Welding 5mm mild steel plate?

[Gwillaz1664]

Hello,
As a relative noobie, I wondered if I could seek some advice from someone with greater experience than I?
I need to make a prototype piece of furniture for the wife which requires me to weld some 5mm mild steel flat bar together. I am a little bemused as to which machine or make I should look at? The price would be in the budget range (~£250ish) and I need it to operate off a 13a plug. I have been looking at gas less mig machines. Also, and this may seem like a stupid question, but is it possible to weld this material with a machine that has a max capacity of 4mm but do it in several passes?
Many thanks for any advice you can give.
Regards
Gwillaz

 

[cumbriasteve]

Gasless is not as nice to use and messier than gas but will work ok of course.

Hobby machines tend to be 150amp and less, 5 mm is pushing your luck a bit but manageable with preparation, you may well blow fuses though at 150 amps, some people get away with it and many don't.

£250 is a tight budget for a MIG unless you can get hold of a decent used machine.

Have you considered arc welding, either a £50 buzz box (or as cheap as £20 secondhand) or an MMA inverter for around £160ish.

The buzz boxes are more than capable but take a bit of getting used to, the inverter makes lifer easier on strike ups etc.

A lot depends on if it is a one off job or if you have future welding as well, if it's a one off I would get someone else to do it to be honest.

 

[optima21]

150 amp mig welders can be used on 13amp plugs and should be able to do 5mm, but they can blow fuses at full power

you'll need to V the edges of the panel to get proper penetration though (see bottom of the link)

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/clarke-90.htm

you might need to up your price a bit if you're looking for a new welder,but you can get second hand ones within your price limit. if you need to do alot of welding you might find that using gasless wire can work out costing more that a mig welder that uses rental cylinders

 

[piman]

Hello Gwillaz,

it depends on what sort of welding you may want to do apart from what you outlined. If it does not involve car body repairs I would get a MMA set (stick) as a small 150 amp or so will weld a lot thicker metal than an equivalent rated MIG and can be a lot cheaper.

Alec

 

[Richard.]

140amp mma unit and a box of 2.5s. That's about as cheap as welding gets for the thickness you want to do.

 

[blenkie1]

Weldequip has a parweld MMA for under £200 and its a great little machine