Just been welding :)

[Dan@DB-Power]

Hi All

I have just received my new welder from Screwfix, only £50 delivered. I bought it to fix my intercooler pipes once and for all, as they have been blowing off. I must admit so far I enjoy welding :) not as hard as everyone made it out to be, once I found the right ampage :)

There seems to be something in a mans instinct with welding :wack:

Dan,

[arry]

last time i welded a spark flew over my shoulder, landed in a diesel pot i was using for degreasing and nearly burnt a mates garage down :D

not sure i've done much to improve my jinxed image there lol

[Dan@DB-Power]

LOL Could have been interesting Arry.

Dan,

[Chris]

the " molten blob in your boot " trick is fun as is the " molten blob in the ear " , i like the sound of sizzling flesh :wack: :no: :no: :no:

[Sideways Danny]

try holding the nozzle too near the tip, and getting the glove hot, and you've taped the bottom of the glove round your wrist to stop sparks in your sleeve:mad: :furious:

[2 Black Lines]

On the Aitch scale this is about a five.


Welding the subframe on the 200, blob of weld, falls in behind welding glove, bounces around, then lodges itself behind watch strap, watch strap dissapates the heat as you try to remove glove then watch strap, ouch!!!

Still got the scars 2 months on.

[Gary]

What sort of welder did you get?

I'm really interested in getting one to sort the bodywork out on mine once and for all, thinking of spot welding the chassis to strengthen it.

Any tips for n00b welders? :)


[/mass of questions]

[silviagod]

My S13 project taught me much about welding:eek: Getting a spark down the ear was most interesting, it sounded like a team of chefs in a bacon frying competition:D :D

[Wak]

Originally posted by chris
the " molten blob in your boot " trick is fun as is the " molten blob in the ear " , i like the sound of sizzling flesh :wack: :no: :no: :no:

I know it well :nod:

Worse than that though is when you leap up in surprise at having red hot metal sizzling in your ear and smash your head on the underneath of the car.

I always wear earplugs now when I'm welding

[JonnyBoy]

A friend from the pub was welding with just goggles on a couple of weeks ago and got a blob up his nose:eek:

[turboferret]

Been welding for a while now, tig is great fun :nod: especially on stainless, any mug can do fantastic looking neat welds :thumbs:

The best thing I ever bought was an automatic welding mask - mine cost about £60, and is an absolute godsend, no messing about with flipping the bugger up and down.

Oh, yeah, don't weld in trainers either :cry: blobs go in, but don't come out.

The age old picking up the freshly welded item continues to catch me out, and since I rarely wear gloves, everyone know, when I've been at it, so to speak ;)

Happy welding

Rich :)

[bren]

I learnt that you should prottect your windscreen when yuou are angle grinding in your car. I found out the hard way on our journey to Cadwell Park last Sat in our just finished Civic when I started wondering what allt he black marks on the inside of the screen were and noticed they wouldnt rub off. It then twigged that they were little bits of metal embedded in the inside of the windscreen!! :annoyed: :annoyed: :annoyed:

We have a cage here for the Civic. Its a weld in jobby. Ive only ever had a quick go at gas welding. Do you think I could weld the cage in myself? I also need to re-enforce the floor pans as the seats are bolted straight to it and the passenger side especially flexes alarmingly! :eek:

What sort of welder should I buy?

[docwra]

Originally posted by sideways danny
try holding the nozzle too near the tip, and getting the glove hot, and you've taped the bottom of the glove round your wrist to stop sparks in your sleeve:mad: :furious:

I am a fan of the "Whats that burning smell? Oh its my trousers" technique - works well for grinding as well ........... :rolleyes:

[Deacon]

or the smell when you realise your hairs on fire :wack:

[2 Black Lines]

Bren, Buy the one with the most free power in reserve that you can afford, it will have a fan to cool it and probably be around £300 -£400 any thing else is a toy for only doing thin sheet/ panels. anything over 2mm and the toy welders struggle.

[Wak]

Originally posted by bren

What sort of welder should I buy?

Something like this http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=17185&ts=47252 would be fine, or it's big brother the 130A version http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=17764&ts=47252

Try and get a regulator for a large gas bottle if you can - your local BOC depot should be able to supply one. The little bottles you get with the welders last about 5 minutes and cost as much as the big ones

[Dan@DB-Power]

Originally posted by Hachi-Roku
What sort of welder did you get?

