which welder??

[tattoo]

I'm bored out of my head just sitting around until my hand heals and the infection I got while in hospital has cleared up so I thought I'd give welding ago but I don't know which one to buy.....it'll be used for joining 2mm/3mm mild steel tubing together for a small project I thought it was time I started

Any advice on which welders are upto joining said tubing would be fantastic

[Flatline]

Stick or mig welder are the choices, unless you can afford Tig

I got a stick welder from Lidl/Aldi, £35. Works a treat

Got a gasless mig welder off of Ebay, it's one you can get from Machine World, a couple of hundred for a basic one

This is a great source of info

And it doesn't take long to get the hang of it

Just make sure you have a big grinder

[VTRDark]

This is a great source of info

Did you forget the link

(:-})

[darkember]

Definitely a mig the arcs are just too inaccurate. Checkout the Suzuki welds I'm sure they use the old arc

[sirch345]

It's really horses for courses
An Arc (nic-name stick) welder is great for heavy materials such as mild steel, and you can get some good results learning the skill from that, that will boost your confidence. Learning to use an Arc welder on material as thin as 2mm will be hard work if you just starting out, it's not impossible and I have welded even thinner mild steel sheet like 1mm or less, but you have to know what you are doing.

A Mig welder will be better for thinner materials, but the downside is you need to buy gas for it, so an on going expense. I've not tried an expensive gas-less Mic welder like Flatline has, however the cheaper ones I have tried do not give a nice clean weld, as he said you will need an angle grinder

Chris.

[Gazfirestormowner]

if u can afford a tig its the way forward more penatration and cleaner weld than mig but alot more expensive as u need a gas supply.

A mig would be good enough but again i prefer using a gas supply for mine but as said previously u can get gas less mig

an arc welder would be good if u were welding thicker plate but 2 mm is a bit thin and arc welding its fairly fierce but if u go steady u could get away but its dirty lol enjoy

[tattoo]

Cheers guys...I've looked on ebay at both gas and gas/gasless migs and they seem to be reasonably price..I've used a welder on a couple of occasions and the results weren't pretty but it hasn't broken apart yet..sods law it'll break now I said that....

[Flatline]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/

[tony.mon]

Ok, what do I need for thin wall Ti or Inconel?

[Flatline]

You could start by reading this

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Pulsed-G ... .208058300

[VTRDark]

Mmmm I can get helium out of balloons but where can I get Argon. I thought TIG was used for TI but it's the TI rods that make it expensive.

(:-})

[chric]

argon any decent gas c02 supplier

[VTRDark]

I could fill my leathers up with it in winter to help keep me warm.

(:-})

[mattycoops43]

Use proper welding gas like cougar, it makes a massive difference to the welds, do NOT use 'pub gas'. Gasless was developed for outside welding in the wind but cheap gasless ones are useless.

Get a turbo with a fan in it as waiting for 5 mins for it to cool down as its overheating after 3 mins of welding is a pita!

You wont regret getting the best you can afford, nothing wrong with second hand either as they are fully serviceable and a good quality used one is better than a crap cheap new one.

Set it up for thin wire (0.6) as it will weld better on thin tube if that's what you have in mind, you can use 0.8, 1.0 or even bigger I think but it needs to much power to work properly.

Get on you tube and have a search, plenty of how toos, wire speed is the key, get used to listening for the right sound.

[Shauned71]

Use proper welding gas like cougar, it makes a massive difference to the welds, do NOT use 'pub gas'. Gasless was developed for outside welding in the wind but cheap gasless ones are useless.

Get a turbo with a fan in it as waiting for 5 mins for it to cool down as its overheating after 3 mins of welding is a pita!

You wont regret getting the best you can afford, nothing wrong with second hand either as they are fully serviceable and a good quality used one is better than a crap cheap new one.

Set it up for thin wire (0.6) as it will weld better on thin tube if that's what you have in mind, you can use 0.8, 1.0 or even bigger I think but it needs to much power to work properly.

Get on you tube and have a search, plenty of how toos, wire speed is the key, get used to listening for the right sound.

What Matty said
Especially the second hand over new... chances are you can buy a more powerful and better quality welder secondhand for the price of a average new one.. bigger is also better, the bigger machines don't have to work as hard so don't heat up like the smaller ones.

In the past I used to buy my gas from BOC but found out recently that some motors factors do gas now (don't mean the silly little bottles like machine mart sell) There are various size bottles available and prices are pretty good. No rental charges on the bottles but you pay a refundable deposit on the first bottle.