Looking for a welder.

[iain cant]

Hi,
I'm currently looking for a welder and would like advice on which one to get. I am mainly going to be welding 5mm mild steel shapes together on 45 degree angles.
Here is an image of the work in progress.

Image shows steel slotted into backplate.:

http://iaincant.com/innovation

I have limited experience in using arc welders but have been advised to look at mig welders.

I have a very tight budget to work with so need value for money.

I welcome any advice.

Cheers

Iain

 

[Wozzaaah]

Mostly 5mm? You'll need a 250A + machine for that. Unfortunately 'tight budget' won't come into it, if you want to weld that sort of thickness and want the machine to be reliable then you'll have to spend serious money. Budget for around £700-800 for a decent quality machine plus a bit more for extras likie gas, wire, mask etc.

 

[FranV8]

5mm - firmly in the territory of arc elders in my opinion. Good news is that these are the cheapest welders.

Try searching out an old Oxford machine, after you've checked out if arc welding will suit your needs.

 

[FranV8]

I ve looked at your site. Arc welding from the back seems sensible to me. I'm guessing you just want stitches to hold the pieces onto the backplate? I.e. weld across the slot at the back?

 

[cumbriasteve]

If and only if you are sticking to 5mm plate then an arc machine will do you and be a fraction of the cost of a MIG

Wozzah is right with his estimate, even a Clarke 160 MIG with the required extras would be around the £500 to set up and 5mm is about it's limit, anything better and add another £250 approx.

An arc machine can be bought for £60 and will do the job if they are only short runs of weld, not as nice as a MIG and more cleaning up afterwards though.

Sometimes people are very anti the cheap buzz boxes but I used one for over 25 years years, making gates and trailers and it's still under my workbench, looks like a lump of scrap now but still works a treat, make sure it is a 'turbo' at least...that means air cooling is assisted by a fan.

 

[Wozzaaah]

A Clarke 160 would be WAY underpowered, you'd be drinking an awful lot of tea waiting for it to cool down after the thermal overload has activated.
An arc welder would do as long as you'd be happy with the post-cleaning.
It doesn't look like time is a critical factor so arc may be the way to go.

 

[Engineer]

Clarke and Portamig seem to be the only MIG sets that get regularly recommended on here! However if you keep a careful watch on Ebay you often see used pro standard sets listed, and single phase ones seem to sell for around £200-250. Arc welding isnt really feasible for what I would imagine you want to do, unless you have very little money to spend, and no real need for positional welding (overhead arc isnt that easy!).