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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:
--- Quote from: carracarra13 on October 16, 2008, 17:16:10 ---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?
--- End quote ---
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.
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