Portable Welding Gun (on Amazon) - any good ?

[ChopperBuilder]

Hi all,
Any opinions on these welding guns ? £127.99
Have decent gear but just wondering if handy to have around ?

 

[tigdlo]

Have decent gear but just wondering if handy to have around ?

Handy for what? I just can't imagine a use case that wouldn't be far better served by a small inverter with a short set of leads.

 

[eddie49]

My first thought was "What does it weigh?".
At 1.7kg it is lighter than the comparable 2.5kg "ZX7-200" mini inverters, but with these bizarre "welding guns" all of that weight is in your hand. So you will have a lump about one-and-a-half times the weight of an 18v cordless drill hanging off the back of your stinger.....

 

[sg66]

Could be handy for welding car doors up when drunk if you did silly things like that.....

 

[ChopperBuilder]

When I was young (a helluva long time ago) I remember some welding torch thingies that operated via a 12v car battery ! Often advertised in car repair magazines. My memory may be wrong but think they were called something like 'XP' automatic 'guns' that had a solenoid or spring behind the rod holder that was meant to strike and then maintain the correct arc distance - think I had one but never had a decent car battery to achieve anything. These 'cordless drill lookalikes' that I posted at the top of the thread initially gave me the impression that they might have this strike and maintaining distance feature, but I am probably wrong - now considering the "ZX7-200" mini inverters mentioned above, or even a Parweld XTS143/163 for lightweight portable quick jobby device !

 

[eddie49]

now considering the "ZX7-200" mini inverters mentioned above

The ZX7-200 ( or even "-250" !! ) used to cost 30 quid. They have gone up a bit, but there are still plenty on offer. Review here:

Review - Cheap eBay 200amp single phase inverter MMA

(very) Occasionally I will do a little MMA welding on a job that comes in. Often these jobs are too big for me to get through the workshop doors or it is easier to just not unload them from the trailer they were delivered on, etc. For the past four years I have used my dual voltage 110/240 volt...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[Cobbler]

When I was young (a helluva long time ago) I remember some welding torch thingies that operated via a 12v car battery ! Often advertised in car repair magazines. My memory may be wrong but think they were called something like 'XP' automatic 'guns' that had a solenoid or spring behind the rod holder that was meant to strike and then maintain the correct arc distance - think I had one but never had a decent car battery to achieve anything. These 'cordless drill lookalikes' that I posted at the top of the thread initially gave me the impression that they might have this strike and maintaining distance feature, but I am probably wrong - now considering the "ZX7-200" mini inverters mentioned above, or even a Parweld XTS143/163 for lightweight portable quick jobby device !

Those have cropped up on here many times, I have one sold under the Kel-Arc brand. Rawplug also did one. Tried it once & didn’t like it!. Actually that’s wrong, used with an old buzz box welder to weld some sheet & it seemed ok, never managed to get it to work properly again & then the cheap hobby migs came out, so I bought one of those.

 

[ChopperBuilder]

Do you know, I wouldn't mind trying to find one of those XP/Kel-Arc/Rawplug things now and revisit my youthful endeavours, perhaps powering now with an inverter or an old Oxford that I have - just to see if it might work for thin sheet - googled/checked ebay etc, can't find one ... I recollect now collecting a load of old used car batteries, charging them up for hours and then one fizzle and the power was gone - haha

 

[eddie49]

The Seller "does not know what this is, or what it is for":

classic car tools spot welder attachment for an arc welder 12 Volt Arc Welder | eBay

<p>Sold as seen untested don’t know what it is or what it is for </p>

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[ChopperBuilder]

The Seller "does not know what this is, or what it is for":

classic car tools spot welder attachment for an arc welder 12 Volt Arc Welder | eBay

<p>Sold as seen untested don’t know what it is or what it is for </p>

www.ebay.co.uk

Thanks eddie49 ....I've bought this ! And let's see when it arrives if I can make it work ....(or have the same frustration with it as all those years ago haha), fingers crossed