Biscayne
Member
- Messages
- 18
Hello. First of all, a big thank you to whoever setup and runs this forum. A few days spent here has probably saved me some expensive mistakes.
The last time I did welding was maybe 35 years ago, when I bought an interesting device that ran off car batteries. The principle was that a solenoid in the ‘torch’ pulled the stick back from the weld as soon as the arc was struck. That interrupted the current and a spring returned the electrode to the weld to restart the cycle. Of course, the electrode stuck on first contact, so the solenoid pulled my hand a little closer to the job and the connecting leads softened up a bit. This cured me of any mistaken impression that I could, or ever would be able to, weld so I left the job to a local guy who was an artist with oxy-acetylene and cheap as well.
He has now retired, so the job of keeping the old banger going is back with me and I’m (rather apprehensively) looking for MIG that can do bodywork to begin with and chassis after some practice. I’ll post on ‘Buying a welder’ but I’m thinking a Clarke 135TE or 151TE
Thanks again to all willing to share their experience here.
Steve
The last time I did welding was maybe 35 years ago, when I bought an interesting device that ran off car batteries. The principle was that a solenoid in the ‘torch’ pulled the stick back from the weld as soon as the arc was struck. That interrupted the current and a spring returned the electrode to the weld to restart the cycle. Of course, the electrode stuck on first contact, so the solenoid pulled my hand a little closer to the job and the connecting leads softened up a bit. This cured me of any mistaken impression that I could, or ever would be able to, weld so I left the job to a local guy who was an artist with oxy-acetylene and cheap as well.
He has now retired, so the job of keeping the old banger going is back with me and I’m (rather apprehensively) looking for MIG that can do bodywork to begin with and chassis after some practice. I’ll post on ‘Buying a welder’ but I’m thinking a Clarke 135TE or 151TE
Thanks again to all willing to share their experience here.
Steve