boombang
...mess maker...
- Messages
- 37
After a lot of contemplation about which welder to buy, I bought one of these baby Clarke migs.
Previously I have used Sealey, SIP and a few unbranded machines and worked for a specialist mechanics building track/race/rally cars. My experience of mig welding is pretty limited though.
First impression of the Clarke is that it is pretty heavy - weighs more than a few "140" amp machines I have used in the past and the lack of wheels makes moving it a bit of a chore.
I set it all up in a couple of minutes and had a little play with the wire speeds, listened to the gas, got the feel of the trigger (needs a firm press to get going!). I used the standard 6mm tip and 6mm wire they provide, but am using mini-bottles of CO2 Argon mix.
All welds today were on my rallycar shell - Peugeot 205, so lots and lots of very very thin panels!
First weld was to weld up a crack left from where it was jacked under the floor by the previous owner. Cleaned it all up, started on lowest power setting with wire speed in the middle and instant perfect weld. Never have I used a welder and got such a perfect "frying" noise!
Second welds were on an area I used a slide hammer on to pull a dent out. Just had to fill in a few small holes. Low and behold the welds again were fantastic. Also did the same on a number of rivet holes, and welded a little plate under the aerial hole in the roof. Sure they all need a skim of filler but the results were fantastic. One issue with a few holes blowing, but it turned out to be me having switched the power up to 1 Max when I turned the machine off previously.
Next was the tricky upside down hole near the fuel filler neck - this is even thinner metal - unbelieveably thin as in less than a mm. On the lowest setting and a bit of care it was yet another decent weld, although I know the welds didn't give a huge amount of penetration as I was very wary of blowing through. The panel though is only a bit of bridge between two structural pieces and only there to fill a hole, so what I've done is more than enough.
Few negatives:
No wheels and in fact no feet - just seems to sit on the metal body.
Trigger sprung lacks resistance but needs to be pushed a long way - with gloves on it was a bit tricky to know when it was going to start feeding wire or how far you've pulled the trigger.
Wire roller comes set on the 8mm way round but you get 6mm wire and 6mm tip installed - not a big issue and I check anyhow, just makes no sense!
Mini-bottle is held by a worm drive clip (hoseclip) and needs to be done up tight as there is no rest for the bottle - it basically just hangs there.
Overall though it does exactly what it says (and suprisingly well) and I can recommend it.
I've seen the "Small Welder Thickness Challenge" on here and have myself some thicker metal to weld soon. It will be around 3mm, so with a bit of careful planning, cutting some V's, and building so I can weld both sides so the joins it might do it - who knows!
Previously I have used Sealey, SIP and a few unbranded machines and worked for a specialist mechanics building track/race/rally cars. My experience of mig welding is pretty limited though.
First impression of the Clarke is that it is pretty heavy - weighs more than a few "140" amp machines I have used in the past and the lack of wheels makes moving it a bit of a chore.
I set it all up in a couple of minutes and had a little play with the wire speeds, listened to the gas, got the feel of the trigger (needs a firm press to get going!). I used the standard 6mm tip and 6mm wire they provide, but am using mini-bottles of CO2 Argon mix.
All welds today were on my rallycar shell - Peugeot 205, so lots and lots of very very thin panels!
First weld was to weld up a crack left from where it was jacked under the floor by the previous owner. Cleaned it all up, started on lowest power setting with wire speed in the middle and instant perfect weld. Never have I used a welder and got such a perfect "frying" noise!
Second welds were on an area I used a slide hammer on to pull a dent out. Just had to fill in a few small holes. Low and behold the welds again were fantastic. Also did the same on a number of rivet holes, and welded a little plate under the aerial hole in the roof. Sure they all need a skim of filler but the results were fantastic. One issue with a few holes blowing, but it turned out to be me having switched the power up to 1 Max when I turned the machine off previously.
Next was the tricky upside down hole near the fuel filler neck - this is even thinner metal - unbelieveably thin as in less than a mm. On the lowest setting and a bit of care it was yet another decent weld, although I know the welds didn't give a huge amount of penetration as I was very wary of blowing through. The panel though is only a bit of bridge between two structural pieces and only there to fill a hole, so what I've done is more than enough.
Few negatives:
No wheels and in fact no feet - just seems to sit on the metal body.
Trigger sprung lacks resistance but needs to be pushed a long way - with gloves on it was a bit tricky to know when it was going to start feeding wire or how far you've pulled the trigger.
Wire roller comes set on the 8mm way round but you get 6mm wire and 6mm tip installed - not a big issue and I check anyhow, just makes no sense!
Mini-bottle is held by a worm drive clip (hoseclip) and needs to be done up tight as there is no rest for the bottle - it basically just hangs there.
Overall though it does exactly what it says (and suprisingly well) and I can recommend it.
I've seen the "Small Welder Thickness Challenge" on here and have myself some thicker metal to weld soon. It will be around 3mm, so with a bit of careful planning, cutting some V's, and building so I can weld both sides so the joins it might do it - who knows!