Hi,
I am new to this Messageboard and would very much value your opinions.
I'm not new to welding, though I am still a novice.
The first Welder I bought was the first time I had ever tried welding, got it out of the box and didn't know what to expect (welding wise) I mean I knew where everything had to be clamped like the ground clip etc, but not the welding technique.
The model I first bought was the SIP Handymate Gasless 90 (worst mistake ever, I'll explain later but you probably already know why), I believe its called, for about £100.00 new.
I was trying to weld with it and found it very difficult. I was using 1mm mild steel bar type setion running some practice welds. Most of the time it would just leave 'bobbles' on the surface of the steel, so i thought maybe i am moving along too fast and not heating the steel enough to get fusion. I slowed down and it was still just a bit 'rubbish'. After this I began to think 'my' 'welding is hard', but I see them doing it on 'American Chopper' all the time. I spoke to my father who as an occupation was an electrical engineer, he looked at the welder and noticed that the output was in AC, and thought possibly that this could cause a less than stable arc switching at 50 cycles a second, and reminded me MIG should really be D.C. and thought it was 'cutting corners' to produce a cheap welder. I let it lay to rest for a while and thought Nut and bolt can't be so bad.
After a while I realised Welding is the only option to do certain things, and I was certain that I could do it, after seeing the OCC crew doing it with 'apparent ease'.
That left one question. 'Crap Welder' maybe
'Crap Welder' definately after I purchased a Clarke 151TE from the big national chain 'MM' (bad sales staff, but good products for the money)
I went to my local Croydon branch (much closer than Ashford) and luckily they had the unit I was interested in (after reading Weldequip's post 8/10 for Clarke I had no hesitation, theres nothing like experience as a good indication to making a decision) The sales staff suggested I purchase the 135TE because it has a Mains 13amp plug, and said i would need a 32amp supply for the 151TE, thats impossible I said - 32amps for a welder that produces 20 amps D.C. additonal peak current over a mains 135TE 13amp welder, he didn't say much.
So I bought the 151TE welder because I wanted to weld upto 4mm without any troubles. We have a KITY planer thicknesser for wood working, its my fathers retirement treat (wood boring!) which is rated about 6HP, its a big old thing, makes the fluoros dim when it starts etc, so we had a supply big enough for the welder ( having said that the supply to the house is only 30amp, its 1930's built, so cutting it a bit fine if the cooker, tumble dryer is on )
Anyway I started welding with the supplied CO2 gas and was pleased that the torch wasen't live, much better when lining up. I was testing on some mild steel tube from the local IS&G stockholder, They are good guys but expensive, due to the lack of industry in this country. (www.isg-steel.co.uk)
It was around 1.6mm thick. I used Max setting with 1 on the dial and a wire speed of '6' and gas reg at 3.5
I could not believe how good I felt when I lifted the shield and looked at the weld, now I realised I am in control of the welding. It was so much quieter aswell (the crackle) and sounded much better, it was melting the steel and fusing so much more easily, of course it wasen't perfect but now I felt that I could actually do something to improve my welding skill.
I would like to post some pictures of my welds in my next post if you would be so kind to comment on how they can be better, penetration is something I feel is important as I like to build moving vehicles like 'Gopeds' 'Go Karts' etc where without weld strength it could get ugly, if you know what I mean
P.S.
I'm no expert but from my limited experience avoid Gasless and dont even consider a MIG with an A.C. ouput. I would very much recommend a Clarke if you want to spend less than £300.00 on a MIG.
I may consider adding a big maybe 2-3 Farad cap on the output to get the arc even smoother.
Alex
I am new to this Messageboard and would very much value your opinions.
I'm not new to welding, though I am still a novice.
The first Welder I bought was the first time I had ever tried welding, got it out of the box and didn't know what to expect (welding wise) I mean I knew where everything had to be clamped like the ground clip etc, but not the welding technique.
The model I first bought was the SIP Handymate Gasless 90 (worst mistake ever, I'll explain later but you probably already know why), I believe its called, for about £100.00 new.
I was trying to weld with it and found it very difficult. I was using 1mm mild steel bar type setion running some practice welds. Most of the time it would just leave 'bobbles' on the surface of the steel, so i thought maybe i am moving along too fast and not heating the steel enough to get fusion. I slowed down and it was still just a bit 'rubbish'. After this I began to think 'my' 'welding is hard', but I see them doing it on 'American Chopper' all the time. I spoke to my father who as an occupation was an electrical engineer, he looked at the welder and noticed that the output was in AC, and thought possibly that this could cause a less than stable arc switching at 50 cycles a second, and reminded me MIG should really be D.C. and thought it was 'cutting corners' to produce a cheap welder. I let it lay to rest for a while and thought Nut and bolt can't be so bad.
After a while I realised Welding is the only option to do certain things, and I was certain that I could do it, after seeing the OCC crew doing it with 'apparent ease'.
That left one question. 'Crap Welder' maybe
'Crap Welder' definately after I purchased a Clarke 151TE from the big national chain 'MM' (bad sales staff, but good products for the money)
I went to my local Croydon branch (much closer than Ashford) and luckily they had the unit I was interested in (after reading Weldequip's post 8/10 for Clarke I had no hesitation, theres nothing like experience as a good indication to making a decision) The sales staff suggested I purchase the 135TE because it has a Mains 13amp plug, and said i would need a 32amp supply for the 151TE, thats impossible I said - 32amps for a welder that produces 20 amps D.C. additonal peak current over a mains 135TE 13amp welder, he didn't say much.
So I bought the 151TE welder because I wanted to weld upto 4mm without any troubles. We have a KITY planer thicknesser for wood working, its my fathers retirement treat (wood boring!) which is rated about 6HP, its a big old thing, makes the fluoros dim when it starts etc, so we had a supply big enough for the welder ( having said that the supply to the house is only 30amp, its 1930's built, so cutting it a bit fine if the cooker, tumble dryer is on )
Anyway I started welding with the supplied CO2 gas and was pleased that the torch wasen't live, much better when lining up. I was testing on some mild steel tube from the local IS&G stockholder, They are good guys but expensive, due to the lack of industry in this country. (www.isg-steel.co.uk)
It was around 1.6mm thick. I used Max setting with 1 on the dial and a wire speed of '6' and gas reg at 3.5
I could not believe how good I felt when I lifted the shield and looked at the weld, now I realised I am in control of the welding. It was so much quieter aswell (the crackle) and sounded much better, it was melting the steel and fusing so much more easily, of course it wasen't perfect but now I felt that I could actually do something to improve my welding skill.
I would like to post some pictures of my welds in my next post if you would be so kind to comment on how they can be better, penetration is something I feel is important as I like to build moving vehicles like 'Gopeds' 'Go Karts' etc where without weld strength it could get ugly, if you know what I mean
P.S.
I'm no expert but from my limited experience avoid Gasless and dont even consider a MIG with an A.C. ouput. I would very much recommend a Clarke if you want to spend less than £300.00 on a MIG.
I may consider adding a big maybe 2-3 Farad cap on the output to get the arc even smoother.
Alex