what have i gotten myself in for

[kezajones]

well i did it, just ordered a Clarke 135TE for £169 (not sure if that was a good price?), my intention was to buy a cheap ac/dc chinese tig but im going to wait and get a decent one,

i race motorbikes and karts, i like to do as much work as possible myself(my dad is a trained bike mechanic with certicicates from 6 diffrent manufacturers), i like to buy my bikes as damaged repairables or slightly older models and bring them up to spec myself making them as unique as possible, but i always find myself saying, "if only i could fabricate this or that", so thats why im here ,

anyway im currently doing a BTEC national dimploma in engineering which involve a welding section (only just covered O/A and started MMA yesterday) so i can hopefully build up a bit of skill in all welding processes,

the only type of welding i have done before this is stick on my old sealey which i like to call "the hole maker" or maybe i should call myself that,

what should i look out for with the 135TE? any essential mods?, like i say it will only be used to make stuff for the bikes and the odd exhuast(2 and 4 stroke)

Thanks and i look forward to having many discussions(mainly asking for your brains) with you all!

 

[shenion]

If you can do stick, you will have no problem with MIG

No needed mods.

Are you going with gas or gasless? Gas MIG will be much cleaner and easier to use. If you do go gas, going with the big refillable tanks over the disposables is better.

I have the 130EN, basically the same machine. Works well, have had it about a year and real no problems other then worn out tips.

I bought mine to fix up my old bikes (GPz and Ninja). Now use it more than I though I'd ever had. Should have gotten one years ago

 

[kezajones]

thanks for the reply, i believe the machine is gas only, but yes i would be using gas anyway, im going to start on the disposable until i find out about big cylinders, i live on a little island between france and england you see so im not sure about where to get a contract from

Thanks

 

[kezajones]

also just brought myself a parweld helmet from DIY Welding

 

[bright-spark]

Hi welcome to the number one welding forum. I am looking forward to reading your posts

David

 

[MrFluffy]

Btec ND in general engineering is where I first learnt to use a mig, its all good fun.
You'll be filling the shed with machinery after a year or two on that
I left after yr2 specialising in mechanical eng and went straight onto year 2 of the BTEC vehicle engineering course as I already had the core modules for year one, but strangely enough ended up working in computers, and I dont think it was the "use of computers" module that prepared me for that, more like the plc programming one
Have fun, its a cracking place to learn your craft on machines set up properly. Youll leave wishing you had a rod oven on every job mind...
I build bikes for a hobby as it goes. Have a tube framed kawa turbo, a xt500 motard and a gs with a blower on it on the go at the moment...