All about welders and welding

[Mr Awsome]

What are peoples personal experiences with welders and welding?

[lach]

http://www.justtools.com.au/prod3488.htm ---> CigWeld 200amps

A few of my mates have these and they go really well. Easy to lay a good bead with them and they are well priced....can usually get them for $1200 (gas bottle and wire not included).

[Eddy]

i picked up a lincon electric 180c ###ut 4 months ago, its a 15 amp sigel phaes, was 1500 all up with trolley auto helmet and a few other bits, and i have it on a 4 foot gas bottel and a 5kg roll of wire and its one of the best investments ive made, dose thin pannel work upto nice thick stuff.

[Twinky]

Ooooooooooo you just missed a Gasweld/Stihl one day tool sale. I went in there to buy some mig wire and fuck I got stuck in there for an hour. Unfortunately the missus was with me so I had to controll myself.
Just remember you have to pay for the gas bottle hire and refill. You can not buy the bottles only rent. So if you are not going to use the welder often don't bother with the gas (althought it makes the job so mutch easier)

[jmorley]

just make sure u get one that takes a 5kg roll of wire there cheaper in the long run

[Redwarf]

Unless you're welding all day everyday, 5 kg roll is not essential. Have a 1 kg roll in mine and it lasts ages.

I have a WIA 175 and it rocks. Car panels to 8mm and everything in between. Top end price, but top end gear. Parts readily available.

My old man built garages for over 30 years, and WIA was what they used in their factory. 25 years time you will walk into your garage, turn it on, and weld.

http://www.welding.com.au/dw39-63/weldmatic-175/

[JUG-HEAD]

i picked up a lincon electric 180c ###ut 4 months ago, its a 15 amp sigel phaes, was 1500 all up with trolley auto helmet and a few other bits, and i have it on a 4 foot gas bottel and a 5kg roll of wire and its one of the best investments ive made, dose thin pannel work upto nice thick stuff.

i got one of these a few months ago, easily the best thing ive bought.

[Mr Awsome]

ill have a look in to them sounding promising.

[Redwarf]

Must say, know a few people with the Lincolns as well, and know the like them a lot.

[Eddy]

yea there good, mines the nascar special one or something, parts are ezey to get unlike the cheeper trade tool random brand ones

[JUG-HEAD]

i dont know about the nascar special, but mine does have a nascar sticker on it :)

[Eddy]

yea thats the one, makes it more race i hear

[Nicko]

yea there good, mines the nascar special one or something, parts are ezey to get unlike the cheeper trade tool random brand ones

Trade tools do import some cheaper ones, but the actual trade tools ones are awesome Migs...

NBC200, NBC250, NBC250SEP etc are all easy to get parts for because they use the German "Binzel" guns and TradeTools keep all the binzel stuff and spares in stock. If you're referring to the welders themselves, when I worked for Trade Tools, we hadn't seen a single one of the models above come back for warranty after 18 months (and probably 500 units sold) they are as good as if not better than a Lincoln and that is a fact. So spare parts for these are something you wouldn't need to be worrying about.

[Sam-Q]

well now after using my Unimig 200A single phase welder I would like to give some feedback.

It does a really neat weld, is quiet and completely reliable. The 3M earth lead is too short but I will fix that myself in due time. So yeah basicly it has worked almost flawlessly.

[takai]

The WIA ones are great, as are the UniMig/CigWeld (from memory they come from the same chinese factory).

Personally i have a fairly heavily modified SIP welder which i got from a garage sale. Its a piece of junk, but after about $50 worth of mods welds just as well as my old $1000 WIA that was stolen. If you are after a cheap welder and can be arsed modifying it then go the SIP, just expect to replace half of it before you start :) Ive got a new gun, liner, massive cap on the wire feed, stabiliser on the power transformer, and a few other mods to the wire reel and feed screw.

[Nicko]

Unimig are Italian

Came across a few people with SIP / WIA but would still spend the money on TradeTools one though

[takai]

The UniMig and Cig internals look fairly identical from the last couple i had open.

Personally i wouldnt buy a SIP for the money that they charge new, but all up mine has cost <$400 and it was at a time that i didnt have much cash (insurance took 7 months to pay up), so it was a welcome break.

