Hi, I am trying to learn MIG welding so that I am able to work on the body of my BMW E30. I have had a tiny bit of experience welding in the past and have worked with someone else when he was welding my car. I am using a MIGMATE 120 which was my late Grandpas. It hasn't been used in about 15 years so I fired it up the other day. To start with I noticed that the wire feed was intermittently working (the motor was continuously working) but there was too much friction between the fire feed motor and the weld nozzle so I ran some grease through it and its working fine now.
As for the gas supply I am having some issues which I was looking for some help with please?
1. The glass gas regulator unit which bolts onto the can is chipped. Therefore when I attach the gas bottle up to it, there is a leak.
2. After removing the CO2 bottle from the gas regulator unit, the valve on the top of the gas bottle didn't shut off. I could just see money coming out of the can! I used a pen to try and shut off the valve. After emptying the first bottle I attached the second bottle and it emptied that one too as the bottle would not shut off. Thank fully they were both CO2 so I was reluctant to trying the Argon. Are the valves not automatically closing off because they are old?
That leads me to the final question really. The glass gas supply regulator will probably need replacing and the gas bottles being emptied cannot continue. So I was wondering whether I should get a new gas delivery system?
Thank you for the help.
As for the gas supply I am having some issues which I was looking for some help with please?
1. The glass gas regulator unit which bolts onto the can is chipped. Therefore when I attach the gas bottle up to it, there is a leak.
2. After removing the CO2 bottle from the gas regulator unit, the valve on the top of the gas bottle didn't shut off. I could just see money coming out of the can! I used a pen to try and shut off the valve. After emptying the first bottle I attached the second bottle and it emptied that one too as the bottle would not shut off. Thank fully they were both CO2 so I was reluctant to trying the Argon. Are the valves not automatically closing off because they are old?
That leads me to the final question really. The glass gas supply regulator will probably need replacing and the gas bottles being emptied cannot continue. So I was wondering whether I should get a new gas delivery system?
Thank you for the help.