I'm looking at getting a welder to do small repairs ect and learn how to weld. As it won't be used that much I'm not looking to spend more than £100

what type of welder am I best going for?

is it worth buying a second hand welder?

I'm looking at getting a welder to do small repairs ect and learn how to weld. As it won't be used that much I'm not looking to spend more than £100

what type of welder am I best going for?

is it worth buying a second hand welder?

Mig, as its easier. And Yes it is.

MIG welders are best suited to car repirs, because of the thinness of the metal.

ARC/MMA welders are best suited to heavier applications

a TIG/inverter welder is also very handy and worth looking into.

as with all tools buy the best you can afford,

have a look on the mig welding forum

Gotta be mig really, good for beginners, easy for small areas and best for panelwork, not as brutal as arc.

I bought one off a mate for £20 several years ago, bit crap being a non-turbo so it started cutting out once i'd got the hang of it. Flux-cored wire makes gasless play reasonably easy. Think it's 120A.

Stopped working recently, yet to look into it.

You won't get a decent mig welder for £100 or less and if you did find one that cheap I seriously wouldn't buy it

That's my honest advice

For a mig you wanna be looking £200 plus for a ok/good one

cheers for the replies

It won't be used enough to justify spending over £100 at the moment

is it not possible to pick up a reasonable used mig welder for around that price?

Used you should be able to, and definitely mig

anything I need to look for in particular?

Will you be using gas

Edited 20 January, 201313 yr by matt-c

erm I'd probably prefer to use electric but whats the advantage of gas?

erm I'd probably prefer to use electric but whats the advantage of gas?

No he didn't

erm I'd probably prefer to use electric but whats the advantage of gas?

No he didn't

Awkward....

Edited 20 January, 201313 yr by matt-c

I think mig is the best and you should be able to get one for £100. You can get a Gas and a gasless mig (shielding gas). I would get a Gas mig as i have heard bad things about the gasless.

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

Edited 20 January, 201313 yr by bugpolo

Definitely gas! Gasless just doesn't cut it, the welds look dry.. Electric you know....

erm I'd probably prefer to use electric but whats the advantage of gas?

No he didn't

haha I'm on here asking cause I don't have a clue about them at the moment and I wouldn't be asking if I didn't need to.

I only presumed electric since I seen a Lincoln mig welder that didn't mention gas or gas less.

ok cheers for the replies

I've got an arc, I used it to weld my van (as a beginner) wasn't the prettiest job but it passed its MOT!

I've got an arc and a carbon spotwelder and a bodywork attachment. With gloves and visor and fat extension cable it just broke £100. I think it's paid for itself.

Next time around I'd go MIG and spend money on a good arc-activated mask and maybe some evening classes.

Using the arc welder is like soldering but blindfold while holding a lightning bolt with barbecue tongs.

erm I'd probably prefer to use electric but whats the advantage of gas?

No he didn't

haha I'm on here asking cause I don't have a clue about them at the moment and I wouldn't be asking if I didn't need to.

I only presumed electric since I seen a Lincoln mig welder that didn't mention gas or gas less.

ok cheers for the replies

We all have to start somewhere mate

The problem is no matter how much you do or don't use it its always justified to get one that can actually run a decent weld. I paid £100 for a snap on 130 turbo MIG, it was shit. I struggled with that for a good couple of years wondering why no matter how much I practiced i couldn't get a decent weld consistently. I did some reading up and it turns out that they are renowned for having inconsistent wire feed and over time just generally getting shitter.

I decided to upgrade to something more capable and after doing some reading up on the MIG forums I decided to go with a clark 160 and its like night and day, real easy to get a nice weld and because your not fighting against a shit machine its easier to setup as well. Mine cost me something like £210 off eBay, but a decent welder is worth paying a little more for. Think of it as an investment, once you get the nack of it you can do jobs for people and the welder will pay for itself

had our clarke mig welder for about 10 years.. maybe more! its great to be able to just pick it up and weld.

get a mig welder second hand. and watch a few guides etc and just practice.

exactly what i was trying to get across Guy

the more you pay in the more you will get out tbh

Yeah fo sho, no need going over the top and buying the top of the range but it is worth getting a decent one. If you find one you're interested in do a search on the MIG welding forums and see what they have to say about it, they do know their stuff on there. There's also some good guides one there too

mig is the definitely the way to go.

dont bother with sub 140 amp welders as they don't have enough punch and have poor duty cycles (especially non turbo)

clarke welders are very good for the money, i've had my 150te (iirc its internals are the same as the newer 160te) for 9 years and it hasn't let me down and still welds smoothly.

getting a full size co2 bottle and reg is a must as it works out a lot cheaper especially if you use 'pub' gas.

How do you guys get hold of the co2?

It's from the winky wink men Si

How do you guys get hold of the co2?

i use the same gas as the pubs use as there's no rental on the bottle and it's cheap.

try looking in the yellow pages for beer gas suppliers, bar equipment etc and what ever you do, don't tell them you want it for welding!

you might need a bottle to get a refill, ask if you could buy one from your local pub.