[Anthony]

If you can stretch to the upper end of that price range, I'd suggest the Kemppi mini 180. Inverter based, weighs virtually nothing and is amazingly smooth. Great for the whole spectrum of automotive apps. Also as its inverter, it works well with dodgy power (extension leads etc) as it's self correcting. I grabbed one when they first came out have been extremely happy with it.

http://www.allwelding.com.au/ProductDetails/179/KEMPPI-Minarc-MIG-180

[Sam-Q]

I like the weld quality of the inverter migs however the only thing that made me not get one is I would be concerned about the reliability. You see if I can't use my welder daily for over 10 years I would be pissed off. But I am sure my needs are the exception here.

[takai]

An interesting thing if found in the last couple of days is that power fluctuation affects the wire feed more than the power on my MIG. Especially in the rain, i get stuttering wire feed, but when its not raining its all silky smooth.

[Sam-Q]

hey check the voltage of the wire feed motor, it's probably 12V DC. If so maybe one of those 1 Farad caps would help you out?

[Anthony]

I dont think reliability is an issue, especially with a kemppi. You'd have to look pretty hard to find a tig that isnt inverter, and they're fine. Even the knockoffs. Same 15 year old tech.

[driftke70]

"for the joy of welding"

[orange32]

What would people recommend for a single phase mig welder around $1000? I only have 10amp plugs at my house, I don't really want to get 15amp installed unless I have to. Has to be able to run with and without gas. I pretty much just want it to tack my exhaust and screamer together (i can take it to work and weld it properly) and to seam weld my chassis amongst otther smallish jobs around the house.

Would I be best to look for a better branded second hand welder, or buy a new one that may not be of the same quality?

[Sam-Q]

the only difference betwen 10A and 15A is just the outlet itself, 5 screws in total and a $15 outlet.

[Nicko]

Beware : MIGs over say 170AMP to 225AMPs that have 15A plugs have a 15A plug because they draw 12 ~ 15 amps at full song.

So unless you're changing plugs to to very light duty work, you're fucking yourself out of full power. And will probably start a fire in your fuse box on the side of your house if you do it for a decent enough length of time...

[Sam-Q]

with all respect that's completely wrong Nick. By Australian standards all household power supplies unless located for a fixed appliance with a keyed plug have to have as a minimum 2.5mm cable. Now unless this has to be de-rated it's ok for a 16A load. Even if it's not the circuit breaker is matched to the cable and how it's run. This is determined by the charts of the AS3008.1.1 rule book. So no matter how bad the conditions overloading a circuit will never cause any switchboard issues other than tripping the breaker/melting a fuse unless you have a shonky wiring job, I mean that's the whole point of the circuit protection. As a general rule you can suck as much current out of a cheap Arlec wall socket as the circuit will allow, this I know from personal experience, I push 20A amps out of mine. The reason why they even bother with the different pin is so someone doesn't use a 1mm cored extension lead to extend a 15A device, this will cause the lead to melt for sure. What the standards should be is that all outlets have the long pin and only the 10A leads have the shorter pin, that would make a lot more sense.

This is why I never bothered with any 15A wall outlets in the 20? or so outlets in my garage when I wired it all up, I just made a 15A female to 10A male adapter lead, however I did use a 1.5mm flex lead.

My ex-electrican rant here

[Nicko]

I used it for artistic expression.

Just get 15A :)

[orange32]

the only difference betwen 10A and 15A is just the outlet itself, 5 screws in total and a $15 outlet.

I had no idea that was the case. Is it possible to run a 10amp plug from a 15amp outlet? I only have 2 outlets in my garage and a welder would be the only thing running 15amp.

I am completely retarded when it comes to electricity and wiring

[Sam-Q]

yes you can chnage both your outlets over to 15A types and yes 10A fits in it still.

Hey you guys should see this 20A single amp outlet I have, all the pins are long like the earth in a 15A one.

[takai]

Yeah, but according to the regs you should only have one 15A applicance on at the end of a 15A lead. Running multiple is a no-no.
Now you are most likely to blow the fuse/CB before you start a fire, but in older houses you never know.

[Sam-Q]

ok I am not familiar with that reg, as soon as I find my AS3000 I will check it. If your right Chris I will be embarrased.

Anyway Orange I want you to do something, go to your switchboard and tell me how many power circuits you have an if you have circuit breakers. Also any idea on your house age?

