Well I've done some home work and I've settled on this one as a Christmas / Birthday pressie to myself. Gonna teach myself. Can't be that difficult lol
Its not difficult....a few bits of clean scrap to practice on. Must be clean as Mig spits like a barsteward if theres any surface rust. Auto darkening headgear makes it easier too.
The disposable gas bottles will drive you mad. 'proper' mix gas e.g. the 2L BOC Argoshield seems a lot easier to work with than the small bottles. I wasted several bottles of disposable gas while learning, switched to Argoshield and then made an almost perfect weld. If you do go to BOC, make sure you set up an account by calling them first for all the credit checks etc to take place. I called cold at BOC in Portsmouth and it took 40 minutes before I walked out with the gas. And spent a lot of time admiring the £750 magic-do-everything welder they had on offer. Make sure the welder is assembled properly - mine had loose wires from the rectifier to the + and - terminals inside the welder courtesy of China inc, and general wear and tear (loose knob and part-disassembled torch) from the heavy-handed agricultural punters at the various agricultural shows where my welder was offered for sale, before I bought the £140 'bargain' Also that the weld wire feeds smoothly before you start (if its fresh from Machine Mart or similar this should be possible) And the mains wiring feeding the welder is low resistance as it draws a lot of current. And buy one of the auto darkening face masks. And wear as much leather as possible while beginning as the white hot metal spits and bangs go everywhere. Welders wear leather skull caps for a good reason. Also try and keep hot metal out of your shoes. Dont try and weld where there is a strong magnetic field - I tried to use a big magnet to hold some stuff together and the weld wire kept missing the weld as the current flowing bent the wire and the arc. Old PC cases are quite good practice zones- grind the paint off to provide thin steel and easy to burn through,. Good luck.
I have the same welder, bought it in 2006 and its still going strong having done lots of repairs. The swan neck/tip area is easy to burn through though after a while but cheap replacement bits fom machine mart easily available. Works best with 0.6mm wire and you would be best to buy a better earth clamp to get a better weld I like mine though and works well enough for all van applications Cheers Ben
Ive just done 220 hours welding on my camper and the things i would recomend is Find your local welder supplier - go and find an old CO bottle that the pubs use and take it to him and get it filled with CO2 and that will cost £15 per fill I used 3 fills Do not use the small bottles - they last 5 seconds and cost 10 quid Co2 is not as good as a argon/co2 mix but this way is shed load cheeper But CO2 gives good results If you can get one with a turn up or down ( like a dimmer switch) control ,as the 3 switches to control the power is a pain in the ass. The gas less weld is rubbish - ok for fast fix outside in the wind not nothing else Next - when you buy a mig - look at the wire feed wheels and the assembley Most flimsy and work ok tobstart off ,but after a few hours the wire starts to slip I have a sipp 170 and is ok but next time i will spend a few quid more and get a better one You only need to go to a max 150 to 170 amps and that will weld 7/10 mm Also buy a auto dimming helmet if you are doing a lot of welding . Marc
Dude in the shop doesn't know what he's talking about.... I've used a 150 loads of times on std mains (13amp) My new welder is 180amp, and that'll happily run off a 13amp wall outlet
At 170 you are welding thick sheet and you wont be doing thst thick for much time You will be running at 100 most of the time or even less Saying that 170/180 is the top end for 13 amp supply Any bigger you go to 16 amp, if you do go thst way ( no special feed ,just a bigger plug and fuse) you can go and get a plasma cutter!!! The other thing is - go look at utube- loads of vids telling you how to weld Get a big sheet of metal and a oen and paper and try all the diffrent settings, self learning! You will find a setting that will do what you want and then you just tweek it But try utube Marc
Oh Yes - you will find that if the machine is ment to run 16 amps, the lead will be so thick it will be very hsrd to get a 13 amp plug on,
If you can stretch to one with a Eurotorch, I would. I have a SIP150 without and a bigger plant with, rarely use the SIP now.
Yep i agree Get one with a euro torch Its bigger and has a better feel , and if it gets damaged a new one costs £20 quid
I am now the owner of a Clarke 151te welder. Bought a few other bits like cutting and grinding discs. just need something to practise on now lol
Too late now but anyone else thinking of getting one, just register with machine mart online and take advantage of their vat free offers. Swansea machine mart has one on the 13th Jan. On a £270 bit of kit thats £52 off, maybe the difference between a 135a and a 150a for free. I had to fit a 16A feed and blue plug for a plasma cutter so I might upgrade my welder in the new year!
