getting a welder...advice

[rezpkt]

Well done mate, I just completed a short course on ARC and OXY and now have a small cigweld arc.
I'm sure I will be looking at a MIG once completed the FEB course though.
TAFE is probably the best way too approach welding especially if it's free

One tip I could give is stay at it, practice and regular welding every week is your best option or you will loose your fine touch
It is also worth your while to use flip helmets while learning but also try/buy auto helmets. Automatic helmets (although costly) are the bees knees and something worth spending every $ on.

[AFeral]

For welding Gal. I find flux core work very well. Still gives off the nasty gasses but a good weld is possible.
Most gasless wires for DIY stores are pretty poor quality. Go to a proper welding shop and buy some flux core wire. The results are good they do however require more amps compared to regular gas welding.

[flylux]

Also consider an inverter stick welder. They are light and compact and produce a very clean smooth arc. The BOC one for $309 works fantastic and is very easy to use. Remember with a mig you need to pay gas bottle rental at about $150/year + gas @ about $75/ bottle depending on bottle size. Gasless wire is not worth bothering with IMHO.

Yeah i'd check these out too if I were you. I just bought a Cigweld 170 inverter and been using it to do mods to my trailer. Its bloody awesome.
$439 on sale from toolies.

Fine amp adjustment, 5 up to 170.
Very light weight and compact
Leads included all in a kit box with the welder
Capble of TIG welding if you buy the kit

[lokka]

Also consider an inverter stick welder. They are light and compact and produce a very clean smooth arc. The BOC one for $309 works fantastic and is very easy to use. Remember with a mig you need to pay gas bottle rental at about $150/year + gas @ about $75/ bottle depending on bottle size. Gasless wire is not worth bothering with IMHO.

Yeah i'd check these out too if I were you. I just bought a Cigweld 170 inverter and been using it to do mods to my trailer. Its bloody awesome.
$439 on sale from toolies.

Fine amp adjustment, 5 up to 170.
Very light weight and compact
Leads included all in a kit box with the welder
Capble of TIG welding if you buy the kit

Yep the cig inverters are great i have a 141 vrd set up as a tig for doin staino and steel its briliant and easy to use only drama with tig tho you must use gas wich is no great hassell i use the argo on both my welders on the migomag for alloy and with the tig the argon dose the job for both

[Nuckingfuts]

doesnt drinking milk after welding gal neutralise the effects of the fumes?

[zagan]

doesnt drinking milk after welding gal neutralise the effects of the fumes?

Yeah it helps but it's more for Gal fumes than anything else, suposed to give a lining so that you don't get gal fever but if your doing dipped Gal milk an't going to do jack with that stuff.

My suggestion is if you have to weld dipped gal all day long is not to do it in the first place, no matter what the money is, just not worth it.

Mild steel is pretty fine to weld with fume wise.

Aluminium fumes are worse than Gal fumes I think.

Here a little PDF about welding fumes anyway that I found.
http://www.ascc.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/F15 ... sGases.pdf

I've had the Ozone in mild effects

Speedy glas and Optral helmets have filter belts and compressed air filters that flow into the helmet, I've tried one on, I'm thinking of getting one just for the cool air and cleaner air.

They are just a bit clostly though they were $1200 just for the optral air filter system.

no idea what the filters cost or how long they would last for.

[Nuckingfuts]

i didnt imagine it then, thats the main thing

[crozza]

Best way to weld Gal is to rub the top coating off with an abrasive disk/paper.
Will weld heaps better, but still a black snotty metal to weld.
I use it mostly for throwinf away down the ztip where it belongs.

[bogged]

Buy a stick welder

-much cheaper
-can weld heavy guage
-no gas required

... but not as pretty and can be difficult to weld thin gauge material.

You got one?? Happy with it?
thinkin of gettin one for small jobs roudn the house, makin a few small bits for the trailer, and 4b...
dont think I can justify a grand for a MIG to sit in teh shed for 364 days a year.

[philhod]

With all the threads you have just bought back to life Bogged, I'm guessing your pretty keen to buy a welder.

I have a Uni-Mig 172 running gas. Over the last couple of days I have been making a set of sliders for my Patrol. The mig is great to do most of the welding on the tube because it is only 3.2mm wall thickness. I had to break out the old arc welder to make the brackets that wrap around chassis because they are 10mm plate.

If the welding you are wanting to do is up to 5 or 6mm the Uni-Mig 172 is a good value quality welder at about $850. Just don't ask to much of it and it will serve you well. I wouldn't get any smaller. My Father in law was around today and was telling me he is looking at a 130amp. I talked him out of it because I know it will be too small for the welding he will want to do with it.

If you haven't done much welding before and want to weld thin wall stuff don't buy an arc. You will just get the shits with it and it will sit it's life out in the back of the shed. Best to learn on some thick steel first to get the hang of it. They take a long time to master properly though.

Migs are so much easier to tack your job together too. Just put the wire where you want to weld and press the button instead of waving the stick around trying to strike an arc in the right spot.

I think if you bought a 220amp mig it will weld everything you want. Your starting to talk a few bucks now though.

[Emo]

I've got an old CIG stick welder that does a decent job. I'm currently looking on eBay for a reasonable second hand MIG. It'll only be for home use so I don't need anything with huge amounts of grunt and I want it to be reasonably portable. I'm looking at a Coppermate 170 at the moment which will suffice for what I want. I had a bid on a Lincoln 170 last week but they go for a fair amount of coin so I was way short. I'm looking at spending around $500.

