hi great site! in a summary I purchased a sip mig welder from halfrauds it was a 90 with no wire speed adjustment and 2 power settings, I am new to welding and need one for the restoration of a classic austin.I have never welded before and thought the sip unit would be ok for what i need and boy was i wrong, what a horrible machine, I phoned a coded welder i met in a welding supply shop for advice on it and the first thing he said was take it back its useless without a settable wire speed, so i returned it, he also said do not buy a welder less than 160 amps as they are useless , have poor build quality and the machines life will be reduced with anything less as it will be running on high power all the time, I did say i will only be welding less than 1mm steel however he said this was irrelevant.So i bought a sealy 130 welder(gas), my dads friend whos an engineer popped over yesterday looked at the unopened box and send sent it back that machine has to much power, you only need a small machine with 20-25 amps for what im using it for, he also said forget about learning to weld, pay someone to do it as the learning road is to long! I have now had several differnt opinions from engineers, which has left me confused!help!
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rtbcomp
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Welcome to the Forum.
The 20-25 amps minimum is the right way for bodywork, when looking at specs of machines look for the minimum amps rather than the max, also go for gas rather than gasless.
Have a look at the Clarke range for decent hobby machines, but if you want a professional machine the Portamig road would be the way I'd go.
As for not bothering to learn, that's up to you. Personally if I was you I'd have a crack.
The 20-25 amps minimum is the right way for bodywork, when looking at specs of machines look for the minimum amps rather than the max, also go for gas rather than gasless.
Have a look at the Clarke range for decent hobby machines, but if you want a professional machine the Portamig road would be the way I'd go.
As for not bothering to learn, that's up to you. Personally if I was you I'd have a crack.
the machine i have just bought is a 30-130 , if set on 30 please say this will be fine on sheet work!
another question, with the earth clamp , i know it needs to be attached to the piece that is being welded but does it need to be clamped along with a good earth i.e metal work bench or can you weld for example with the piece on grass, wood or floor? probably a stupid question i assume its just a circuit and the earth comes from the plug socket, just want to clarify!
cumbriasteve
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Hi and welcome to the forum, you will find loads of people willing to help you and never think a question is daft...you have to learn and questions is one way.
My first bit of advice is slow down a bit, so far you have bought 2 welding sets and listening to advice from just about anyone.
Forum members as a rule will give unbiased advice, knowing we can't all have the best of machines or working conditions, the answers will take that into account and be constructive to helping you get welding.
As for not bothering to learn, what do you think about that? if you interested in learning and think welding could be a good hobby, not just car work, then do it, if you have little interest and are hoping to run a few welds and get an MOT cert then perhaps it's not for you.
Look in the photo album section, there are some of the reasons we weld, apart from some members making a living out of the trade, others like myself find it a great hobby with visible results....
But be warned, first it's the welder, then a grinder, then a bandsaw looks nice, bench drill, maybe a small lathe would be handy, if I had a bigger workshop I could have a ...... etc etc etc etc etc
My first bit of advice is slow down a bit, so far you have bought 2 welding sets and listening to advice from just about anyone.
Forum members as a rule will give unbiased advice, knowing we can't all have the best of machines or working conditions, the answers will take that into account and be constructive to helping you get welding.
As for not bothering to learn, what do you think about that? if you interested in learning and think welding could be a good hobby, not just car work, then do it, if you have little interest and are hoping to run a few welds and get an MOT cert then perhaps it's not for you.
Look in the photo album section, there are some of the reasons we weld, apart from some members making a living out of the trade, others like myself find it a great hobby with visible results....
But be warned, first it's the welder, then a grinder, then a bandsaw looks nice, bench drill, maybe a small lathe would be handy, if I had a bigger workshop I could have a ...... etc etc etc etc etc
Tigman
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Hi and welcome to the forum , I have used one of these machines , it belonged to a friend who was new to welding , I went over and set it up for him and was pleasantly suprised by it ! Done a bit on the chasis for him he wasnt confident enough to do it , but he had a go at the rest of the job and once he saw what i was doing he was away !
Give it a go ! read the tutorials on here , full of good advice and tips ! Good luck
Give it a go ! read the tutorials on here , full of good advice and tips ! Good luck
point taken, i have to say the sip had no adjustment and i am glad i returned it, as far as advice from others when learning new skills that you have no knowlege of you tend to soak it all up like a spounge, as i have, but like this instance the advice i have been given has been very varied hence the confusion.I bought a welder as I WANT to learn and i hope i made the right decision with the welder i bought! thanks for your swift feedback!
Hi Signum03, welcome!
I use a Sealy welder - mightymig 190. I cannot fault it! It is a superb machine and is of comparable, if not better, quality than the Clarke range of welders. Whilst alot of people on the forum swear by Clarke, I would say stick with the Sealy (siegen) and see how you go!
Remember, practice lots on scrap before you attempt to do the job as you will only kick yourself if you dive in and make a mistake which results in you having to chop it all out and start again - been there and regretted it lol!
I use a Sealy welder - mightymig 190. I cannot fault it! It is a superb machine and is of comparable, if not better, quality than the Clarke range of welders. Whilst alot of people on the forum swear by Clarke, I would say stick with the Sealy (siegen) and see how you go!
Remember, practice lots on scrap before you attempt to do the job as you will only kick yourself if you dive in and make a mistake which results in you having to chop it all out and start again - been there and regretted it lol!
cumbriasteve
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point taken, i have to say the sip had no adjustment and i am glad i returned it, as far as advice from others when learning new skills that you have no knowlege of you tend to soak it all up like a spounge, as i have, but like this instance the advice i have been given has been very varied hence the confusion.I bought a welder as I WANT to learn and i hope i made the right decision with the welder i bought! thanks for your swift feedback!
There you are then.. you WANT to learn, that's the main criteria sorted, get some scrap bits of steel about 2 mm and start laying some welds down, don't get anything thinner to start with or you will end up blowing through.
Once you have something resembling a weld out some pics up and we will advise further.
Good luck and enjoy the journey
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
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Bizarre, I thought Hellfrauds had got out of welding gear some years back in favour of blingin' ICE, chav-tastic alloys and Chinese bicycles.
I bought my first welder (a SIP HandyMIG 90) from there in about '99 when the local store was getting rid of all their welding kit.
I bought my first welder (a SIP HandyMIG 90) from there in about '99 when the local store was getting rid of all their welding kit.
Hi thanks for all your advice so far I have another question about using gas while welding, today I started welding and it was all going well, I noticed after a while I could not hear gas coming from the gun(gas was switched on) I assumed the regulator was not open enough but it was, it turned out I had over tightened the regulator to the bottle stopping the flow, when rectified the welding was completely different the seam flowed much beeter and it had a wet look, anyway question is I have been told you can't weld at all if you have no gas however I was today and they looked ok, out of interest what problems are there without welding with gas? I have tried pulling apart what I have welded and it won't snap its very strong ?
hmm i was going to suggest adams gas, but they only do kent and east sussex.
they will courier it further though
http://www.adamsgas.co.uk/Categories.aspx?id=132
proper welding gas mind you, not CO2
they will courier it further though
http://www.adamsgas.co.uk/Categories.aspx?id=132
proper welding gas mind you, not CO2