[orange32]

Like i said, I am retarded when it comes to electricity. I just had a look at the fuse box. It has 8 on/off switches, including the main circuit breaker. The house is 14 or 15 years old

[Sam-Q]

well thats a good sign, do half of them have 16A on those "switches"? BTW those are the circuit breakers

[orange32]

it has 5 x 20A, 1 x 10A and the main is 63A.

[Sam-Q]

WTF!? dude that's huge. Yeah just get someone to swap the outlet in your garage, 20A goes a long way

[orange32]

Excellent. I have a friend who is an electrician and owes me a favour for working on his 180sx. I'll get him round and see what we can do.

Thanks for your help Sam.

Also, any recommendation in welder? gas/gasless, weld at least 6mm plate, under $1000.

[skin]

just change your plugs with the grinder thats what i did...15a now works everywhere :)

also bought a 200a magmate like this puppy but 200a and it powns the noobs

http://www.bocworldofwelding.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x/f63dc5ec28f3175f8a7f615bd217eb71/p/r/pro250_magmate_500px_rgb_black.jpg

[Sam-Q]

voids the warranty dude and seeing I have a 3 year one that's a big thing for me. Besides a 3 meter entension lead is pretty handy.

[ecko]

what would be a semi ok mig for a pretty close to beginner welder, im going to start playing to self teach some welding, are the cheapys in repco etc anygood?

looking up to $600

[Sam-Q]

I suggest buying an arc welder, sure the learning curve is harsh but if you can do well with an arc your 3/4 of the way there and you can do a lot with one. What would you want to do with one exactly? just practice?

[lach]

what do you guys think of the Unimig, Pro Craft 210? I'm looking at buying one out of the paper.

[ecko]

yeah just practice over and over with a mig was the plan, then once im confident start small,
i wanna build a kayak rack,
then start trying cooler piping etc maybe some spot welding etc etc

[lach]

what do you guys think of the Unimig, Pro Craft 210? I'm looking at buying one out of the paper.

anyone?

[Nicko]

Unimigs are good units. Italian made, and most of them run binzel style guns so they are easy to get parts for.

Good price?

[lach]

ah sweet. Yeah hopefully will get it for $800-900, is that a decent price? Apparently it's hardly been used and comes with a gas bottle aswell.

[skin]

voids the warranty dude and seeing I have a 3 year one that's a big thing for me. Besides a 3 meter entension lead is pretty handy.

ah shit

[MR86ER]

hey guys i just got 3 g size bottles of gas for free i have mig gas(argon or whatever it is) cetylene and oxy so im looking at buying a mig and a oxykit can anyone point me in the right direction of somthing that is of decent quality but doesnt sting my pockets looking for somthing for just around the house use but mainly pannel and fabricating work
cheers

[Sam-Q]

if you want something that will last for many years to come regardless of how much you use it then I suggest the ESAB 200 like myself, however thats in the region of $2000, if that's too much look at the other welders on this thread.

[MR86ER]

hey guys just purchased a dhc2000 oxy welding kit still waiting for arrival wondering if anyone on here has used one or owns one any feed back pplease cheers

[Sam-Q]

hey guys just purchased a dhc2000 oxy welding kit still waiting for arrival wondering if anyone on here has used one or owns one any feed back pplease cheers

yes I used one and I found it couldn't do a single one of those things it was reported to do. I was however able to use copper as solder without flux on steel like it was lead/tin solder going on fresh copper. When trying to get help out of the guy all he could come up with is "but it should work", what a dick.

[hao.]

What do you guys think about the Magmate 180P units the BOC sell? Any good? I did a bit of research and found mixed results, though most of the reviews leaned towards it being a good welder.

[4agejet]

yeah just practice over and over with a mig was the plan, then once im confident start small,
i wanna build a kayak rack,
then start trying cooler piping etc maybe some spot welding etc etc

Cooler piping, stainless, will require a TIG. Completely different welding style from a MIG/ARC. Depending on the person, some find it easier, some find it harder.

[Sam-Q]

I think if you know what your doing you could do some decent stainless cooler piping with arc/mmc, I would give it a go.

[meadan]

I reckon using an arc/mma welder would be slightly difficult for thin pipes, but certainly do-able.
MIG would shit it in, even with ally.

