Buying advice

[JonBer]

Looking to buy Mig Welder.

Ive read buying tutorial on here and a few posts.

Intended use, mostly Transit van body repairs, and after would like to fabricate trailer mostly using 3mm box section.

Most people on here recommend buying the best I can afford, for ease of learning and better welds.

Budget £750 incluing ppe etc. Dont mind used but dont know what to look for.

Buying tutorial mentions buying one with contacter so accidental arcs arent a problem, dont see this mentioned on manufacturers specs.

Thanks and Regards Jon

 

[aesmith]

Buying tutorial mentions buying one with contacter so accidental arcs arent a problem, dont see this mentioned on manufacturers specs.

That might be referred to as a "non live" torch. The torch only powered when the trigger's pulled. Pretty much universal I would think, except maybe right at the bottom of the market.

Does your budget include gas? Something like £150 to start with, refills being much less.

 

[JonBer]

Budget has a little flexibility, what would the £150 be purchasing?

 

[JonBer]

I've been looking at Parweld R-Tech and GYS brands so far, they all seem to have reasonable reviews.

 

[skotl]

Welcome to the forum

You could do worse than pick up the phone to Welding Supplies Direct (site sponsor, top right of this page) and to R-Tech.

£750 seems a reasonable budget - you can pick up a helmet and gloves for less than a ton, then you'll need to spend £100 on gas (see here for BOC Hobyweld, or look at something like SGS for rent-free).

That leaves you £550 for a unit, which puts you into the MIG180 range from R-Tech or similar.

Honestly, your budget is higher than what most of us started on (I went with £100 for a used SIP and a knock-off cylinder) so don't be shy of getting on the phone to any of these kinds of vendors and asking them what they can do for you. Always worth mentioning this forum, too.

 

[jo1010]

Also bear in mind that with secondhand rtech any remaining warranty is transferable...

 

[gaz1]

Intended use, mostly Transit van body repairs, and after would like to fabricate trailer mostly using 3mm box section.

be warned you will need plenty of practice to weld the body of a transit van

ive used a sealey when welding one up and someone else has also done it with the same welder

theres better machines out there instead of clark or sealey but they can still do them

as goes for trailer you wont be making one

 

[addjunkie]

Much as I fully understand your desire to weld up a Transit van, before you spend any money, go lie under said van, and start poking it. When all the rust and other crap enters your eyes, down your neck etc, think, do I really want to be under here for days welding this. If the answer is still yes, go buy a gas mig, and required ppe etc. You want a machine that will weld at 30 amps or so for the van, and roughly 30 amps per millimeter of bigger stuff you wish to weld.

If the answer is no, buy newer van.

Dont be put off building a trailer, but the rules are much tighter now, in that they need a IVA . Building a trailer isnt rocket science, as some would have you believe, but building a safe trailer that will pass the inspection requires a bit of reading to make sure you build with in the rules. Add up the cost of all the bits todo it properly it may just put you off building one.

Vehicle approval test costs: trailers (O1, O2, O3, and O4)

www.gov.uk

 

[JonBer]

Its been 20 years since I did any welding, I did my first welding with my Grandad when I was about 12yo old he has a motorcycle repair garage and I spent almost every weekend I had watching and learning to fix motorbikes, I also spent 5 years in college and Uni studying mechanical and aerospace enigineering so trailer no problem. Already done one side of transit with my mate who has a decent welder, I''ve ground, filled and primed that side with a 2k epoxy primer so Im ready for other side now, but my mate lives 80 miles away and I have to nag him to do it, so its not convenient and I dont like nagging people, also I think I can do better, need less filler if I do it. I have and old transit door I can cut up and practice on to get familiar with the welder. Im always under that van days at a time, so crawling about under van no problem, though Im starting to feel it now Im getting older haha..

Thanks for all the useful information, think its just the case of pulling the trigger now as I always over think everything.

Regards Jon

 

[aesmith]

Budget has a little flexibility, what would the £150 be purchasing?

