Newbie welder needs adivce!

[AE86]

Well first off i want to say a big hello to everyone out there!
and to the main point! lol i need to get a welder tomorrow and have 3 options for my price range both of them are clarke and can be collected within 10 mins drive (Bournemouth)

Clarke 205TE (Turbo) MIG Welder £411
Clarke 165TE (Turbo) Mig Welder £305
Clarke MIG175TE (Turbo) £352 (Cant find a link to it.)

Now im mainly doing car fixing and rebuild a toyota corolla ae86 from japan and needs alot of welding! I will post pics as i do the work but if you go to AE86.tk you can see the car there.

Anyhow im also after a good auto dark welding mask/helmet. As i have done some welding before and its a pain in the ass to keep moving the visor and i allways end up missing what i want to weld. So im after some adivce on the best helmet uptop 100 quids =) idealy i would like a OPTREL or a SPEEDGLAS but as long as its good and safe i guess anything is ok! also if it looks nice helps lol as i dont want to look like the Tin Man lol
Any help would be great! thanks

 

[weldequip]

The 175TE actually out-performs the 205TE! I know the 205TE has more top end power (only +15amps) but you don't need that for your type of work; look at the Duty Cycle figures:- 205TE 60% @ 80amps, 175TE 60% @ 85amps!
I can vouch for the 175TE, a cracking little set with a bank of smoothing capacitors that give a really nice, crisp arc.
As regards electronic headshields, I have available the ESAB Eye-Tech II 10,11 model @ £98 delivered, which are a top-end quality headshield.

weldequip

 

[Haze]

thats one mingin mask :O

 

[AE86]

cool well in that case the 175te sounds good. i will be doing a fair amount of other work as well like building a car trailer lol so im not sure if the extra amps will be handy or not. then again i can allways cut V's to improve penetration. Hay those ESAB Eye-Tech II's look crazy!
the only thing that buggs me about the 175te is that it does not take the 15kg precision wound reel.

 

[weldequip]

the only thing that buggs me about the 175te is that it does not take the 15kg precision wound reel.

It does! In fact all the machines from the 160TE up have the facility to take full size 15Kg.reels.
weldequip

 

[weldequip]

thats one mingin mask :O

A design classic my friend, like an Alfa Romeo, but then again you'd probably prefer a Mazda!
weldequip

 

[AE86]

nice! thanks for the help.
Do you have any other types of helmet?

 

[weldequip]

Parweld XR914H, which a lot of the forum members have; not in the same league as the ESAB quality wise but excellent value for money all the same...

£58 delivered.
weldequip

 

[Haze]

A design classic my friend, like an Alfa Romeo, but then again you'd probably prefer a Mazda!
weldequip

i see myself as an AC Ace man personally

besides my taste in helmet is the red BOC ones

 

[rtbcomp]

cool well in that case the 175te sounds good. i will be doing a fair amount of other work as well like building a car trailer lol so im not sure if the extra amps will be handy or not. then again i can allways cut V's to improve penetration. Hay those ESAB Eye-Tech II's look crazy!
the only thing that buggs me about the 175te is that it does not take the 15kg precision wound reel.

It might be better to get a MIG for the lighter gauges and a stick welder for the thicker stuff.

I have one of those Parweld Helmets from Weldequip and it is excellent.

(Th comission's piling up )

 

[AE86]

sounds like a good idea i wont be doing any trailer building for a while anyhow.
Ok as for gas Argon/co2 is probs the best way to go.
And as for wire Mild steel 5kg is a good start i guess but what thikness? 0.6 or 0.8? heh cant work out whats best lol

 

[AE86]

Happy days! lol the local machine mart did not have the 175te in stock so went for the 205te instead still nice welder =) just got to wait for a helmet from weldequip and im sorted!

 

[AE86]

uhh also anyone know where i can get big bottles of argon/co2 mix? i live in bournemouth so anywhere local would be sweet!

 

[Ratty]

Mr Monkey has been sniffing the gas again (judging by his silly smirk). You mind he doesn't throw up over your nice new welder

 

[FireStorm]

how much was that welder?

 

[Bigjoe]

I think www.migtigarc.co.uk in portsmouth has started doing big cylinders,its a little trek from bournemouth i know or look up your local BOC or Air Products.

 

[bright-spark]

Hi hello how are you getting on with this welder what don't you like about it and the good things you like about would help me a lot as this set up would be the type of welder I would like to get for myself... looks like a good bargain from MM at £411.23inc.VAT on there web site....

 

[lexi]

If I was going that amount I would go the rest for a Portamig.

Alex

 

[bright-spark]

If I was going that amount I would go the rest for a Portamig.

Alex

Yes looking around the forum this would be a better welder for using on the fiats and minis that I work on but I am still unsure that I need to spend this on my 1st welder but this forum has been very useful in helping me make my mind up might look at the 160TE (Turbo) MIG Welder but like using quality tools to do a job so would think saving the up the cash for a Portamig 181 would be the way to go.. as the welder will be put to good use in my workshop... I'll cary on reading my way though the posts and learn a bit more...

 

[lexi]

I think if you get the 181 ....that`s it....you will have your Mig and you prolly won`t buy or need another one. You will be able make other stuff for working on cars ........like one-off tools etc. Then you may want to buy a Tig or something else.......but I doubt you will want another Mig with the quality you already have on a Portamig.

Alex