You wont do any spot welding unless you buy a spot welder though, completely different process.

[swcustoms]

just throwing this out there , it would be worth going out to your local tafe and sitting a few courses even prevo boiler making .

its relitively cheap they will explain so much to you and it will make mig welding seemingly simple .

they will make you run a series of fillet welds and teach you how to properly prepair and weld your material . well worth the money and time in my opinion

[swcustoms]

Cooler piping, stainless, will require a TIG. Completely different welding style from a MIG/ARC. Depending on the person, some find it easier, some find it harder.

not true , i do all my intercooler piping with a mig welder . stainless to steel . i dont run welds i do a series of high powerd low feed tacks to get perfect penitration without leaving too much excess material . it takes a bit longer but looks like tig welded pipe and doesnt leak if you do it right .


and if your fitting pipe work without pressure testing your a bit silly

[Sam-Q]

alright I am back on the forums


I reckon using an arc/mma welder would be slightly difficult for thin pipes, but certainly do-able.
MIG would shit it in, even with ally.

You wont do any spot welding unless you buy a spot welder though, completely different process.

you might find this funny I used some exhaust tubing (1.6mm mild) and welded it with an arc out in the street in the gutter, like literally, funny as but yes your definately right about being a bit difficult. However I completely disagree with you with the mig comment, I think mig welding thin aluminium would be very hard but I have only had limited experience.





and if your fitting pipe work without pressure testing your a bit silly

with intercooler piping I can't see having slight leakage as having any effect at all. I am sure many would loose more through the hose clamped areas.

[meadan]

alright I am back on the forums



you might find this funny I used some exhaust tubing (1.6mm mild) and welded it with an arc out in the street in the gutter, like literally, funny as but yes your definately right about being a bit difficult. However I completely disagree with you with the mig comment, I think mig welding thin aluminium would be very hard but I have only had limited experience.


haha thats awesome. I tacked a mates compete exhaust together on his front lawn with a little arc welder too, getting reasonable tacks while using no clamps is a fun process on grass.

MIG welding thin aluminium is fine, but it really depends how your machine is setup. If you have a proper liner, and tips and everything is working on the day, it can be sweet. As swcustoms said, its more like doing a whole bunch of hot tacks than doing stitches.

That being said, I still have a TIG and dont really feel the need to buy a MIG at all.

[Sam-Q]

ah I stand corrected then, from what I understand aluminium is very intollerant to poor or even mediocre feeding. Also I can see why you would find it hard to justify a conversion on mig with the cost of the drive wheels, liner, tip and different gas that's all needed.

[meadan]

Yeah, aluminium wire seems to be quite touchy. You can get a few different grade wire spools though, which vary in how soft they are. The hard wire seems to go ok in a machine which isnt setup so well. But for the softer wire youd want either a proper push-pull gun or a nice short lead with a good condition plastic liner.

Getting hot tacks on aluminium, I find, is similar learning to TIG weld aluminium. You need to get the right balance between being hot enough, but quick enough to not burn through it. While still trying to not get burn backs and clogging the tip (which will probably happen 50% of the time on an average machine)

[4agejet]

I think if you know what your doing you could do some decent stainless cooler piping with arc/mmc, I would give it a go.

You sure can do it, but almost definatly the result of the weld will be at a much lower quality. Couldn't hurt to practice on scrap, or get a feeling of both types.. Then deciding on which to use.
I'd just get used to the tig and use that. Garunteed penetration for the best weld almost garunteed.

[Sam-Q]

I have to disagree with you there jet, if done right I see no reason why a arc weld could not be structually as good as a tig for something as simple as a 1.6mm thick pipe butt weld. Stainless is very nice to weld with an electrode and with the right current good penetration is a certainty. All that said it's not something I would readily recommend. I have an unopened 316 grade electrode grade pack, I should weld a bit of pipe with my untrained hands to show what I mean.

[meadan]

I agree with Sam-Q.

Stick welding is probably one of easier ways to get better penetration, the problem is getting used to controlling it on the verge of blowing a hole.

Speaking of stick welding too, I have no gas for my TIG at the moment, so Ive been tacking my whole front end with the stick. I bought a pack of supercheap brand electrodes (pack of 25 for 7 bucks), theyre one of the nicer electrodes Ive used. Ive been stitching 3mm steel to 1.6mm sheet, no holes blown yet. For some reason theyre just really smooth and are super easy to start.

