johnnyoxford

johnnyoxford

New Member
Hi all, quite new on here, bought a defender 90 200tdi last week, so far so good.

I am going to get myself a welder for doing repairs, and refurb work on it. I did a little bit of arc welding 20 odd years ago, never really did any mig welding but that seems to be the norm these days.

Questions:

1 - Will a mig welder be up to doing any chassis repairs if I get into that in years to come?

2 - There seem to be gasless MIG welders these days, this sounds appealing on the face of it, are they as good as with gas?

My budget will be about £150, can anyone recomend a semi reasonable model?

Many thanks

Johnny.
 

Attachments

  • Land Rover 001.jpg
    Land Rover 001.jpg
    164.3 KB · Views: 155
hi, i prefer gas mig to gassless as the welds are cleaner being sheilded with gas , the wires cheaper than the fluxed gassless wire , ( half the price)

you can weld 2 - 22 mm with a mig , so ideal fer chassis,

clarke welder fer £150 will do yer proud ( machine mart )

get an adapter fer pub style bottles (£5) then yer gas will be even cheaper
 
I've done some loverly welds with me gasless mig:cool: I've also done some crap ones as well:rolleyes:
Gas is in the wire so shields right where you need it, some say they are useless but I find it OK for what I need, saves remembering to turn the gas on as well:D
 
landowner said:
I've done some loverly welds with me gasless mig:cool: I've also done some crap ones as well:rolleyes:
Gas is in the wire so shields right where you need it, some say they are useless but I find it OK for what I need, saves remembering to turn the gas on as well:D
Click to expand...

i had a sip gasless to start with and i got on well with it, but the rollers went so i upgraded to a gas , the welds i found wer cleaner, all depends on the steel, the gas is expensive tho, so evens out the cost of the flux wire :)
 
Clarke or sealey -only buy an established brand as screwfix and similar chinese offerings are wores than useless
 
i got a sip 151 brilliant thing that was my ebay bargain last year ............. full reel of wire , full bottle of co2 mask , gloves, regulator all for £80 wot a bargain keep your eyes open they do crop up from time to time
 
So we suggesting clarke hobby mig's as best value for occasional repairs then Sean?

Being fair other than the lance length, the 151te I had did me proud.
 
Gassless is great for in the middle of the field repairs such as comp safaris weekends where its likley to be windy no gas to worry about lugging about and no worries in blowy conditions
 
fanatic said:
So we suggesting clarke hobby mig's as best value for occasional repairs then Sean?

Being fair other than the lance length, the 151te I had did me proud.
Click to expand...

yer i recon cant go far wrong with clarke for the price they are, sips all seem to suffer feed issues after not so much use and sealeys appear to be generally badly made but ok ish for general use

peeps on that welding forum ave similar views
 
have had an sip 195 for 6 years which has had a very hard life indeed. still is perfect to the day, welds perfectly. Done everything from thin bodywork to roll cages and winch bumpers. Nice long lead with a small torch, perfect for tight spots!
cant vouch for some of the smaller cheaper ones though i must admit although i have used a sealey 150 alot which seems to be very good. its got the buttons though not dials which annoys me as sometimes you just cant get it perfect!
Did have a gasless once which i learnt to weld with when i was about 10, still worked until recently but never really liked using it. Gas all the way!
Dont rule out an arc welder either. have fixed a few chassis before now with an old oxford oil cooled 150 arc. very good it was too, takes a lot of practice though, mig is much easier to use.
 
hi all:)
i use the clarke 150 which can be converted to gas or gasless so it gives me the option to choice when ever. i tend use it on gas mainly with pub bottle and it takes a descent size wire roll aswell not the small ones which run out after a few days. also the torch aint peramenly live only when i pull the trigger in and makes contact does it become live. i still miss me old trusty oxy act brill for heating and bending metal lol,still might consider a portable pack for that . but will always have a mig to hand
 
ive had a clarke 105e for 26 years barring i problem 10 years ago its been no bother welds chassis,body work even heavy steel [mind you it takes a few passes on heavy steel].i only had 1 problem it was the liner the text said it was a steel liner b ut it wouldnt feed,the lads from machine diagnosed right first time its the liner mate ,i took it to bits liner shredded,fitted a new steel liner its been champion ever since.ive seen a couple of posts @ duty cycle,if uyou use it flat out it does get hot and switches of,but its better than burning out,i put the windy pipe in it to keep it cool when doing heavy work but normally no bother doing bodywork or chassis welding..i have used CO2 pub bottles with good results ,for the best result use boc argoshield its superb but expensive .you pays yer money you takes your chance.....dave
 
sip is a good budget welder but if you want to go a bit better Murex/Esab is the job , if your going to do any amount of welding you'd need to be spending close to 1k
 
Landy DL said:
sip is a good budget welder but if you want to go a bit better Murex/Esab is the job , if your going to do any amount of welding you'd need to be spending close to 1k
Click to expand...

Bollocks, if you going to use it every day for the next 10 years maybe an ESAB.

Bit like comparing a mondeo to a mercedes -mondeo will do the same and move you from a to b, but doesn't have all the goodies.

For me a Digital display is a waste of time, plus the last clarke I had did 10 years and my mate has it.
Bought another bigger one-been happy with some extensive use.

Co2 is fine for underseal/seam sealer paint etc
 
Last edited:
fanatic said:
Bollocks, if you going to use it every day for the next 10 years maybe an ESAB.

Bit like comparing a mondeo to a mercedes -mondeo will do the same and move you from a to b, but doesn't have all the goodies.

For me a Digital display is a waste of time, plus the last clarke I had did 10 years and my mate has it.
Bought another bigger one-been happy with some extensive use.

Co2 is fine for underseal/seam sealer paint etc
Click to expand...

my opinion isn't bollocks :rolleyes:, i use murex/esab/sip/olerkin every day and the murex or esab is the best and by the way some of the murex i use is 15 years old no Digital display, any welder will do ten years if hardly used :rolleyes: , i'd like to see the how strong a weld from a £150 welder is and the quality of it there is alot of bird **** machines out there :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
What welder
2
Replies
22
Views
3K
miktdish
miktdish
jimllshiftit
Any advice for novice welder about to stitch new rear cross member to 90 chassis?
Replies
3
Views
347
tottot
tottot
H
Welding & Rust - any willing participants (pictures)?
Replies
19
Views
2K
dag019
dag019
P
Disco 2 MOT fail, front body mount
2 3
Replies
58
Views
5K
PopPops
P
N
Doors. 1998 300TDI
Replies
5
Views
557
RustyDefender
RustyDefender