Newbie after welder advice

[Robert Matheson]

Hi all, I've enjoyed trawling through threads on your forum the last couple of nights looking for tips or pointers for a good welder suitable for my needs.

I do up cars as a hobby and over the years have paid people for the welding and in some cases used other folks welders for smaller bits and pieces. I'm going to bite the bullet and get a mig set for myself. It'll be for light panel repair and some structural. I've narrowed my search down to a Clarke 135te machine going from other people that have asked for the same sort of advice, but would like to hear some expert advice from folk with experience.

 

[cumbriasteve]

All I can say is that I have that exact same Clarke model and it does what I want with no hassle at all...simple as that.

 

[paceman1]

depends how thick the material is you want to weld I did a couple of months using a clark mig years ago welding cars with the clark was ok but I soon found I needed a better machine so I went sip 170 in think it was then a cebora then to a murex which is nice 186c
your biggest issue before welding is stuff which can catch fire so double check before you start welding I used pub gas then onto argo shield mix
good luck with the repairs

 

[Robert Matheson]

All I can say is that I have that exact same Clarke model and it does what I want with no hassle at all...simple as that.

Thanks, sounds good.

depends how thick the material is you want to weld I did a couple of months using a clark mig years ago welding cars with the clark was ok but I soon found I needed a better machine so I went sip 170 in think it was then a cebora then to a murex which is nice 186c
your biggest issue before welding is stuff which can catch fire so double check before you start welding I used pub gas then onto argo shield mix
good luck with the repairs

1-3mm would be the range of thickness I think. I've read many people describing the SIP machines using colourful words! Yeah I'm all to aware of the fire hazards when welding a car, extinguishers at the ready!

What do you mean by pub gas? Do you have experience using c02 as shielding gas?

 

[paceman1]

pub gas bottle was black co2 as it was cheap like I said I moved on quick to get a boc account which is easy
if you use a argon mix its a bit hotter so better penertration
sip was cheap made and it went wrong so I went cebora no issues then murex and I still have the machine today and its still good
have a look on boc gasses