Best Approach For Amateur

[cbjroms]

I am building a kit car which has a steel frame (similar to the Locost & Haynes Roadster) but also uses some of the donor (Triumph Herald) bodywork. I want to be able to weld patches into the bodywork, weld the frame together and weld brackets onto the frame.

There is not going to be a massive amount of welding work to be done but I want the satisfaction of being able to teach myself to do it and also the flexibility that this brings.

I have been following this forum for some months now and find it to be absolutely excellent with masses of helpful contributions. I can see that The Clarke brand of MIGs is well regarded and have been thinking of something like the Clarke 160TM for about £330 + gas.

But I have noticed that I can get a Cebora Pocket Turbo 130 for £360 and am thinking to myself that 130amps will probably be sufficient for my needs (I understand the advice to get as big as you can afford by my requirements are likely to be quite modest).

Having followed a number of Clarke and Cebora on Ebay I notice that they tend to go secondhand for around £150 which means that whatever I buy (new) is going to lose 50% of its value just sitting around my garage.

Browsing the Internet this evening I have found a nearly new Sealey 150Amp 230V MIGHTYMIG150 going for £150. So I am thinking that for an occasional, amateur user like myself this machine would be quite sufficient and at a price which is more than 50% cheaper than a Clarke or Cebora machine.

I understand that the Cebora and Clarke machines are much better, but am I right in thinking that the Sealey machine at £150 would be a good buy?

Thanks

Chris

 

[troppo]

G`day mate
Will this be the only welding your going to be doing?
I would suggest you buy a second hand unit of higher quality than a cheap new one. If your not a confident and capable welder buying a cheap unit is going to make things so much harder for you. I cant give you any advice on the individual units as i`m in Aus,but get the best you can afford and get plenty of scrap panel steel to practice on. Getting a competant welder to give you a few lessons will save you a lot of hassles and stress in the long run

 

[keith19]

Check the Sealey goes down to 30 Amps output, or lower. Some of the older ones went down to 35A, not 30A.
If it has a low of 35 or 40 A it will be very difficult to use on thin metal, and make learning a difficult task indeed. Higher up the range, on thicker metal, I have used Sealey 150 without problems.

 

[cbjroms]

Thanks for this advice.

I have been looking at a second hand Murex Tradesmig 141 but that only seems to go down to 35A so now know to avoid.

Chris

 

[keith19]

Chris, take a check to see if that Murex you have been looking at has a stitch facility. This is something a lot of the older Pro welders had, and it meant that when welding in stitch mode, the machine was switching the welding current on and off many times a second, thus giving a very controlled series of stitches which made a continuous seam, but without blowing through on thinner metal.

If it does have such a facility, ask to see it demonstrated on thin metal, it should be okay. With a stitch facility the low amperage doesn't matter so much, the current is getting switched so quickly the arc doesn't have time to build up before it's off, then on again. You can't see it doing the switching, but the results are generally pretty good, once the machine is set up.

 

[s410man]

why not buy a sh clarke 160tm

it will lose hardly any money if you buy sh

remember to budget at least £100 for wire gas helmet gloves wire brush gas etc if you dont already have them

if you are doing much welding get a big bottle as it is much cheaper