For gas, assuming you go rent free, there's a deposit for the bottle and a charge for the gas. Just as an example our local place does SGS gas. A 10L bottle deposit is £96 and gas £50.40. So first bottle costs £146.40. Subsequent refill £50.40.

 

[jo1010]

......but building a safe trailer that will pass the inspection requires a bit of reading to make sure you build with in the rules. Add up the cost of all the bits todo it properly it may just put you off building one.

Vehicle approval test costs: trailers (O1, O2, O3, and O4)

www.gov.uk

.....of course if you get an older (pre 2012) trailer to refurb (responsibly) then it's arguable whether an IVA is needed (although there still may be dispute over the extent of modifications in that case ) ....and IVA doesn't prove road worthiness as an MoT would anyway (they don't even test test trailer brakes).

 

[JonBer]

Yeah It costs £70 for an IVA inspection, its not hard to pass the inspection as long as its structurally sound, then you need to register it with DVLA about £25 approx so your looking at about £100. I refurbed one last year but sold it as it didnt really meet my needs, but thats a project for later in the year anyways.

Ive sent an enquiry email to R tech, lots of people on here seem to like them for a mid budget welder and also people on the forum say they have good customer after sales. Good warranty too. These Transits rust to hell, bought it to convert into camper but spent all my time so far on body work, changing wheel hubs, glow plugs(bastard), sump, brakes haha, it never stops but will get there for summer hopefully. Ive been reading this forum for a while now, some really good advice on here from people who really know their stuff. I orded a sill from ebay but they sent me wrong side, but will post picks of my progress once I finally start and hopefully get advice on my progression.

Some good options on the gas thanks. How long does 10 liters of gas last?

Regards Jon

 

[jo1010]

How long for 10L? Probably around 6hrs continuous welding...a few years ago I did discovery sills, inner wing patches and floor patching all with 10L..but do check the flow rate at the gun with pea shooter to fine tune the flow.....you need enough but not too much to be wasteful.
.....bear in mind too that the 10l cylinders are sometimes ( eg hobbyweld) filled at a lower pressure than the bigger cylinders so 20l works out more economical ....

 

[addjunkie]

A 10 ltr bottle holds about 2m3 of gas at 200 bar. So at atmospheric pressure thats 2000 ltrs of gas. You want roughly 8 lpm. So it should last 4.16 hours of continuous welding.

 

[JonBer]

Haha thnaks for the calcs, I love numbers. I'm assuming then 10 lires should last me a good while, I asked because Ive never had to fill or pay for gas as it was always free at college and Uni. Never had my own welder either so very exciting. Just been under Transit removing top rust on chassis, I came out looking like Trump, spraying with waxoil tomorrow, nasty horrible job but had to be done. Thanks for all the great info, much appreciated.

Regard Jon

 

[addjunkie]

Haha thnaks for the calcs, I love numbers. I'm assuming then 10 lires should last me a good while, I asked because Ive never had to fill or pay for gas as it was always free at college and Uni. Never had my own welder either so very exciting. Just been under Transit removing top rust on chassis, I came out looking like Trump, spraying with waxoil tomorrow, nasty horrible job but had to be done. Thanks for all the great info, much appreciated.

Regard Jon

A 20 ltr bottle though bigger is better value.

 

[ChrisBailey]

There's a port mig 185 in the forsale section now. I have the same machine with a tecarc badge, nice to learn welding with.

 

[Trevorleach]

Crosarc are worth a look, UK based/assembled as well I believe.

Had their 170 machine which did the job but was not powerful enough for what I was trying to do (welding a boat) so got the crosarc 291c which did the job nicely, also welds cars okay.

2nd hand 200a version on ebay for 450 quid, also has a 4 roller wire feed unit.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[addjunkie]

There's a port mig 185 in the forsale section now. I have the same machine with a tecarc badge, nice to learn welding with.

Its in Aberdeen on facebook. And their a tad heavy for Everi

 

[Popcorn]

Talk to @fizzy