Mattycoops43
Member
- Messages
- 119
- Location
- Newport, South Wales
Hi Everyone.
I have been on here on and off for a while, I came on a couple of years ago and had loads of help modifying my Sip Mig so it now welds pretty well.
Well, in the summer i went self employed and started my own little business servicing trailers. I have set up under the umbrella of 'General Engineering' as I am a one man band, and generally enjoy repairing and restoring things. I am a very keen Dinghy sailor/instructor, so I am spending a lot of my time mending boats, tinkering with outboards, and modifying boat trailers to fit different boats better.
I have 25yrs experience restoring cars/landrovers and motorbikes, building custom motorbikes, spoked wheel building and generally repairing whatever is put in front of me. I have self taught almost everything I do, I tend to come across a process I need to learn, go and read up on it, get the equipment and have a go. Much easier these days with youtube.
I did my first welding 25yrs ago when I worked for a small company installing industrial equipment and got to have a play with an ancient ac arc welder. I then used one to restore my first series one landrover chassis, but pretty soon moved onto mig.
Probably over 10 years ago now I bought a SIP 140T from Halfrauds, purely because I didn't know any better, and struggled on with it for years. Then a couple of years ago I came on here and found out about the mods. I did the wire drive support mod, gas solenoid, and separate PSU for the drive motor. Then recently I fitted a complete new drive motor and gearbox, higher voltage PSU for it, and an Abincore Binzel 5m Eurotorch (MB36pro) which meant converting the machine to euro fitting. and I yesterday, fitted a 5m earth cable to go with the torch. I also added some strengthening rails along the bottom of the sides and some square tube across the front to support the castor wheels as the case was sagging from the weight of the machine.It is now welding beautifully. I am sure an expensive modern mig will work better, but I have to say, the satisfaction of using a welder I built 50% of myself is huge.
In an effort to improve my welding I have been watching a lot of youtube videos lately. Mainly because the type of work I am doing has changed. I used to do mostly car bodywork and some bike frame stuff with the mig, but now I am mostly welding 5-6mm stuff on trailers. I was looking at getting an arc welder, but YT pointed me at modern inverters, so I have just bought myself a Parweld 142. I love it, and am really enjoying having a play and getting better at arc welding.
I put a topic up here:
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/trying-out-my-new-parweld-142.87823/#post-1271855
Anyway. This is not an advert for me, I am coming here to improve and learn, so I am very open to suggestions and comments to improve either my talent, or my kit. I would like to go into tig welding at some point, but need to wait till I can afford some kit that is worth having. Not making a lot of money at the moment as I am building up a customer base.
I would love to make friends with anyone local(ish) who is into sticking metal together. If I can do anything to help fellow forum members feel free to get in touch. Happy to teach things like wheel building etc to anyone who is interested.
Matt
I have been on here on and off for a while, I came on a couple of years ago and had loads of help modifying my Sip Mig so it now welds pretty well.
Well, in the summer i went self employed and started my own little business servicing trailers. I have set up under the umbrella of 'General Engineering' as I am a one man band, and generally enjoy repairing and restoring things. I am a very keen Dinghy sailor/instructor, so I am spending a lot of my time mending boats, tinkering with outboards, and modifying boat trailers to fit different boats better.
I have 25yrs experience restoring cars/landrovers and motorbikes, building custom motorbikes, spoked wheel building and generally repairing whatever is put in front of me. I have self taught almost everything I do, I tend to come across a process I need to learn, go and read up on it, get the equipment and have a go. Much easier these days with youtube.
I did my first welding 25yrs ago when I worked for a small company installing industrial equipment and got to have a play with an ancient ac arc welder. I then used one to restore my first series one landrover chassis, but pretty soon moved onto mig.
Probably over 10 years ago now I bought a SIP 140T from Halfrauds, purely because I didn't know any better, and struggled on with it for years. Then a couple of years ago I came on here and found out about the mods. I did the wire drive support mod, gas solenoid, and separate PSU for the drive motor. Then recently I fitted a complete new drive motor and gearbox, higher voltage PSU for it, and an Abincore Binzel 5m Eurotorch (MB36pro) which meant converting the machine to euro fitting. and I yesterday, fitted a 5m earth cable to go with the torch. I also added some strengthening rails along the bottom of the sides and some square tube across the front to support the castor wheels as the case was sagging from the weight of the machine.It is now welding beautifully. I am sure an expensive modern mig will work better, but I have to say, the satisfaction of using a welder I built 50% of myself is huge.
In an effort to improve my welding I have been watching a lot of youtube videos lately. Mainly because the type of work I am doing has changed. I used to do mostly car bodywork and some bike frame stuff with the mig, but now I am mostly welding 5-6mm stuff on trailers. I was looking at getting an arc welder, but YT pointed me at modern inverters, so I have just bought myself a Parweld 142. I love it, and am really enjoying having a play and getting better at arc welding.
I put a topic up here:
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/trying-out-my-new-parweld-142.87823/#post-1271855
Anyway. This is not an advert for me, I am coming here to improve and learn, so I am very open to suggestions and comments to improve either my talent, or my kit. I would like to go into tig welding at some point, but need to wait till I can afford some kit that is worth having. Not making a lot of money at the moment as I am building up a customer base.
I would love to make friends with anyone local(ish) who is into sticking metal together. If I can do anything to help fellow forum members feel free to get in touch. Happy to teach things like wheel building etc to anyone who is interested.
Matt