mig welder

[Stuart h]

Morning all.
1st post so go easy on me!


Been thinking of getting a mig welder and running it of a generator.
Found a welder: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/mig160en-turbo-no-gas-mig-welder
and running it of this generator:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/2-8-2-8KW-6...UTF8&qid=1422787626&sr=8-2&keywords=generator

Any one used that comberation at all?

Would the generator be powerful at all??

 

[Bill Edwards]

The generator needs to be at least twice the output of the one you link to, ideally a little more (3x). Welders really test generators, and petrol ones struggle more than diesel.

Just a quick question - what are you planning to weld? If hoping to do thin metal then consider gas rather than gasless, make sure you buy the gear that's right for your work the first time. Ask plenty of questions on here!

 

[Stuart h]

Cheers Bill. I work on the railway. Been looking at a picking up a welder and a subutial power sourse that I can move from point to point. Im not sure on what set up to use!

 

[Stuart h]

would this be ok at all?
http://www.gumtree.com/p/generators...-generator-6000w-1-x-110v-1-x-240v/1095509048

sorry for the dumb questions. I don't want to end up wasteing money on a generator that doesent have enough poke to it!

 

[daleyd]

First things first:

What is your budget
What are you hoping to weld
Do you have any welding experience?

I'd start by picking the most suitable welder and from there picking a generator to suit.

 

[Stuart h]

im looking at doing general welding. Budget wise spending as little as possible! Ive got no experience at all welding wise.

 

[daleyd]

Ok, what material would you be welding. Mig is limited with regards to thickness, if you intend welding thick material (more than say 3-4mm)then arc welding may be more suitable. For a given size of welder you can weld thicker material with arc. You can do it with mig but it takes more preparation and multi passes etc

Conversely arc is not as suited to welding car bodywork thickness material, and is a little trickier to master.

If buying mig then you also need to consider gas rental as you will need argon/co2 mix. You can use gas less wire but it's not as easy to use and isn't as pleasant to work with as gas set up.

 

[Stuart h]

Cool. You can tell I don't know much about a welder. Im also looking at doing a welding course as well. That should help!

 

[Stuart h]

oyx-acetylene. Is that arc welding at all?

 

[Richard.]

oyx-acetylene. Is that arc welding at all?

Nope. Arc welding (mma)(manual metal arc is usually known as stick welding. It's done with consumable electrodes which have a surrounding flux covering the metal core, this flux burns producing a slag over the weld protecting it from atmosphere. No gas required. As delayed said perfect for thick section steel , not good for thin stuff and requires skill to be good at it especially out of position.
Regarding your generator question I work this out on max amps x max OCV then double it for welding power surge then x that by .6 assuming a 60% usage. It's a rough but safe guide to working out a gen capacity for a welder. For your Clarke 160 I work out to use it to its potential a 9kva gen to run it. Expensive eh and heavy.

 

[Bill Edwards]

would this be ok at all?
http://www.gumtree.com/p/generators...-generator-6000w-1-x-110v-1-x-240v/1095509048

At a push it'll probably manage to power a 150a welder such as what you've linked to, it will be its limit though.

As you're completely new to welding and don't really know which type of welder you need it would be helpful if you can detail the type of welding you will be doing.
Are you talking about indoors or outdoors?
Thicker or thinner than 3mm?
Do you need to carry the equipment (is weight a big factor)?
Are you looking at big jobs or just a few inches of weld at a time (some welders don't work for long before they overheat)?

There are a lot of things you may need to consider buying as well as the actual welder.
Angle grinder
Discs
Decent welding helmet
Gloves
Gas (sometimes)

Oxy-acetylene is gas welding, quite different to arc welding. In certain environments it is hard to beat, and it has the advantage of being able to cut and heat metal as well.
However, it is only practical for welding thin material, the bottles cost a lot of money to rent and some insurance companies don't like acetylene as it can be very dangerous. Not used for welding by many.

 

[Stuart h]

im glad I asked you lot

 

[Cobbler]

Sorry to butt in on this, but reading as an outsider, I think the OP is getting confused by gas welding, ie oxy/acethylene & mig welding with gas as distinct from no-gas mig welding using flux core wire.

 

[Stuart h]

just a bit confused!

 

[daleyd]

A good place to start would be the tutorials in the banner above for mig and arc welding.