Stavros

As title. Has anyone without someone actually teaching them?

I wouldnt mind knowing how just to do minor stuff, not neat, just strong.

Got a welder in the shed my brother had before he went to Canada a good few years ago (well, now i think about it, its at least 10yrs old!), "Maypole Turbo 120" it seems to be called, but nothing comes up on a Google search, which isnt ideal, lol.

Someone I know who is good at welding said to me once its fairly easy to teach yourself, just by welding random straight bits of metal together and messing with the settings, but he is nuts so cant just listen to him, lol.

Experiences welcome

Billy_RS

iTrader: (5)

I do welding now and then, just little bits a bobs.

Got a crappy little welder and just messed about with the settings and power etc..

Blowing holes in all sorts of things!

I'd say now im reasonable, not great, but abvle to to what i need to.

Hope this helps

Stavros

Cool, cheers, pretty much what the other guy told me to do. Got plenty of scrap metal to try it with too.

Where you get gas from anyhow? Its got a decent sized bottle, but fuck all showing on the pressure gauge!

Billy_RS

iTrader: (5)

No, mines is a toilet welder!

Get gas from halfords, cos it's those tiny bottles.

If, you got a proper welder, then you'll need to get the gas from a specialist.

gus

iTrader: (1)

when iget a garage sorted i will buy myself some welding gear

i have always wanted to learn


would come in handy owning a ford

vroooom ptssssh

I think if you want to learn yourself as your mate sais, just practice on random bits of scrap metal/play with the settings!

Stavros

Nah, this things got a decent sized bottle, a good 3 feet high.

Sure my brother used to get the gas from his mate who owned a pub or some shit.

Its got a fair bit of welding wire left it seems tho, so thats a start

SteveB

iTrader: (3)

Go teach yaself...... making sure the metal is clean is key to a good "weld"

crazycage

if you post some pics up of the set and tell us how thick the metal is then i could talk you though it then show us the weds that you have done and i will tell you how to sort it

abdr500

iTrader: (1)

one thing to point is the welding mask get a good one one that is a hand free as you may want to us both hands and try looking at the weld puddel and as you weld move back into the previuos weld as going down kind of like up down up down ..all ways works for me

Billy_RS

iTrader: (5)

Cover up!

Got a weld burn on my foot, where it fell in my shoe.


Ouch

Stavros

Theres a decent hands free proper welding mask here too with the welder, which is nice. And for some reason I have a brand new pair of welding gauntlets here, it must be a sign

There various uses a welder will be handy for me...

Welding diffs up, so big bastard bits of metal.
Plating up rusty ass bits of cars.
Modifying exhausts, manifolds, making hangers, etc etc.

End up paying people to do all of the above fairly regular TBH.

At mo something I really need doing is having 2 steel pipes welded up on an inlet manifold, literally need a 1p sized circle welded on top of each.

So whats the crack with the gas? What is it? Can I just go down one of the local suppliers (the locator on the Air Products website shows one by me) and get the bottle filled?

Its got plenty of wire at mo, tho not sure how long itd last, enough for a bit of practice anyhow.

If anyones got any tips or info or links to good how-to's or whatever, thatd be good.

Gives me summat to do xmas day to keep away from my family too

abdr500

iTrader: (1)

Stavros
i just looked on you tube and ther is a few tips on ther that can help you but best to try yourself
as for the gas thers lots of place you can get it from go to your local garage and just ask them who they fill up with oh and just 1 more thing slow down the wire speed some times that plays big roll on they way the weld looks

Billy_RS

iTrader: (5)

Was going to say about the youtube tutorials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqFp5kCeTA0

DazC

iTrader: (1)

Thats a pub CO2 gas bottle. You should be able to find somewhere local that will swap it for you. If you have the bottle you already have the difficult bit (they are usually on a return basis so everyone usually sends them back). Just go ask in a pub if you could swap your empty for a full one or know where you could get a full one.

Higher settings are for thicker metal. If you feel the torch pushing back on your hand the wire speed is too fast. I usually set it too fast then slow down to the point where I get a good constant flow without feeling the wire pushing against what I'm trying to weld.

If you blow holes in the metal you have the amps too high. If your weld looks like it's sat ontop of the metal without flowing into it then amps are set too low. Metal turning blue along the edge of the weld is a good indication of heat penetration.