[Sam-Q]

also I better mention it makes a massive difference between a traditional an electronic arc welder. The old iron core will just want to stick every time

[s13 james]

i want to get a arc welder ,just to learn and stuff, i have no real experience,what sorta stuff and numbers should i look for?
i want to learn to weld exhaust material and like sheet steel for like rust repair,front guards on to rears just the sorta car stuff to start with and what ever else.
need a welder,rods and mask, any help appreciated

[Nicko]

Buy a MIG....

Lincoln SP170T / Tradetools SK175 (170amp)

Get one with Gas.

[Sam-Q]

I agree with Nick, a gas sheilded mig is unbeatable for welding holes up and fixing rusty bits

[s13 james]

thanks for that guys,what sorta rough prices are we looking at for the couple nick mentioned?gona have a look
around tomorrow

[Nicko]

Pricing from my memory only

Lincoln SP170T = ~$1250+gas

Tradetools SK175 = ~$728 +gas
(copy of Lincoln SP170T and just as good)

You'll do about 8mm thick steel with a 170 amp machine.

Both can be setup with 0.6mm wire for panel work and then be swapped out to 0.8, 0.9, 1.0mm etc for thicker stuff.

You'll pay less for gas wire because it doesn't have shitty resin inside it.

[s13 james]

thanks man im gona chase up the Tradetools SK175 i think,and start practising,lucky my 86 wont need it thow haha
when doing like a rust repair section or doing front gaurds on rears etc,would lots of tacks be the way to go or weld around/along
the entire part?ive seen both ways in people build threads.

[meadan]

You wont want to do very long welds on any panels.

Reasonably hot and pretty short stitches should do the trick. Either way it will need a bit of grinding after.

[s13 james]

thanks man

[stahlz_ae86]

For those people on here who use a TIG, what brand/model do you have?

At home I've got a small GMC arc welder to play around with, at work I use a CIG caddy arc, CIGWELD 220 mig, and BOC 250 mig. I'm Interested in starting to weld aluminum and not sure whether to buy stuff for the CIGWELD 220 mig at work or buy myself a TIG. Ideally as with anything I'd like to come out of the excercise as cheaply as possible but I'm prepared to buy a TIG if it's a good one which will last me forever.

So for the 220 at work, what will I need to have? U groove rollers, teflon lined gun, spool gun (if available for that model)? We have argoshield gas for all our steel welding but there's also a bottle of straight Argon at work too, which from my understanding is the one I'll need for aluminum, isn't it?

Also what model TIG do people recommend?


If it will cost too much for all the crap for the MIG I will probs just go buy a TIG, but having never used one before I will need some shopping help.

[Nicko]

Buy in on an AC/DC TIG (necessary to weld aluminium) is at least $2,000 for a good one. You might get away ~$1800ish if you're lucky but you'll need at least 40-60 amps of three phase to power the sucker up.

So it will be cheaper straight up to buy the MIG because aill you'll need for 220A is a 15A socket.

[stahlz_ae86]

http://www.weldersdirect.com.au/product/509/RILAND_200AMP_4_IN_1_ACDC_TIG_WITH_40AMP_PLASMA_CU TTER

Something like this be OK? Or poor quality?

[meadan]

My 200amp ac/dc TIG was $1600, and can still be bought for the same price. Its a unitig one, comes with australian warranty and local support (unimig is reasonably popular). Also, works fine on a normal 15A single phase outet, Ive even run it off a 10A outlet for smaller jobs.

Now Ive also bought one of those krieger MIG welders. I pick it up this week, so Ill see how it goes. It seems alright in the specs, looks basically like a copy of the yellow WIA mig welders. Its a 250amp machine, which still runs off 15A single phase. Should be plenty big for anything car related...

[orange32]

My 200amp ac/dc TIG was $1600, and can still be bought for the same price. Its a unitig one, comes with australian warranty and local support (unimig is reasonably popular). Also, works fine on a normal 15A single phase outet, Ive even run it off a 10A outlet for smaller jobs.



I'm seriously looking at buying one of these. Have you welded everything with it (mild, stainless and ally)? any discrepancies (sp)?

