got myself a welder....made some new stuff

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StuRox

StuRox

Well-Known Member
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Nr Bath
Finally got myself a welder, after lots of looking into them, went for a portamig as it can go up to 180amps but also as low as 15amps.

Never welded in my life, but thought I better learn with having the old girl.....so set away practising this weekend, and have made myself some nice rear light guards with 6mm steel rods. Quite chuffed with my first attempt :D

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Just waiting for the paint to dry on the one I have just made for the centre fog light ;)
 
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Nice one, practice ya welding on scrap bits, the more ya do, the better ya get. :D
Penetration is everything.........:eek:
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

Just used the screws I had handy....will look into getting them changed over ;)
 
Nice one - you've done well for someone who's never welded before.

I bought a mig a couple of years ago as prior to that I only had an old (Noah's) Arc welder that was more harm than benefit (no use for thin stuff and I ended up with more holes in the metal than I began with).

A few mates can weld really well and their advice was to spend more than you think you need to, and get the best welder you reasonably can as cheap ones can be a nightmare.

Got an Esab Origomag 150 in the end and I don't have to weld often but when I do, it's a fun thing to do rather than a chore cos it just works.

Tried learning with an old school mask but couldn't get on with it, so I bought a matching Esab auto mask and instantly I could manage welds that were ok (for what I needed anyway - probably hilarious by a pro standards!).

Good work anyway, get on with playing some more. :)
 
I love welding and making random parts I've got a tig and mig welder and tig is a art form when you know what your doing with it, I spent 3yrs as a tig welder and prefer that over mig!
 
I've got enough steel left.....not enough for mass production, but my skills ain't that good for that.....yet ;)
 
will200 said:
I love welding and making random parts I've got a tig and mig welder and tig is a art form when you know what your doing with it, I spent 3yrs as a tig welder and prefer that over mig!
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Would love one of those for making up nice ally bits for my cars but couldn't justify it at all. Even the mig is an extravagance, but on the occasions when I actually need it, it's so totally worth it's weight in gold!
 
That was my dilemma, price over ‘do I really need one’, esp when I have just laid out £700.00 :eek: (after a lot of saving) as I had nothing, but it bought me everything I needed to get going - the mig, a very good euro torch, 20 litres of gas as well as bottle deposit, 15kg of wire, a nice solar powered helmet and some good gauntlets (and some spare tips etc thrown in ;)). Couldn't fault the guy I bought it all from - really good as he even showed me it all working and made sure I could actually weld (well as best I could for my first time!) before I went.

I thought that once its bought, its bought, and the things I will be able to do with it will pay back the outlay, and as I went for a good one (hopefully) it is going to last me a lifetime…..so let the fun begin :cool:
 
If theres one bit of advice to give for welding it this... Crispy bacon... Any welder will know what im going on about here!

Basically if the wire speed and power is set up right it will sound like bacon crisping nicely in the pan, thats when you know you have got it perfect. After that its all about penetration, to weak and you may as well use super glue, to much and you will see the other side...
 
Jongould said:
If theres one bit of advice to give for welding it this... Crispy bacon... Any welder will know what im going on about here!

Basically if the wire speed and power is set up right it will sound like bacon crisping nicely in the pan, thats when you know you have got it perfect. After that its all about penetration, to weak and you may as well use super glue, to much and you will see the other side...
Click to expand...

The guy I got it from called it 'chips cooking nicely in a pan of fat' and as for the other part - thats where the practise comes in.....and a lot of steel scraps!!
 
Being a new-comer to welding myself (well about a year ago) and lucky enough to have access to just about any scrap I wanna play with, I had some fun learning ... best advice?

Get plenty of clamps to hold your work in place, make sure the joint is clean and shiney before you start to weld.

Then it all just falls together easily for our level of work.

Shortly after I bought my welder, I had to go and buy a plasma cutter too ... bloody dear thing but great fun to use.
 
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