I'm really interested in getting one to sort the bodywork out on mine once and for all, thinking of spot welding the chassis to strengthen it.

Any tips for n00b welders? :)


[/mass of questions]

I got a arc welder Fern Concept 1500, i ideally wanted a mig but they were out of my price range.

Dan,

[turboferret]

Ah yes, the good old grinding near glass - totally trashed the windscreen on an old Scierra after I'd welded a new wing on - got through wiper blades at a rate of knots too :eek:

I'd avoid an arc welder unless you can't afford MIG - chipping off the slag gets very tedious, and is sometimes very tricky in tight corners. It's rather demoralising to look at what you think is a nice fat weld, but to then chip off the slag to see what looks like a pidgeon has shat on the metal instead :rolleyes:

Remember that if you're going for MIG, you'll need to accound for gas too, unless you're getting a gassless system, but I don't know much about them.

Also, don't leave your gas on over night :no: especially if it's decent stuff, an easy way to waste £60 or so :cry:

Rich

[Wak]

Originally posted by turboferret
Ah yes, the good old grinding near glass - totally trashed the windscreen on an old Scierra after I'd welded a new wing on - got through wiper blades at a rate of knots too :eek:

I'd avoid an arc welder unless you can't afford MIG - chipping off the slag gets very tedious, and is sometimes very tricky in tight corners. It's rather demoralising to look at what you think is a nice fat weld, but to then chip off the slag to see what looks like a pidgeon has shat on the metal instead :rolleyes:

Remember that if you're going for MIG, you'll need to accound for gas too, unless you're getting a gassless system, but I don't know much about them.

Also, don't leave your gas on over night :no: especially if it's decent stuff, an easy way to waste £60 or so :cry:

Rich

Yep, avoid arc - it's more difficult to do especially on thin panels. It's more suited to thick stuff.

I've not used a gasless mig but a look at the price of the wire is enough to scare anyone off I would think.

If you get a decent reg it shouldn't leak any gas, but it's still a good idea to turn it off when you're not using the welder, especially if it's inside the garage. Breathing Co2 will make you blue.:eek:

[mattpayne]

I sold the interior of my old Mk2 escort to someone that had a 'little mishap' with his welding torch :D

[Sideways Danny]

Originally posted by Wak
I know it well :nod:

Worse than that though is when you leap up in surprise at having red hot metal sizzling in your ear and smash your head on the underneath of the car.

I always wear earplugs now when I'm welding

hurts like hell when that happens, i always wear a wooly hat when welding underneath something.



Just remembered an incident when i was welding under a rig at millbrook, and didn't have overalls on, i overdid it a bit and got a big drip landed on me, set light to my fleece, and it melted nicely:wack:

[John Bennett]

The gasless wire feature on my dual-purpose MIG is crap. It just spatters loads more and makes my welds far worse than usual (BAD).

[Davey D]

I am an engineer fabricator, and this is the set i use at work. use it for welding anythig from thin panels, upto anything like 60mm solid :thumbs:

uses 15Kg spools of wire :D

http://www.mbweldingsupplies.co.uk/mach/cebora/mig/l.html

[Sideways Danny]

Originally posted by Davey D
I am an engineer fabricator, and this is the set i use at work. use it for welding anythig from thin panels, upto anything like 60mm solid :thumbs:

uses 15Kg spools of wire :D

http://www.mbweldingsupplies.co.uk/mach/cebora/mig/l.html
i've used that one at work before, very good, built bomb proof doors with it

[Chris]

Originally posted by bren


We have a cage here for the Civic. Its a weld in jobby. Ive only ever had a quick go at gas welding. Do you think I could weld the cage in myself? I also need to re-enforce the floor pans as the seats are bolted straight to it and the passenger side especially flexes alarmingly! :eek:



get the rollcage proffesionally mig welded , gas welding will not be strong enough unless you bought the cage for cosmetic purposes :rolleyes:

iirc rac motorsport regs make electric arc welding (that includes mig ) compulsory on cages

[honest_jim]

I got a 135 amp mig around christmas, I have so far made various sections of intercooler piping and fixed the lawn mower!
All I need now is for my sills to rot out so I can make the welder pay for itself.