[takai]

Has anyone got information about atmospheric LPG torches? Looking at getting one for brazing stuff, but so i dont have to keep more cylinders for an Oxy setup.

[meadan]

I'm seriously looking at buying one of these. Have you welded everything with it (mild, stainless and ally)? any discrepancies (sp)?

Its been pretty awesome honestly, I havent had any problems at all. Ive welded up to 4mm mild steel and aluminium, Ive only done a few exaust bits in stainless though. Also used it as a stick welder and it came out awesome, it doesnt stick much like a normnal arc welder.
Once you play with the settings a bit, welds come out pretty awesome, Ive managed to do some 1.2mm steel, and fill up some massive gaps in ally. Theres all the typical pulse settings.
Only bad points are, the gas line is a bit cheap and mine cracked easily, the regulator it comes with feels pretty cheap (might just be new material), the earth connection isnt fantastic, the handle is a bit cheap (I replaced with a flexi one anyway).
Other than that, for a budget garage welder its awesome.

[orange32]

awesome, cheers for your opinion. I think I'll end up buying it, I'm just being a tightarse about paying for 2 bottle rentals a month if i do buy it haha.

[meadan]

No problem, hope it all works out.

Also, I tried out my Krieger MIG welder. Basically its an ebay spec chinese mig.
I got the migstar 250 amp version, which weighs 80 kgs, has a proper sized handle and only takes 15kg spools. From the look of it, it really seems quite good for the price (I paid $405 brand new). The chinese gas regulator seems kinda crap though. The whole maching seems like a chinese copy of older model WIA machines, which it probably is. It has funky digital display and all the features of a normal industrial style MIG.
Ive only done a few test welds with my argon bottle hooked up. But straight out of the box with some 0.9mm wire and 5 mins setup I got some decent welds on some 5mm flatbar. Seems like this welder will be more than enough for the garage...

[NIZLAH]

honestly considering the purchase of a MIG now, never welded but quite confident I will pick it up fairly rapidly..
Anyone got any comments on the SIP FEMA MIGS looking at the current range on ebay and these stand out from my price and requirement perspective...($600ish max) looking at the 160amp, or the 195amp since its not much more but still drops down to 25amp min setting.
From my research this would more than enough to get me started and keep me going for a while...

Comments welcome..

[Sam-Q]

gas or gasless, 195 amps will get you pretty far. What work do you have in mind?

[NIZLAH]

capable of both, nothing particular in mind for what I want to fabricate really apart from stuff like doing my exhaust, bit of panel work etc, and what ever else I deem to be worth doing, maybe making garage racking/shelves or a trailer who knows...

[Low Style]

Hi,

I'm looking for a semi decent gas less portable Tig welder to do the odd jobs or just to mess around with.

Anyone had any experience with this end of the market? any advice?

[meadan]

No such thing as a gasless TIG welder.

You can get an inverter arc welder which would be able to be used as a TIG if you get a gas bottle.

We used to use a small kemppi 200A portable inverter which worked well on site. It didnt have high frequency start though, so scratch starting the TIG was a bit painful. I dont recommend this for learning on...

[Casey-G]

+1 for Kempi

Have used both there tig and mig welders and they are just a dream to use..

I would actually recommend a scratch start setup for the learner.. that's all I've had up until this year and I've made everything from manifolds to exhausts, strut braces and fuel tanks.. though the transition from the scratch to high frequency is different to get used to its nice just to be able to do those little fine finicky jobs with a cheap little box from ebay/bunnings and a decent rig lead set with a small price tag... argon ain't all that cheap so till you get used to welding with a tig its not that bad to save a few dollars until you know a bit more about it.

After that, fronius all the way :P

Anyone got pics of there welding bay setup at home? Keen to see.

[meadan]

Yeah, If you kinda understand the basics of welding a scratch start wont be too bad. But either way you will need argon as a shielding gas.

Plus for the price of the cheap 'throwaway' chinese welders, you may aswell get one with some features to make life a bit easier.

I dont really have a welding bay setup really, I need to get a proper bench one day. My tig just lives on top of the mig cause its easier to wheel around that way :P

Anyone wanna go halves on a sheet of 6mm steel for a benchtop? lol

[Casey-G]

Aha yeah ya need gas lol

Mate if you were closer I would be throwing 6mm at ya! My bench is 8mm stainless on the removable half and 6mm black for the most of it.. shits coming outa our ears here if you needed some and were closer I'd give you a section

[meadan]

hmm, where u at again?

