Hello

[Jim]

I'm Jim from Letchworth, yes the avatar IS actually a pic of me.
I've got a dodgy SIP Mig at the moment (105 with gas) and Oxy Acetylene (which I prefer because it's more of an art and I like doing things the hard way) Currently I've got a 998 mini that's a rolling resto and no workshop/garage so I have to fix the thing out on the road

 

[malcolm]

Hi Jim, welcome to the forum. Without a garage probably the gas welding kit is the best bet anyway - would have thought you'd have less problems with breeze. How much work is needed on the Mini?

 

[Jim]

Thanks Malcolm. The mini needs 'quite a bit' of work as they say. The missus and I bought it 2 years ago as a bit of a wreck on eBay with months MOT on her. It failed on ball joints etc and the rear subframe which I replaced and windscreen which I also replaced. Last year however she failed on some rot on the floor and both rear quarter panels above the wheel arches. I was an apprentice motor mechanic for 2 years after leaving school but only welded at college and only with OA gear, so saw this as a good excuse to buy a MIG and learn that . As you say without a garage the MIG isn't too good outdoors when it's windy unless I can weld inside the car so I decided to get some OA gear and pick up where I left off all those years ago. The missus obviously wasn't too happy but she doesn't realise you can never have too many tools ... until I welded the floor up and replaced the quarter panels ... well one of them anyway, The genuine panel looks perfect but alas the other side was a pattern panel which needed 'slight attention' to get a half decent fit, that's going to be replaced again soon. After that I think I'll cut both footwells out and replace those as they're patched all over the place now and look a mess.
Apart from the car I like to get out in the shed and just mess about and weld up silly things like 'Metal Fuzzy Dice' I got the idea from an episode of South Park so I just had to do it, great practice for OA that one is running beads up, down, left and right. I'll have to clean them up and take a picture, I'd recommend everyone to make a set no matter what they use to weld with and they make great ornaments too.
Thanks again for the welcome
Jim

 

[Danger]

Welcome to mig central. The mini sounds like a fun project to weld on.

 

[malcolm]

The dice sound cool - I like metal art. I saw a very cool looking TIE fighter (Darth Vadar's runabout) hanging above a resturant and thought it would be very cool to make something like that. Haven't got around to it yet of course.

 

[Jim]

Welcome to mig central. The mini sounds like a fun project to weld on.

Danger, LOTS of fun ... most of the time ... I'd prefer an Aston myself but we all have to start somewhere. The mini is cheap and cheerful (at the moment, give it a few years and the value can only go one way !) if I totally screw up fitting a panel a new one isn't going to break the bank much and as long as it's structually sound it's drivable. If I hash something up and it looks terrible I can always come back and redo the job so I think it's 'sensible' to start on that. Eventually, once all the panel replacement has been done I'm going to teach myself how to spray and give it a nice shiney few coats of paint, in no way do I expect the first few tries to come out right but I can sand it back and start again, much like welding I think you have to learn how to walk before you can run (or rather I expect it to 'run' before I can 'walk' up to someone and say "I sprayed that")
As I'm sure EVERYONE on here has I've got plans for my next project, a little MG BGT, buy a wreck quite cheap, do all the work on it, then sell it on at a profit. However, I've learnt that when you put blood, sweat and tears into anything like that, you're loath to part with it ... I always wanted a BGT though

As for the dice Malcolm, they are fun to make and get many laughs from friends and family. Quick to make and instantly gratifying. Again, if you screw up making them, you've learnt and no mater how bad they are, they still look good ! Just 12 pieces of steel (or whatever metal you like) cut into (very rough) squares welded together into 2 cubes, before you weld the last square onto each cube bend a welding rod up with a circle at each end, put that into the 'dice' and weld the last plate on each to make the 'string'
You'll find you're smiling all the way through the process, which gives you much better welds PERFECT first project as you can make it as easy of difficult as you like, keep turning the 'dice' over and over so you always weld from left to right OR make yourself have to weld upward, downwards, have to bend over the work to get to the back or even hang them up to finish to get some real out of position welds ! If the worst comes to the worst, you've lost about £3 of steel and possibly your shed !
The TIE fighter sounds FANTASTIC ! Do you remember where it was ? I'm not a true Star Wars fan, I was 7 when the film came out so it's more of a nostalgia thing BUT I'd love to see it. Saying I'm not a trekky type though, do you know why it's called a TIE Fighter ?
This I remember from years back and can get you riddiculed in pubs ...
Twin Ion Engine Fighter
Saw a George Lucas Interview on TV way back when ... and NO I can't stand Star Trek ... unless it's the original with Bill Shatner ! (I grew up with that and Blakes 7 so give me a break !!)

Anyway MANY thanks for the warm welcome, I'll try to contribute where I can and I look forward to learning a hell of a lot from this forum and site, aswell as being given advice on which TIG to get should that all illusive lottery win come along

 

[malcolm]

You don't want an Aston - they are a pain in the **** to work on and fuel up etc. Driving is much like any old big Jag (which are a lot cheaper). I used to have an MGB - the danger with those is that all the parts are available, and it's sooo difficult to resist the temptation to buy all the new bits rather than re-use the old. Have you considered the fine offerings from the French?

I'm not much of a Star Treck fan, but love Star Wars. It's the philosophy that I like, and it's also great fun to assign Star Wars characteristics to your work mates. We had the perfect Yoda in one of the places I worked, and the management there was definately on the dark side.

The TIE fighter was hanging above a trendy nightclub in Paris. Can't quite remember exactly where. I think you are right with the twin ion engine thing - there are words on Wikipedia although the pictures don't seem to include the Darth Vador one with the folded wings.

 

[Jim]

I think I'll stick with minis for the moment then go for an MG when I get the cash and the time. I've never considered anything French purely because they never made anything I liked. I used to have a couple of old Datsuns, not to long ago either, about 8 years ago. A 100A and a 120Y which parts were nigh on impossible to get (no webb access for me then) and relied purely on local motorfactors haveing ancient stock of brakes, clutches etc 'out the back somewhere' which I got for a fraction of the price they once were The 120 went for scrap after about 3 years and the 100A (bless it) went about 4 years after that when I had to give up my garage at short notice, still running fine and it looked almost brand new underneath.