Oh so many questions!!

First post here so Hi to all.

I am going to have a go at welding. The reason being that I won a few older cars and am getting fed up trying to find a decent welder every time one of them fails the MOT. Not only that, I am spending a fortune getting stuff welded.

I am very practical, can do just about any other job on a car so this would be a great skill to learn.

I will be welding stuff like sills, wheel arches and the odd patch on chassis box sections

I am thinking from my research that a gasless mig welder is the way to go, but please feel free to voice your opinion on this if I am wrong. I do have th option of working inside or out but would probably prefer to be outside to start with, just in case.

Your input on some/all/any of the below would also be greatly appreciated.

1. what welder should I be looking to buy? Make recommendations and power size would be helpful.

2. Is 1mm sheet steel the right material for these kind of repairs?

3. What size flux core wire should I be looking to buy?

4. Any recommendations for a welding mask? again make and type would be useful

5. apart from the welding unit, the wire, and the mask, What aother kit should I be looking at?

6. I am guessing I already have alot of the tools required for the kind of work I will be doing, but what tools do I need to cut and form the metal into the shapes I will need?

7. I am obviously going to learn what I can and practice on scrap first, but are there any short courses for welding? I would need them to be in the Essex/east London area.

8. to protect the cars electrical circuits during welding, do I simply disconnect the battery or is there more to do?

Many Thanks all.

Answer to no. 7:

Crawley College do an excellent 10 week Mig course for under £200

Edit - Sorry, just saw you put Essex area .... doh

Hi,

Welcome!

Originally Posted by new2welding

1. what welder should I be looking to buy? Make recommendations and power size would be helpful.

2. Is 1mm sheet steel the right material for these kind of repairs?

3. What size flux core wire should I be looking to buy?

4. Any recommendations for a welding mask? again make and type would be useful

5. apart from the welding unit, the wire, and the mask, What aother kit should I be looking at?

6. I am guessing I already have alot of the tools required for the kind of work I will be doing, but what tools do I need to cut and form the metal into the shapes I will need?

7. I am obviously going to learn what I can and practice on scrap first, but are there any short courses for welding? I would need them to be in the Essex/east London area.

8. to protect the cars electrical circuits during welding, do I simply disconnect the battery or is there more to do?

1) I'd recommend the Clarke sets. A Pro 90 is the cheapest and will handle bodywork and sills. If you want to go up to say 6mm (you never know) then the 150 TE is a good all-round model.

2) 1mm, or maybe slightly more or less, 0.9 to 1.2mm no problems.

3) for that gauge you'd be better off with 0.6mm standard wire, used with gas.

4) send a private message to Weldequip (a member here) for an auto darkening mask. I wish I'd had one when I first started.

5) a flow-gauge regulator and a big bottle of Co2 or argoshield. Weldequip can quote you a good price for the reg, first rate service too.

6) a grinder, well they're so cheap now I have three with different disks. I know I always have one if the one I'm using burns out and it saves swapping disks all the time. Use flap-disks for tidying up, they remove paint, spatter and some of the rougher weld without taking too much bodywork away. Use ultra-thin cutting disks for cutting out, or a cheapo jig-saw. Use standard grinding disks if the weld or the bodywork is in really bad condition.

Also a few mole grips, or clamps. A hammer, and a couple of different length cold-chisels for poking metal into shape 'on the car'. You can get away with folding metal in straight lines with a couple of lengths (say 1' or 30cm) of angle iron clamped in the vice or to the workbench and tap the metal around it.

A power drill and a selection of decent bits. This is an area that never really stops. I've been adding tools to my kit as required over 40 years!

7) dunno, I'm a bit 'north' of there!

8) it's advisable to disconnect the battery but some will argue that you don't need to...others will suggest you disconnect the engine-management module too.

I'll disconnect the battery if I'm working around the engine bay but probably not if I'm down the back-end. It's probably more important to think about the current flow and where you put the earth clamp, near the work is best, make sure it's a good clean contact area, etc.

That'll help to stop stray currents running around the car looking for a way back to the welder.

Read the excellent tutorials on here, play around with scrap and post pictures for advice, that's the best way to start.

Regards
Peter

Thanks for the replies, especially Peter, what a comprehensive list.

I'll have a look at the Clark pro 90.

Would the 90en Gas less version be any good? There is the possibility of me picking up a second hand one if it is.

Cheers

If you plan on doing bodywork, then gasless will be useless. Gasless is too hot for thin metal.

The Clarke 90EN will be good, the Pro 90 has a bit better duty cycle.

I'm still pretty new at this, but I have received so much help and support, I figure that I should offer some too perhaps. My single piece of advice would be to get the best that you can afford and then a bit more. Welding is one of those things which grows and soon enough, no matter what your position is now, you'll grow into needing something better. Even an extra £20 spent on the next model up can be worth it. I had never used a mig in my life and spent £500 on my first one. I actually think that this has allowed to me reach a much better standard of welding than would have been possible otherwise - I'm not battling against the machine. The smoother the feed and better the torch, the easier that welding thin metal will be. It will look more professional too. But there is always paint for that!

FF

I'll 2nd FF

gasless is rubbish go for gas you get a much better quality weld

and go for the most expencive welder you can afford because now with my 130turbo welder it is always hitting the thermostat because i am welding steel that is too thick and when it is on full power it dosent take long to hit the thermostat

but always buy a make you have heard of before

4] about the mask i have got a normal hand held one and a normal head one my lenses are always black and i prefere using the hand held one because if you are doing little fiddly bits it is easier to use

5]some welding gloves are handy somtimes but somtimes they are a pain in the back side but if you dont want to spoil your clothes either wear overalls or you can get leather welding apron and an angle grinder with a flap disc and a hacksaw thin disc

8]and on this one with my landrover we disconnect the battery and the altenator

Thanks for the continued advice.

So I am now thinking something from the Clark range maybe in the 130-150 amp bracket that works with gas.

Sound about right?

Yes, 130-150A is a good range. I had a CLarke 130EN and wanted a bit more, 150 would have been good. It depends on your needs. For auto body work, 130 may do even for light frames.

I was working on trailers with 1/8" steel and the 130 was at its limit. A bit of V-prep and it was fine.