller stuf , have moded both by fitting bigger fans on and they are still going strong after many hours of work . If you are not going to to do much you dont need to spend loads used a cheap stick unit of a friends as he thought it was fautly but just not got the power set right for the rods, thats got to be the hardist part with both setting your speeds and power but practice makes perfect , dont start on thin stuf as you will just blow holes in it it takes practice to weld on that

simon

[bilge rat]

Once you have a feel for setting power and wire feed rates, using a MIG is straight forward. As with everything, practice makes perfect..... or in my case practice makes acceptable.... ish!! My 13 year old son had a go a few weeks ago. First weld was a mess..... second attempt was as good as i could produce  :shock: But that's kids for you. Too smart for their own boots  :lol:

Your choice of machine depends on what you aim to use it for. If you want to do chassis welding, you will need a reasonably powerful one. My SIP 130 was always a bit on the limit for the heavy weight stuff on the chassis. It could be used, but I had to allow it to cool every so often. Otherwise the thermal cut out would trip. I would recommend a 150 Amp as a minimum to make life easy with heavy gauge work.

If you are only ever going to deal with thinner gauge steel, a smaller one would be fine.

Then the question of gas vs. gasless.
If you are only ever going to use it occasionally, consider a gasless one. The reels of wire are rather expensive, but you don't have to pay for gas.
If you anticipate using it more, it is worth getting a proper regulator and renting a bottle from BOC or similar. Use 5% Argon mix for general mild steel work. It is far superior to co2.

The SIP machines tend to suffer drive wheel slipage. Mine does. But it is 20 years old now! Not bad for a budget machine. I've just converted the torch liner to steel from plastic one that was fitted. A worthwhile mod.

And buy an auto darkening helmet. They are getting much cheaper these days and worth every penny.

There are some good tips on this web site:
www.mig-welding.co.uk/

If you want to have a play, you are welcome to have a go with mine.

I'm currently playing with TIG welding aluminium..... Now that's a totally different ball game!

 got my welder from machine mart . good little unit . practice makes better . i would get a good mask though mine i got with the welder aint so good. just a thing about the argon mix . i find it easier to weld with co2 i find argon seems to flair back . am i using to much gas ?.alan

[V8MoneyPit]

Not sure about the gas volume, but when I changed to the Argon mix years ago, it instantly transformed the weld quality.

[carbore]

My points having tried very recently to weld the mud guards back on my trailer is its even harder than you think!

I rate the site www.mig-welding.co.uk previously mentioned so try them

Lots of people (for hobby stuff) rate the clarke, but very close second seemed the Ceobra Pocket Turbo 130 which is what I went for. This was partly becuase the man in the BOC shop was very helpful and nice and I also got a deal on it (fee extra gas and exra wire)  He said a few things about remembering to get "tips" and and if It goes wonky I can take it back and ask whats up.

In addition to the unit you need a mask, I took the advice on the site and got an auto darkening one, v.nice BOC one retails around £70 but was part of my deal ( I think he did it cost as the cheaper one was not in stock)  Basically when you start off and need three hands and trying to nod down a mask etc wont make it any easier. Alos yo need gloves and some form of verall as you dont want hot metal flicking down your pants/chest.

Form an economy pointof view id have been better of getting a local welder to do it, but thats not the point (ps my misses got me mine it for Christmas!)