Anyone know about welding machines?


Jokeshopbeard

Jokeshopbeard

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A mate of mine works at a company that makes them, and said he can get me a re-con unit for a really good price. Have always wanted to get into welding, so saw this as a perfect opportunity!!

Problem is, having only welded once or twice before, I know very little about the actual hardware required. He sent me a link to his website, but there's so many machines on there I've got no idea what I'll need!! Will only be used for small jobs at home, so nothing heavy. I suspect MIG would be best for this?

If anyone knows about this subject and has a couple of minutes to take a look here:

Welding & cutting equipment

And let me know what would be suitable for doing jobs such as fitting a rollcage, welding an exhaust, etc you'd be doing me a massive, massive favour!!

Cheers!!
 
Im pretty sure for stainless welding you need to use TIG

For thin mild steel like exhausts a low voltage/Current MIG setup would be best, You will get the hang of a MIG welder in the firs 10 Minutes of using one!

Stick/Rod welding is pretty unnecessary for anything on a car although ii think its the best fun! haha!

For the Car you probably want one of the small Migs with the built in wire feeds, like this one

http://products.esab.com/Templates/T041.asp?id=137575
 
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Cheers Dunsy, I recall how easy it was to get the hang of when MIG welding years ago, hoping with a machine to hand and some material to practice on I'll get brave enough to start some interesting fabrications!!

If you need TIG to do stainless (which I'd like to do some day) can you also use TIG for mild steel? Would like to futureproof myself as much as possible!!

Rep added for the help there man, much appreciated.
 
Im pretty sure (95%) you can TIG weld Mild steel aswell yeah, i dont see why not TBH, TIG is also good for Aluminium for making custom rear diffusers ;) :nice:
 
As above, get yourself a decent small mig welding unit.
You can weld stainless with mig, but without stainless wire your just back-filling with mildsteel which will rust and look abit crap in the middle of two nice pieces of stainless.
As for aluminium, it is deffinatly best with tig and pure argon sheild gas,

deffinatly get one tho mate, have a play and try differnt wire/power settings, and you'll get the hang of when the power is too high or not enough wire.
You'll save yourself plent of money welding things which you wouldn't hve before!

Doo it!
 
Cheers Henry. So does TIG require more accessories (can't think of a better word) than MIG? I notice you mention argon sheild gas, is this a requirement for TIG welding but not for MIG?

Also will TIG handle all the jobs that MIG will (mild steel/stainless)? Would be nice to have the option to weld as many materials as possible with one machine, so that's what i'll be aiming for.

Apologies for all the questions guys, just wanna make sure I take full advantage of this opportunity and get the best machine possible!!
 
Tig doesn't require more accesorys as such, but it's harder to acheive a good strong weld. Tig is best at really thin metals, but anything greater than 1mm steel mig would be best,
As for a shielding gas, both require one. For mild steel/stainless it's co2/argon mix.

You can weld the same materials with mig as with tig, just need the correct wire.
If I were you i'd go mig, because it's easier, you can weld thin and thick metals, positional welding is easier (under a car etc) and the welding unit will most likley cost less
 
Thanks again Henry, MIG it is!!

Could I be a pain in the ass one last time and ask you guys what accessories I'll need?

Dunsy suggested this unit:

Aristo™ Mig C3000i

And it says it has an integrated wire feeder, then I guess I'll also need a torch and gas? Anything else I'll need?

Cheers!
 
yes mate, you'll need torch, gas and some 1.0mm mild steel wire!

just a quick one, you'll need a regulator with the gas bottle. to control the glas flow, i think 15psi is normal for mild steel!

:D
 
you'll also probably want a TIG with AC/DC to have the ability to weld Aluminum and Stainless Steel for pipings :)
 
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