Hi Guys,
So, my Story; Took my car for an MOT, at my regular garage. They have a new guy who seems a bit zealous and wants to find as much wrong with a car as possible, even though they know I'm not gonna give them the car for repairs as I do them myself. My usual tester used to let things go with an advisory, knowing I will be sorting things out later.. But not this guy.. He failed the car on the rear sills, both side and yes, after i sanded down, there was rust holes.
So I ask them to do the welding.. They said they don't do it, although they have a MIG machine with a huge cylinder.. I'm assuming they are not skilled at welding sheet metal. Got a couple of recommendations and a quote for £150 for Patch welding. But no one was willing to do the welding... they were either busy or could not be bothered during covid Lockdown I'm assuming.
I thought I could probably do the welding myself, as I do most DIY and Car repairs and I didn't fancy a patch, rather a butt-welded repair which would look better after repairs completed and would be a seemless repair.. So I bought the Clark 151en MIG welder because it had the option of Gas Welding if I needed it, but I would use Gasless welding, and as my car is 2000 plate, so 20 years old, I'm sure there would be more welding to do in the future. SO from the £150 quote, and no one willing to do my repair, and watching loads of videos and doing research into what I needed within the 10 day MOT retest, I decided to buy the Clark 151en Mig Welder for £260 + Helmet £40 + Chipping Hammer £3, 0.8mm Flux-Cored wire £9.99, Gauntlet gloves £7. If I had more time, I wanted to buy a more modern Inverter MIG welder but none were gonna come in time, (so picked one up from Machine Mart), but that is by the by now I suppose. After reassurances from reading posts and watching videos, I felt sure the Gasless Flux Cored wire welder, would do the job.. How wrong I was !!
I started practicing on car sheet metal, 0.8mm thick, and so far, after day 4, I am still blowing holes with the 0.9mm bundled wire. I tried the 0.8mm wire and same results !! The 10 days retest time has expired, so now I am not hurrying anymore. In hindsight, I could have waited for the newer inverter type MIG welder.. Looks like this DIY car repair, is now gonna cost me more than the car is worth.. This experience is costing a pretty penny, especially as I am now considering an Argon Co2 Gas cylinder, Regulator and 0.6mm wire. That's another £200 including cylinder deposit....
More info to follow..
Bob.
So, my Story; Took my car for an MOT, at my regular garage. They have a new guy who seems a bit zealous and wants to find as much wrong with a car as possible, even though they know I'm not gonna give them the car for repairs as I do them myself. My usual tester used to let things go with an advisory, knowing I will be sorting things out later.. But not this guy.. He failed the car on the rear sills, both side and yes, after i sanded down, there was rust holes.
So I ask them to do the welding.. They said they don't do it, although they have a MIG machine with a huge cylinder.. I'm assuming they are not skilled at welding sheet metal. Got a couple of recommendations and a quote for £150 for Patch welding. But no one was willing to do the welding... they were either busy or could not be bothered during covid Lockdown I'm assuming.
I thought I could probably do the welding myself, as I do most DIY and Car repairs and I didn't fancy a patch, rather a butt-welded repair which would look better after repairs completed and would be a seemless repair.. So I bought the Clark 151en MIG welder because it had the option of Gas Welding if I needed it, but I would use Gasless welding, and as my car is 2000 plate, so 20 years old, I'm sure there would be more welding to do in the future. SO from the £150 quote, and no one willing to do my repair, and watching loads of videos and doing research into what I needed within the 10 day MOT retest, I decided to buy the Clark 151en Mig Welder for £260 + Helmet £40 + Chipping Hammer £3, 0.8mm Flux-Cored wire £9.99, Gauntlet gloves £7. If I had more time, I wanted to buy a more modern Inverter MIG welder but none were gonna come in time, (so picked one up from Machine Mart), but that is by the by now I suppose. After reassurances from reading posts and watching videos, I felt sure the Gasless Flux Cored wire welder, would do the job.. How wrong I was !!
I started practicing on car sheet metal, 0.8mm thick, and so far, after day 4, I am still blowing holes with the 0.9mm bundled wire. I tried the 0.8mm wire and same results !! The 10 days retest time has expired, so now I am not hurrying anymore. In hindsight, I could have waited for the newer inverter type MIG welder.. Looks like this DIY car repair, is now gonna cost me more than the car is worth.. This experience is costing a pretty penny, especially as I am now considering an Argon Co2 Gas cylinder, Regulator and 0.6mm wire. That's another £200 including cylinder deposit....
More info to follow..
Bob.