Need a welder on an extremely tight budget!

[Music Guy123]

Hi,

Currently don't have much money to spend on a welder, so need advice on a cheap welder (ideally I'd like to avoid the chinese things that probably aren't going to make it to the otherside of Christmas!).

I need a welder that will be able to do 2-6mm (more likely 3 or 5mm steel). Most of the stuff will be plate, box or angle. Apart from that, it's working on cars (not panels though) and for anything that can't be done by it I will need to be able to tack the metal in place by the welder so I can get it to the farm workshop and get it done properly.

I was looking on ebay, there seem to be loads of Oxford oil cooled arc welders, are these any good? I'm told they are reliable but welding wise, will they be any good? Any tips for buying one second hand?

I currently only have single phase, but the barn I'm based in used to be part of a farm area so I don't think 3 phase is too far away but would rather not, amp wise, I think the electrics might be uprated for 30 amps or so but I need to check, so if I could run it at 13 amps, that would be preferable!

Anyway, look forward to hearing your advice, all the best .

 

[shenion]

One of those old Oxford, Pickill and other oil-cooled welders will work well. As long as they are not rotted out with rust, they should last forever.

Anything that will weld more than 3mm will need more than 13 amps.

 

[Music Guy123]

Ok, how thin do you think I could go with an oxford arc welder? The cabling around the barn I'm in is about to be redone I think so can ask for high ampage capacity.

I must admit, I'm completely new to welding. I've have been taught MIG and Arc though (by two different farm mechanics, both great welders, both swear by either of the two machines!). But I will certainly need to do plenty of practice to properly get the hang of it!

Do you think I'd be alright coping with a transformer based arc welder? I guess a lot of practice?

also keeping within the 13 amp, I guess no more than 60 amps at 50V?

Cheers for your help.

 

[Wozzaaah]

You've got another thread running where you set a budget of £700, has your budget changed?
You said you'll be working on cars so forget an arc welder, you need a MIG for that.

 

[Music Guy123]

Yup, I originally had a budget for £700, unfortunately run into a couple of unforseen financial problems recently, basically something else is requiring funds, so I don't currently have the spare cash to get a portamig . So my solution is to get a cheap welder now that I can work with for a bit and do the main stuff I need to get done now and then when I have the spare money I still plan on getting a decent MIG welder (probably a portamig).

Not planning on using this welder for car bodywork , currently my cars are rust free, just I expect in the future I'll be doing bodywork as I buy more projects..!

Hope that makes sense .

 

[shenion]

As I said, those old transformer welders do well. They have a nice smooth arc even though they are AC.

You should be able to go down just under 2mm,

 

[Rig Pig]

I love my old Oxford, welds all day long, lovely and smooth. in there day they were very expensive machines. If you only have 30A available don't go above a 180A Unit & check that it has the 240v option.

 

[Orraman]

Some older oil cooled welders used a bolt on the frame for the return lead and this could cause problems with a poor earth clamp connection when the job itself was earthed.
Machines with a second knob for a fine current selector offer much better control and normally a lower minimum current for thinner steel.

 

[BrokenBiker]

if you want to do body work get a mig. you wont get a good mig and gas and wire etc on a tight budget unless you are very lucky. if you cant see yourself needing a mig for a while, get an oil cooled arc welder and use that until you can get a mig

 

[Music Guy123]

Ok, I'll try and look into see what I can find. Could you explain what you mean by the bolt on the frame for the return lead? I'll look out for the second knob for a fine selector but haven't seem many yet!

@brokenbiker, yes, that's exactly what I plan to do, don't need to do bodywork yet anyway .

Was thinking about going and taking a look at this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/oxford-ba...162?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ad6705dc2

What do you think?

 

[Bill Edwards]

That looks fine.

 

[Wozzaaah]

That looks fine.

For car repairs??!!

 

[BrokenBiker]

For car repairs??!!

he said he doesn't want to do car bodywork with it, and will buy a mig when he has the money for it.

i think this is just to get him away stick welding thicker stuff.

although if your budget could.stretch to 200 quid you can get a parweld inverter that will weld anything you want really

 

[Bill Edwards]

If you have lots of patience and enjoy doing things the hard way!
For a stick welder though, it does look fine.

 

[Music Guy123]

he said he doesn't want to do car bodywork with it, and will buy a mig when he has the money for it.

i think this is just to get him away stick welding thicker stuff.

although if your budget could.stretch to 200 quid you can get a parweld inverter that will weld anything you want really

Precisely . Am afraid I can't really stretch that far, would probably rather save the £100 and put it towards a good quality welder later. I also wouldn't mind having a good, reliable stick welder around anyway, would be nice to have for outdoors stuff and any industrial/dirty repairs I have to do.

I do enjoy do things the hardway actually! But car body work might be a step too far I think!

Cheers for all the advice guys, much appreciated.

All the best.

 

[Paui443]

There will never be any agreement on this matter. Been hundreds of similar threads. If you buy cheap chinese or Italian equipment nobody will applaud that, but I believe that you can get started on your welding career using that kind of equipment. It is true that the difference between budget and quality makes, is user friendliness.I think the different welding processes are related, they all involve high electric current and heat. That is why I think starting with an arc welder could be a good idea even if you later will move on to MIG or TIG. I have got two arc welders a Chinese BX 100 and an inverter + 2 MIGs (Fema and SIP). The BX 100 supprised me a lot ,it has an amperage range from 40 - 100. Have used this frequently and now into the 5th year with no brekdowns (exept the ground clamp connection needed tidying up). I will not endorse this welder above the Oxford welder though, the old industrial machines probably better.