Advice needed on first welder

[Grant Walton]

Hi so I'm 17 and I've recently been taught to arc weld by my boss and I'm looking at getting a welder for myself to use at home. My main use will just be for doing repairs on gates and other such things but I want to be able to do some bigger projects once I get better. I've had a quick look about and I like the look of the small portable ones and found this http://www.amazon.co.uk/GYS-GYSMI-130P-Welder-France/dp/B00AC3XHVO and I'm not sure if it's any good or if I should be buying off amazon. Also how much welding do you think someone needs to do to warrant a welder

Thanks for your help and any Advice is much appreciated.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Welcome to the forum.

>>>Also how much welding do you think someone needs to do to warrant a welder<<<

No easy answer to that, to have the ability to weld can save and make money, can be an interesting hobby and can be something you don't do for months and then be busy for a day.

The GYS are a decent brand, Amazon will know as much about welding as brain surgery, much better to buy from a dedicated welding equipment supplier who could provide some after sales support if required.

The set you have shown is an arc welder as you probably know, no problems with that unless you want to do thin metal welding such as car bodywork.

 

[Grant Walton]

Thanks for your help and I shouldn't be doing much thin metal welding really I'm a farmer so I will be more interested in trying to make gates or maybe like a bake grab once I'm a bit better are there any websites you recommend for buying welder at? And thanks again

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Hey Grant, If you're doing some stick welding on a farm a Parweld XTI 160 from Weldequip will do the trick.
I know plenty of farmers who use them for bucket repairs, gates etc..

Great little machine to start with

 

[Grant Walton]

right thanks Tom are weldequip a good website to deal with?

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Never dealt with them myself but they're the people who sponsor the site. Steve knows his stuff & frequently posts on the forum, drop him a pm I'm sure he'll sort you out.

 

[Grant Walton]

Thanks I think I will price some up and see because I think for the Parweld XTI 160 I will need an adaptor from a standard plug to a 240v one but I'm not sure but thanks again and I will try and find Steve

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Standard plugs in the UK are 240V Grant, it'll happily run of a standard 13A plug you've got in your house mate

Steve's username is @weldequip, drop him a PM, he'll sort you

 

[Grant Walton]

For some reason I thought it had said that it needed the different kind of plug but hopefully it is just the standard 3 pin plug and I can ask Steve about it

 

[Tom Orrow L]

I promise you can run it off a 13A household plug as I've seen it done

 

[Grant Walton]

Yeah your right Steve said I will need a 16 amp supply if I want to go over 140 but the biggest rods I will be using are 3.2mm so I should never need to really go over 130 and if I do I have a 16 amp generator if I really need to

 

[Grant Walton]

I'm pretty sure it's a 16 amp generator but Electrics arnt my strong point so as long as I'm able to run the 2.5 and 3.2mm rods off mains electric with a normal plug in going to be happy

 

[Grant Walton]

Thanks for the advise

 

[DeadSquirrel]

The XTI 160 is supplied without a plug. I bought mine from Direct Welding Supplies in Telford. Good price and they would negotiate. Used on 13A supply about 120A is top but that allows you 100% duty with 3.2mm rods. I'm pleased with it, I hadn't done any welding for years but it is forgiving.

 

[addjunkie]

I run a similar thermal arc machine of a 13 amp plug, no issues with 3.2 rods have actually run 4 mill a couple of times.

If your going to use a generator, make sure welder states generator friendly. For that size machine at a guess youd need about 6kva generator. Note i say guess. Also a generator with some kind of decent voltage regulation.

Where abouts in northumberland are you going to be welding up these gates and such.... I live in northumberland. But what i will say is if these gates are farm gates, of modern quality, sticking them back together with a stick isnt so easy.

 

[Grant Walton]

The Hexham area and they Aren't really the best gates we tend to try and reuse as much metal as we can and we have gates that my boss has made from scratch. I also have sheets of metal going onto the floor or a trailer which I think will be better to do first as its one long straight line and I haven't really done to much welding as I've just learnt in the last month

 

[addjunkie]

Im up the North Tyne, well my house is.

Well if your boss is a farmer like my neighbour you best learn to explain that you cant weld rust no matter how good you are. And rods kept in a damp barn also isnt a good idea.

Sheet on the floor of a trailer will need good support, espescially if anything heavy is going in there. Ive fixed a few trailers over the years if you get stuck, post some pictures sure advice will be readily available here

 

[Grant Walton]

Right thanks and yeah we usually will grind rust off and we are just welding a new floor onto the old one to save time and the frame is still all good so it should work out good but if I get any problems I will come and ask