driving me mad

[46645x]

ive read almost every thread regarding mig gas/gasless on this forum and also been on machinemart, welduk, halfords, etc. suppliers to find the right welder


looking for a gas and gasless welder, spend about £300 odds, minimum 25amps for welding thin metal as I'll be doing car body work, maximum say about 130amps, standard uk home domestic 230v 13a

problem is i can only find welders that start from either 30 - 130amp or 24-90amp,

I'd rather not buy 2 machines, does any one know any decent welding machines for that im looking for, also looking for non live torch option as a must,

anyone have any recommendations here?

 

[shenion]

30 amps is fine. The Clarke 130EN should do fine.

I had noe and it worked well. I used it often with 0.8mm wire on 1mm steel. If I had use 0.6mm, I could have done thinner easily.

My new machine goes lower but I found it harder to use at those settings. I ended up upping the power and moving faster. Going slow at low amps allows the weld pool to wander too much. and I blew more holes.

 

[Fazed]

30 amps will be fine for car bodywork. Use 0.6mm wire and weld in short bursts.

 

[46645x]

thats great guys, i just looked at this one as per weld uk

Clarke 130EN MIG Welder

and im going to go for that one, i read alot of negative feedback regaring the sip one that does 25 - 130 so i think il stay away from sip

clarke it is,

cheers guys

just a quick question, if im doing automotive welding how do i prevent the metal from expanding too much, is it better to tack weld then let it cool and join it up ?

 

[Fazed]

There's lots of tips and techniques explained in the tutorials up there ^.
Here a link for the thin metal technique: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/thin-metal.htm

 

[chunkolini]

Another vote for the clrke 130 amp welder.
I had one for 6 years, great at low power on thin sheet and coped well being abused at high powers for long periods.
Chunko'.