Cause ill be driving from melbourne to shepparton on the 27th of december.

Im sure Ill have some room in the back of the ute if i were to swing by your town :P

[macca1590]

so i just bought cheep off a mate a weldcorp mig 160, how fucked am i? haha

so far so good, wire feed a bit notchy/uneven feed at times but thats about it.

[Sam-Q]

so i just bought cheep off a mate a weldcorp mig 160, how fucked am i? haha

so far so good, wire feed a bit notchy/uneven feed at times but thats about it.

change the liner, drive wheel(s) and then have only a light tension on the wire and you will likely find that it significantly improves. Running too much wire tension from the rollers is a common thing, your meant to be able to stop the wire coming out with your fingers.

[Hen may possibly be a nut]

I'm not welding much at the moment and trying to keep on top of it by reading what I can. If anyone has any tips for good welding educational books, videos or websites then fire away.

http://www.youtube.com/user/weldingtipsandtricks seems good, but the all the imperial units are annoying.

As mentioned much earlier in this thread doing a TAFE course is a great idea. You can try all sorts of different welding, get advice along the way and end up with your welding certificate too. They often have evening classes too so you can fit it around the 9-5 if required.

[Matt]

I've been keeping notes and writing stuff down as i go, so i'll put something up sometime about ideas of where to start, and what i found made the biggest differences.

At Tafe i started with an Oxy, and that was good to get a feel for what the puddle was / should be doing and how it fallls through when you blow a hole in it etc. But for the average home person, it would be a waste to buy one unless you were serious about restoration work.

[drift kid]

some TIG i did lately
http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/8/0/503732.jpg
and some MIG on micheal's 4 link boxes
http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/8/0/503733.jpg

[Casey-G]

Nice tig work drift kid (what's ya real name?)

Done much pipe work with TIG?

[drift kid]

name's Ben :) and yeah a little, my skills are slowly growing, I'm progressing with the Alloy TIG quite fast at the moment, i really enjoy Alloy but the cleaning and prep are so crucial that it frustrates me lol. next time i TIG some pipe I'll shoot some pics up.

[lolwat]

do my boot in tube???? would look so many cools (either way i dont mind)

[meadan]

Ok, "Ally" is short for aluminium.

"Alloy" is a metallic mixture made from two or more elements.

Alloy wheels and sheet aluminium are not the same material, sorry if I offend but my tafe teacher drilled us on it when I did my apprenticeship and cant handle the misuse of the word and abbreviation.

Anyways, I havent dont much lately, but heres the last few little bits of welding I did in the garage.

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/9/4/7/503763.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/9/4/7/322768.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/9/4/7/325350.jpg

[Casey-G]

Glued these bitches in today with the mig, completely gutted the doors notched them out n then welded the doors closed with a series of spot and stitches then welded the bars in.. 4door to coupe conversion :P http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/usedume2.jpg

[Casey-G]

Here is a few more bits I've done in the past year that I have photos of:

Spot welded every seam in the car

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/5/3/8/6/403295.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/5/3/8/6/403297.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/5/3/8/6/403299.jpg

Collector I made for the manifold & the manifold:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/u7u8eham.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/3aqata5y.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/vubu7u5a.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/y5amupa6.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/y8equpeb.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/ebu5aqah.jpg

Dump, dump&manifold:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/apu8e2y4.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/2usesu8e.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/hu6adahe.jpg

Exhaust:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/e4a7anu9.jpg

IC piping:

Prepped and tacked:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/3ebasy3u.jpg

Welded and polished:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/nunasynu.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/uvuhubaj.jpg

Some welding I did for a customer, was on a GQ patrol for the exhaust

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/hejurede.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/uga3ugyv.jpg

And a bit I did on my current exhaust

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/19/meqehamy.jpg



In every picture above except the patrol exhaust I used second hand material.. so it goes to show prep and fitment is everything.. and so are other things of course but its pretty important you spend the time cutting and making things fit before you weld.

[meadan]

Please tell me your filling in the rear doors from the outside too?

Will look awesome!

[Casey-G]

There stitched in several places at present, will run around the doors with sealant before I actually fill in the the door sills..