Welder?

[stanza]

Heya people,

I have been bogging rust on my KE70 all weekend. Iv done most of it, but there's a few Gaping holes that i can't fill with bog :no2: And iv been meaning to get a welder for a while now... so What type should i get and is there a size that i should look for?

What type do you need for body work? And what type do you need for say.. welding a diff or making engine mounts ?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

EDIT: Looking for something cheapish... I don't have loads of cash.

Edited August 24, 2008 by stanza

[78_7kRolla]

Mate, i really don't think you'd be wanting to use an arc welder which is as cheap as the come. And MIG or TIG welders are very expensive. Best off paying cash to a panel beater to do it, especially if you're not a confident welder.

 

Matt.

[adam-__-]

I've got no idea about welders, but Home Hardware had a CIG (I think it was CIG) welder which was 140amps for sale at ~$129 if I can remember correctly. Came with some safety gear or something I can't remember. I thought that was pretty cheap. No idea to be honest.. :no2:

[irokin]

I've got no idea about welders, but Home Hardware had a CIG (I think it was CIG) welder which was 140amps for sale at ~$129 if I can remember correctly. Came with some safety gear or something I can't remember. I thought that was pretty cheap. No idea to be honest.. :no2:

 

It'll be an arc which is useless for panel work. You can pickup MIGs for a bit over $500 these days. Really I think the first thing you should do before you even start looking at welders is go and do a short welding course at TAFE and then you'll know what you're looking for.

[stanza]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm planning to do one of those short TAFE courses when i have some time.. I can do $500 though :no2:

[Redwarf]

I bought a WIA 175. Payed GOOD dollars for it, but it's worth it's weight in gold. Easily do good panel work, and will do 8mm steel with .8mm wire at a stretch, and everything in between. $1400 for it though.

 

Australian made, the company has been around for many years, parts are very easy to come by. I expect to be using it in 30 years time.

 

Edited August 24, 2008 by Redwarf

[stanza]

Mmm, I guess i should think about that, Tbh, i really hate poor quality tools, so i think i might get someone else to do it this time, or just make do with bog :\ . And save for something decent that will last. Thanks.

[Johnjimo]

Hi, I'm an apprentice light metal fabricator (sheetmetal worker) You'd probably wanna go Mig for thicker stuff, like welding things to diffs, and Tig for thinner stuff. Tig is a finer, more concentrated welding process, and it's often used to do root runs on important welds, like for pressure tanks, and for thinner metal, as well as alloys such as aluminium. To weld body panels with Mig, you'd want the amps right down, and spot weld (tacks) otherwise you will blow (melt) holes through them (I've spot welded thin metal, .8 from memory, it took forever, and I spent half the time filling up gaps haha).

At the end of the day you're gonna pay a lot for these machines, and then you have to rent gas bottles (can't be purchased) and buy regulators, because gasless mig is crap.

You can always do the tafe course, and when you're a good welder, have a crack, or even take the stuff in and have the tafe teacher weld it for you, for free, tafe teachers get bored welding the same old 10mm plates over and over, they're more than happy to show off.

Hope this helps

[stanza]

Yeah that's great thanks. I'll look for a tafe course now.

[snot35]

I did the tafe course, and it's definitely a good place to start. I recently bought a CIGWELD Transmig 135. Not a bad little unit so far. I got it second hand for about $400, but had to replace some parts to bring it up to snuff. It's not as high a quality as the WIA unit, but I can't quite justify that sort of cash. The advantage of the cigweld stuff is that you can get spare contact tips and parts from Bunnings. So if you need wire and tips on a weekend it's easy! Other stuff has to be ordered though. It seems to do good welds though.

 

If you're doing panel work you want a MIG that will go down to 30 amps or so. If you want to do engine mounts then you want to go up fairly high as well. I'd probably save and get something like the cigweld 165, or a WIA 150. That's as big as you can go before you need a 15amp plug. That should cover you up to around the 5mm plate mark.

 

The cig stuff usually comes with a regulator, which does OK but isn't great. Also factor in some cash for a decent helmet. The auto ones make life a lot easier. And money for the bottle!

[philbey]

A couple of the boilermakers at work reckon the WIA gear is good.

 

The Kemppi though - those things are the ducks nuts, if you have 1500 bucks to spend!! Cool. (ticketed structural welder doing work with a kempi 10 running gasless! Crazy)

[got one77]

Heya people,

I have been bogging rust on my KE70 all weekend. Iv done most of it, but there's a few Gaping holes that i can't fill with bog :no2: And iv been meaning to get a welder for a while now... so What type should i get and is there a size that i should look for?

What type do you need for body work? And what type do you need for say.. welding a diff or making engine mounts ?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

EDIT: Looking for something cheapish... I don't have loads of cash.

have you thought about brazing with fencing wire? My wifes uncle in brisbane does up old dodges and all he uses is fencing wire and lpg. It comes up pretty schmick, the trick is as soon as you get the flow happening then work in a quick circular motion. It might be worth a try just get some scrap metal first to get used to the heat (hope it works) good luck

 

R&C

[gr33nm0nk3y]

i have a kempi at work (I'm an aliminium boat building apprentice) i've an un-natural hate for it.. i'd rather have my old crusty ancient uni-mig back..

i can't remember what model number they are, but apparently around 6-7k to buy.. the place i work for (austal ships) bought 2 lots of around 50-60units then have just recently got a bunch of uni-migs in.. (which i was happy to see just quietly)

 

the only wia's ive seen (all 2 or 3) have been kicked around the workshop for about 10 years and the guys that use them swear by them.. so there's an endorsment for you..

 

if you know what your looking at you can try some auction houses, i don't know if they still do but austal's would send they're old welders out to get auctioned out..

 

-bc

 

ps: maybe you could get a tig welder for your panels and thing metal work and a heavy duty stick welder for your mounts and shit..

[irokin]

I don't think I'd recommend a TIG for a novice, would you?

[snot35]

I didn't find Tig welding mild steel was actually that hard.

 

Having said that, that was on a decent quality Kemppi unit. I'm not sure how well the cheaper units go. I thought about getting a Tig when I was shopping around, but realistically to get a quality brand name unit it was going to cost twice as much as a Mig. You can get lift start inverter units for around $400 or so, but I think you really want a bit more control than that.

 

Tig is more of an art, but probably not as much of an art as welding panels with fencing wire and gas! Distortion here we come! I admire the guys that can do that.

 

Tig aluminium on the hand, is very hard!

 

For panel work a small Mig is really the way to go. Like I said, see if you can get a 150 or 165 and you'll be able to do engine mounts and similar as well.