Buying advice

[mr flibble]

Hello,

First off, I want to say how thoroughly impressed I am by this site. Not just the forum but the excellent guides. I've already spent a few hours reading through and can't thank enough those who've contributed to it.

I'm completely new to welding; I'm looking at it for hobbiest use as I'm interested in fabricating furniture frames from 25x25x2mm box section. I'd ideally like to use aluminium (as the furniture will be used in a cellar with high humidity), but am happy to start with mild steel if a lot easier.

My understanding is that I can do this with either arc or mig welding - is it worth paying the extra set up costs for mig vs arc?

I've read that no-gas mig welders aren't as great as standard, but given the amount of welding I plan to do the lack of gas costs are appealing. I'd also like the option of welding outside, as I think doing so in the garden would probably be safer than welding in the cellar.

I've also read horror stories of ebay, and assume the £75 90A mig welder listed on screwfix isn't much better. Are all budget Clarke units 'ok'?

I'm not looking to spend a fortune, and a Clarke MIG105EN appears to be right for me: £190, no-gas (convertable to gas), 100A, fan cooled, bearable duty cycle. Is this a decent buy for the sort of work I want to do?

Finally, are there any short, weekend courses available in the west midlands? I've checked local colleges and all are either full time or evening based starting at 6pm - I can't get away from work until 7pm. If I do plenty of reading on this site and others first, do I strictly need a course before purchase and practicing on my own?

Thanks!

 

[Wayne.]

no a course is not needed but it will get you to a better standard faster what may be another option for you is if anyone one this forum is close to you and could come and give you some setup advice and spend an hour or so just showing you the ropes after a basic intro it's all down to practice and more practice and the more you do the better you will get starting off with a decent welder makes all the differance to the learning curve..i can't help with advice on the clarke machines as i have never owned one.

 

[xboxjoner]

buy the best welder you can afford and one which with more power than what you want as you wont be running flat out all the time and should you need to weld something heavier you hav the kit to do it. I never took any courses and started welding old cars, 17 years later and still welding but now in the engineering industry making anything from steering columns to roll cages, trial and error and practice makes perfect

 

[mr flibble]

Thanks for your replies.

Finding a someone who knows what they're doing may be a good option / alternative to a course - thanks, will ask around.

I'm all for 'practice makes perfect' and am happy to play, once I know I'm doing things safely.

Will invesitage whether I can afford a 130-150A model - as you say it's better to have flexibility.