Welder for car restoration and occasional fabrication

[adamsmitqc]

Hi all, new to the site, i am relatively new to welding and have been considering the Clarke 160TM MIG Welder, i will be using it mainly in car restoration and the odd bit of fabrication...thoughts?

i am opting for MIG for ease of use really, have some experience with TIG and ARC but am led to believe MIG will suit my needs better.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Hi all, new to the site, i am relatively new to welding and have been considering the Clarke 160TM MIG Welder, i will be using it mainly in car restoration and the odd bit of fabrication...thoughts?

i am opting for MIG for ease of use really, have some experience with TIG and ARC but am led to believe MIG will suit my needs better.

Hi and welcome, you do however need to place this in the introduction section.
Just go into the 'forum' page, scroll down and you will find it.

 

[malcolm]

Popped you into your own thread. The Clarke is a decent buy in that price range - I used one for lots of years for car work. Avoid eBay or DIY store brands as they tend not to be so useable. Plenty of reading on them on here.

It'll do up to 5 or 6mm with V prep, or 3mm without prep. For car bodywork they are useable but if you want to do a lot of French cars you'll not regret spending a little more on something with lower minimum amps and steadier arc.

Good way to double check a welder before you buy is search for the welder name in the Learning MIG section of the forum. If all the beginners with that welder post rubbish welds it's a bad welder and if they are all good it tends to be a good welder.

 

[classic2cv]

the Clarke is a good option

I bought a Clarke Clarke 151 TE ,a great buy

it does all the stuff that my old Butters did but it's nice and portable

 

[adamsmitqc]

Thanks for all the info lads, a bit more research before i buy but at the moment the Clarke 160 TM is seeming like a good option. Just gotta save a few pennies.

Where does everyone buy there gas? BOC / Air Products? I have both near by, also, will i need an argon CO2 mix or just argon?

Really looking forward to getting started, got a Triumph Spitfire begging to be worked on, good winter project, once the garage is cleaned out that is!!!

 

[adamsmitqc]

ok, so, just been looking at the 'Portamig 185'.

More money i know... about an extra £200, but is it worth spending more now for this unit, the lower min amps is appealing and a lot of people seem to favour them???

Help!!!

 

[cumbriasteve]

ok, so, just been looking at the 'Portamig 185'.

More money i know... about an extra £200, but is it worth spending more now for this unit, the lower min amps is appealing and a lot of people seem to favour them???

Help!!!

Yes deffo worth the extra, a different standard of machine altogether, I have had the 235 for a year now and delighted with it.

 

[adamsmitqc]

Hmmm...what to do ,what to do???

A question for you CumbriaSteve, are you running off a domestic supply? If welding above say, 15o amps, do you suffer power supply tripping?

Is there a way around this?

 

[malcolm]

I'm running a Portamig 185 from a 13 amp plug (that's what I upgraded to after the Clarke). I've never blown the fuse even on the high settings, but I tend to keep 0.6mm wire in there which would reduce the amps a bit.

 

[s410man]

i would say the protaamig is worth it if you are going to be doing a fair bit of welding but if its just for occassional use they maybe a bit overkill

only you can decide what spec machine you need

we can only give advice

 

[bigbird76]

Hello

I bought a SIP 130 mig welder for doing resto work on my bmw m3 and as soon as i started to weld with it i realised i had made a big mistake. I tried to get to grips with it for about 2 weeks and in the end i gave up.

Anyway i sold that and bought a Portamig 185 and have never looked back, I also had a 4M euro torch with it which basically is a 4m long lead which is ideal for doing car resto, Also a swivel head for hard to reach places.

If you can afford it i would pay the extra and get a Portamig, it is so much easier to weld with that set. and you will need low amps for welding cars which this set has. Also i made lots of things from 50mm box section it welds this no problem, All from a 13 amp plug.

Leigh

 

[keith19]

Just be clear about two things regarding the Portamig.

1. It is not easily portable, especially for lifting in and out of cars, vans, etc. Portamig is a little bit of a misnomer.

2. It does not have the facility of using flux-cored gasless wire.

If you are not going to be needing either of those features, the Portamig is the one to be looking at for home workshop use. It will probably last you for twenty years or more as a hobby machine, even if you use it 8 - 16 hours a week.

I would have got one (eventually, after some time saving up!) had I not needed a more portable machine, that would use flux-core wire when required. So I got a Clarke 151EN, which suits me and my uses fine. But if I was confined to a home workshop only, and I had plenty space, I would start looking at a Portamig.

 

[stormin]

Just be clear about two things regarding the Portamig.

1. It is not easily portable, especially for lifting in and out of cars, vans, etc. Portamig is a little bit of a misnomer.

2. It does not have the facility of using flux-cored gasless wire.

If you are not going to be needing either of those features, the Portamig is the one to be looking at for home workshop use. It will probably last you for twenty years or more as a hobby machine, even if you use it 8 - 16 hours a week.

I would have got one (eventually, after some time saving up!) had I not needed a more portable machine, that would use flux-core wire when required. So I got a Clarke 151EN, which suits me and my uses fine. But if I was confined to a home workshop only, and I had plenty space, I would start looking at a Portamig.

Regarding issue 2 I'm fairly convinced that shouldn;t be a problem if you specify it as an option when ordering. Technical arc also make a very similar welder to the portamig that has the option available. See here:-
http://www.technicalarc.co.uk/index.php/tecarc-mig/professional-mig-180-250a?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=8&category_id=7

Their range of Oxford mig sets also has the reverse polarity feature.