Daviet

i tried it years ago and tbh i was shit when i hadnt been showing anything before.not just shite but couldnt get anything to weld
it took 5 mins of someone showing me a few things and was soo much easier.best to try and get someone to spend an hour or so with you going over it a bit as it will save so much ballache imo

Lee Reynolds

Im learning myself. Done little bits before but ive done all the welding on my rsi. Bit messy at first but it comes off down to neat with a flap disc...but now im getting pretty tidy

Garage19

The pub bottle you will have will be pure cO2. Its crap for welding anything but the very thickest plate as it runs hot.

You need an argon/co2 mix like argo shield that only has between 5-15% co2 depending on which one you choose.

Means you will need to get an acount with BOC/airproducts and pay for bottle rent.

Alps Pacino

It al depends on what sort of welding you want to do, i have just come back from work where i had a go at alloy tig and tbh i found it pretty easy and got the hang of it after 2 days of twating on. If its on cars i'd just buy a few sheets of mild steel and a little mig welder and just tway on for a few days. Its not difficult it's just practice and knowing what works ie what speed power etc.

david

I taught myself, just need to practice and do different things until you get the hang of it.

some good advice can be found on the internet. don't use C02, its not meant for welding and its shit. Get some argoshield. Bottle rent isn't dear and refills are only 30 odd quid.

thebigyin

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php

mig is probably the easiest of the welding processes, the easiest way i have found to teach anyone the basics is to give them a shield and let them watch me , that way they can see exactly what is going on

costina

iTrader: (1)

To weld big stuff you need at least 150+ amps and i would suggest a decent gas bottle with reg,none of these halfords bottles..

And a good mask and gloves

Paul

NEO™®©

as above teach yourself its good to get basic pointers from experienced welders but the only way to do it is get the gun and play, welding clean metal is easy but upside down on a rusty car can be a bitch, where are ya located as i could try to help ya out

NEO™®©

oh yeah and a little 120 welder aint really meant for heavy stuff like welding diffs as you wont get the penetration

CosKev3

Good info

What are gas-less Mig welders like for welding on cars??????

costina

iTrader: (1)

Rubbish would not even bother Pigeon poo anyone

Paul

NEO™®©

gasless migs i dont rate at all, i much prefer using argoshield for work, i taught myself and was welding a van at work the other dayso i thought i would show a pic lol as you can see by the discolouration of the metal it penetrated well

CosKev3

Cheers

Thinking like Stavros,have to pay people to weld my car,so want to learn myself

Best not buy a gas-less Mig then

NEO™®©

nope lol get a gas mig and use argoshield

Stavros

Cool.

So this CO2 bottle i seem to have cant be filled with good stuff?

I need to hire a bottle from one of them companies? I can deal with that I guess.

Ill see if i can do it tomorro as it gives me summat to do xmas day!

costina

iTrader: (1)

Pub bottles are not good i get mine from BOC cost me around Ł50 fro a years hire of bottle and Ł40 for a refill

worth every penny mate

Neo: just a tip mate pulse weld it for less distortion(so it looks like alloy welding)

good job and cheap for you

Paul

NEO™®©

the distortion you see is the fact that at one point i had the entire outer skin peeled back so i could weld a new inner sill in from the outside as it was that damn rusty lol, but yeah i know what you mean that was by no means a nice job it was a quick job to get it out the door

CosKev3

What make of Mig would you recommend????

Bearing in mind its only for car repairs/DIY use

Paul Eggleton

It's pretty easy Steve. As said above a decent CO2/Argon mix is best and make sure the metal is cleaned up. Also make sure the earth bonding is nice and clean and well connected too.

Other than that, it's one of those things thats pure practice.

NEO™®©

erm sip is good tho make sure you buy a turbo version as they have good fan cooling and it means it wont cut out after 10 minutes of use lol a little turbo 130 would suit most uses

CosKev3

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=013

Looks a good price only 20 miles up the road too

NEO™®©

thts the welder i use tho i use it with a big bottle of argoshiled although if you get argon/co2 mix it will be fine

CosKev3

Thanks

costina

iTrader: (1)

Ah one of those know what you mean

Paul

KnoxyGtt

Clarke is about the best u can buy for the money, anything around 150 is ideal for genral purpose, think machine mart do a 160T for around 250 or something, argon/co2 75/25 or 80/20 is mostly recomended and best suited for steel work

Dont bother with gasless as there pretty shite tbh, the trouble with them is that the flux wire is hard (well almost impossible) to see the puddle and also they never really come in a high amp machines so u would be looking at welding 3mm max with any gasless