[bogged]

I've got an old CIG stick welder that does a decent job. I'm currently looking on eBay for a reasonable second hand MIG. It'll only be for home use so I don't need anything with huge amounts of grunt and I want it to be reasonably portable. I'm looking at a Coppermate 170 at the moment which will suffice for what I want. I had a bid on a Lincoln 170 last week but they go for a fair amount of coin so I was way short. I'm looking at spending around $500.

thats sort of my limit, for something that I wont use more than 2-4 times a yr, but dont wanna rely on others to fix things for me.

[phil94delica]

A smaller welder can weld thicker material if you take your time and go slow. You can also just grind the edges at an angle so you can get a stronger weld.

I have a little 130A cig with gas and it is good for what I do. Most fabrication like slider and exhaust etc are only think tube so the 130A is plenty.

A bigger welder is faster but if your only learning then you will be slow anyway.

If you do plan on welding 6mm plus on a regular basis then you will neede a bigger welder but then you also need more money.

Also if you get a bigger one you may also need to get a 4mm circuit and 20A power point in your shed which is another few hundred dollars so it can start getting expensive.

If your only doing odd welding on your 4wd a 150A would be enough for most stuff.

[bogged]

Gas cylinder rental - I was told $40 a mth for an E size, is that correct?

[phil94delica]

I have a migshild bottle and I think its about $70 a yr. Its about 3 ft tall so what ever size that makes it.

[zagan]

I've got an old CIG stick welder that does a decent job. I'm currently looking on eBay for a reasonable second hand MIG. It'll only be for home use so I don't need anything with huge amounts of grunt and I want it to be reasonably portable. I'm looking at a Coppermate 170 at the moment which will suffice for what I want. I had a bid on a Lincoln 170 last week but they go for a fair amount of coin so I was way short. I'm looking at spending around $500.

Go to a welding shop they do sell second hand welders as well, depending on what they have at the time, they can have something very good for around a grand or less.

A mate managed to pick up a second hand 240amp MIG, single phaze for a $1000 from a welding shop, he waited for a little while before something came up but they may also give you a ring when something your after is in as well.

[Weiner]

Gas cylinder rental - I was told $40 a mth for an E size, is that correct?

I have an E2 size and last bill was a bit over $13

[Patroler]

Gas cylinder rental - I was told $40 a mth for an E size, is that correct?

Maybe if you only want it for a month, mines about 130-140/year from memory, thats straight argon (tig) from linde, also you can get aluminium bottles, from memory they were dearer to hire - and some companies only had those.
As far as chinese welders go, i recommend them, if you arent using them every day theyll be fine, theres a few reputable dealers on ebay, as far as things stuffing up go, a lot of them have interchangeable parts with name brand welders - my tig uses a binzel torch, there are probably more parts in a mig to go wrong tho.
I like the tig/stick combo, can weld very thin stuff with tig or go to inverter stick 200A and weld thick stuff fast.
If you've only tried the old buzz box stick welders have a go at an inverter one before you get anything, you'll be suprised at how smooth and easy they are to use.

[Patroler]

Yea, i have a chinese TIG/stick 200A unit, goes great, only thing is that it doesn't have the pedal to control the amps like the big 300A lincoln at work.
Great for 1.6 stainless sheet/tube, great on mild also, really nice on stick mode - inverter, nice smooth easy to start arc, I mainly use 2.5 or 3.2 GPs on stick or 316LSI or ER70S4 on TIG.
Heaps of power for what you'll need, i've welded plenty of 5-6mm mild, including a HF antenna bracket (TIG) to hold a Barrett auto tune and its withstood the 7 foot antenna vibrating over plenty of corrugations.

[scuba steve 22]

i have a sp 170 if your interested

cheers steve

[rowenb]

Anyone using a kemppi 180 minimig? Had it for six months and does a whole range of jobs but yet to try ally or stainless on it yet. Would love to have a 3 phase pulse for ally migging but how many people have them in their shed?

[mnemonix]

If you don't plan to weld under 2.0mm, stick to an arc.
The little 130/170amp Cigweld weldskill models are brilliant.
~$350-$450 depending on model and whether you want a case etc.

Inverter Arc, with TIG option if you decide to add it down the track. (And that covers your thin metal needs also).
Light enough to pick up with 1 finger.

I've used mine for everything from exhaust pipe/snorkels to heavy plate. In a home workshop it's not like you need 300 amps and a 3phase unit.

We use them at work for all kinds of running ship repairs where we don't need to bust out the fully auto Fronius mig.

130 model can use a regular 10a home power point. 170 requires a 15a circuit.

Whack some Austarc 16tc rods in it and away you go. Idiotproof.

[mnemonix]

A decent inverter arc with appropriate quality rods needs SFA cleaning.
None of this bashing your workpiece to death with a slag hammer and leaving splatter in every direction - thats been left in the good ol' days of buzzbox stick welders.

I can chip the slag off the top of a weld in one piece and the lightest of taps. At times the wirebrush is good enough to do the job.

[TheOtherLeft]

Does anyone know of good welding videos to watch online? Tony Welding was awesome but he's taken them offline.

[zagan]

Is this the sort of machine they'd use in the Quintrex etc etc factories making tinnies? Often wondered what they use..........

Boat joints use MIGs using TIG is silly as you'd spend all day welding the hull.

say you have a 6 meter boat hull and you need to do 5 or more hull length welds going to be a bitch doing 30+ meters of welding with a TIG.