 

[keith19]

You're probably right, Stormin.
But one of the joys of flux-core welding is that you can take it to the job, unhampered by bottles. (Just like arc, only you can do thinner metal).
You couldn't do this with a Portamig, unless you had it set up in the back of the van semi-permanently. Even then, you can't always get the van to the job. And then there's johnny pikey to worry about. ('Tis a fine welder ye have in the back of the van there, sorr; would ye be leavin' it in there overnight, now?'
And I just love the Oxford range, they make my mouth water! But I wouldn't want to be humping them in and out of a van very often...

 

[s410man]

Just be clear about two things regarding the Portamig.

1. It is not easily portable, especially for lifting in and out of cars, vans, etc. Portamig is a little bit of a misnomer.

2. It does not have the facility of using flux-cored gasless wire.

If you are not going to be needing either of those features, the Portamig is the one to be looking at for home workshop use. It will probably last you for twenty years or more as a hobby machine, even if you use it 8 - 16 hours a week.

I would have got one (eventually, after some time saving up!) had I not needed a more portable machine, that would use flux-core wire when required. So I got a Clarke 151EN, which suits me and my uses fine. But if I was confined to a home workshop only, and I had plenty space, I would start looking at a Portamig.

nothing 2 wooden ramps and a good push wont sort

try loading a tig welder that weighs around 20kgs into a van on your own

now thats what you call non partable

im not saying a portamig is the ideal welder for portability but if its only once every few months it has to be transported then i think its far outweighed by the advantages of a portamig

 

[keith19]

If I really had to have the ease of working and the excellent welding range of a portamig, but needed to maybe take it out on site once or twice a week or more, I'd be getting an inverter mig. A mate has one, a Kempi, and it will weld amazing thicknesses. And so smooth to use, it just blew me away first time I used it, I couldn't believe how good it was.
But at a price. A guy like like me who does a few home jobs and a few outside jobs just doesn't want to be putting circa £800 into a portable welder like that when I can do all I need with a Clarke 151EN at circa £225.
As for unloading and loading a Portamig, fine if it's once a month, as you say, or on a site job that lasts weeks. But not for jobs that maybe last two hours...

 

[GB75]

If I really had to have the ease of working and the excellent welding range of a portamig, but needed to maybe take it out on site once or twice a week or more, I'd be getting an inverter mig. A mate has one, a Kempi, and it will weld amazing thicknesses. And so smooth to use, it just blew me away first time I used it, I couldn't believe how good it was.
But at a price. A guy like like me who does a few home jobs and a few outside jobs just doesn't want to be putting circa £800 into a portable welder like that when I can do all I need with a Clarke 151EN at circa £225.
As for unloading and loading a Portamig, fine if it's once a month, as you say, or on a site job that lasts weeks. But not for jobs that maybe last two hours...

sounds like you might like to take up needlework keith since if you don't want to spend "circa" megabucks, or do anything more than poxy little favors jobs welding wise, the kit required is generaly heavy. I'm doing a job for a mate at the moment puting up some estate fencing round his garden(not a big job by any mans means but). I've got the best part of half a ton of kit on the job. oxy/propane+ trolly, an oxford mig/with full sized bottle, a bandsaw, free standing vice on an RSJ jig stand two tote boxes full of grinders discs, drills, clamps ect ect. its just a fact, It goes with the teritory frankly. I'd love to fit my tools in the boot of a mini but it just doesn't work that way to be fair! and quite honestly all the goochy kit and light weight inverters and so on is very unlightly to stand the test of time in the same way that for instance the pickhill bantam which is several years older than me (and is still earning me a living on a regular basis) is. the old boy who taught me the bulk of my trade recon'd that the equipment needed to do most normal fab jobs generaly weighed more than the steel stock used doing it and to be fair over the years I recon he wasn't far wrong!

 

[keith19]

Well GB, I've not tried the knitting yet, but I can do passable sewing, which is handy.

As a guy almost retired I sure ain't looking to cart a lot of heavy of kit about to do a few outside jobs. I don't mind bringing the welding kit and doing the welding, but if they don't have the kit to fit up the job themselves, they can go whistle. I sometimes take a lightweight work bench, and a few tools, is all.

I'd fully agree with you about the Pickhill and the Oxford and most any of the old-school arc welders. Easier to weld with than any buzz-box and can go down to quite thin metal when necessary. Looked after, you have got one for life. We used them sometimes back in the 60-70's to replace car floor panels when the gas set wasn't available. If you couldn't get the Oxford you had to fall back on the buzz-box, which was comparatively hard work. This was before the mig was widespread in garage use.

Things have moved along some since then, though.

My mate with the Kempi takes it out on site fabbing, earns £100-£150 a day, brings his kit home in the evening, no sweat. Agreed the Kempi won't last as long as an Oxford, but at that rate of earning who's worried? He can easy afford to buy a new one every year if he wants. Up to now his Kempi (160 Amps) has lasted a little over two years, so it's more than paid for itself many times over, with an average of 3-4 days pro work in every week.

It's horses for courses I guess. As a Scottish mate of mine says, 'It's no good giving yourself a hard time, there's enough (beggars) trying to do that to you already!'.

 

[Nomolos]

You're probably right, Stormin.
But one of the joys of flux-core welding is that you can take it to the job, unhampered by bottles. (Just like arc, only you can do thinner metal).
You couldn't do this with a Portamig, unless you had it set up in the back of the van semi-permanently. Even then, you can't always get the van to the job. And then there's johnny pikey to worry about. ('Tis a fine welder ye have in the back of the van there, sorr; would ye be leavin' it in there overnight, now?'
And I just love the Oxford range, they make my mouth water! But I wouldn't want to be humping them in and out of a van very often...

Keith you are a basket sir!

i just read your comment and sprayed coffee all over my keyboard