Welding

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sun 3 Nov 2002 17:24
Welding - richard1985
I have a 1973 austin minivan which i am restoring. I need a good mig welder to the body panels on the car but anything i have tried so far has either been too powerful or not powerful enough with the settings. I do not wish to spend enourmous amounts of money. Could anyone give any advice on a suitable welder. it would be much appreciated.
richard
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Nov 2002 21:49
WELDING - Ian D
The welder I have and which usually comes out well in magazine tests is the SIP Migmate 130 turbo. Buy a copy of Practical Classics magazine and there are several companies that sell it mail order, I think Halfords and B&Q also sell it but I am not sure how good their prices are. This will do body panels and light chassey repairs no problem...

Ian
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Nov 2002 07:53
WELDING - John Davis
I too use the SIP unit but, I hire it from a local tool distributor. I don't have that much use for a welder, hence hiring is useful but, when my Daughter's vehicle needs an MOT, there is usually a bit of rust to attend to. I find the SIP extremely easy to use and, the range of adjustment allows for very delicate work and,also, within it's limits, some fairly robust welds
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 2 May 2006 19:06
WELDING - TSwede
Hi John - I just asked someone else this question but thought I'd better ask you too.. Here it is

Hi - Just reading your message - I have a Cosmo 130 (B&Q) and believe it's the same welder... I'm just practicing with it but struggling with the arrangement of the 3 switches on the front - to get the best combination for car panels....

May I ask you what your typical settings are for thin steel - bodywork patches etc.. and what gauge metal you buy to weld in???

I could then use this as a starting point - I think I'm chucking too much wire at it at the moment and also not getting penetration

If there is any help you can give to get me started I would appreciate it... wire speed settings too etc... then I'll go off and practice some more

Many thanks


Tony
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Nov 2002 20:45
THANKS - richard1985
thankyou very much Ian, it looks like i'm gonna go with a SIP welder as some other people have recommended it aswell. Hopefully i'll have as much luck with it as you have. Do you restore cars much?
thanks anyway
richard
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Nov 2002 23:39
THANKS - Ian D
I restored a Triumph Vitesse convertible and have done numerous welding on minis, a Lotus Europa (the metal parts as opposed to the glassfibre body!) as well as MOT repairs for friends that get to hear you have a welder.

In terms of gas for the welder, I got hold of a pub CO2 bottle from my friendly landlord and bought a regulator and this works well especially as my local welding supplies shop refills the bottle with CO2 for £10. This works out cheaper than buying the tiddly bottles that soon run out, however the arc runs cooler with CO2 than with Argoshield gas so effectively you lose a bit of power, but this would only be a problem with heavy welding (ie chassis repairs). If you are going to use the welder a lot you can hire a big bottle of Argoshield, however this would work out as expensive over a long period.

Good luck with it!

Ian
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 2 May 2006 19:04
WELDING - TSwede
Hi - Just reading your message - I have a Cosmo 130 (B&Q) and believe it's the same welder... I'm just practicing with it but struggling with the arrangement of the 3 switches on the front - to get the best combination for car panels....

May I ask you what your typical settings are for thin steel - bodywork patches etc.. and what gauge metal you buy to weld in???

I could then use this as a starting point - I think I'm chucking too much wire at it at the moment and also not getting penetration

Much appreciated

Tony

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Nov 2002 07:56
WELDING - CMark {P}
Hi richard1985,
interested to hear exactly what "austin minivan" do you have? A J4, by chance?

CMark
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Nov 2002 20:01
WELDING - martint123
May I ask for pros and cons from real users of gas and gasless home mig welders. Infrequent light use is my intended use.

Martin
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 5 Nov 2002 07:56
WELDING - jc
Use a gas one if you're in an area protected from wind and draughts;if you aren't get gasless(cored wire).There are some that can be changed over but you have the switch the welder from +ve. earth to -ve. earth (or vice versa).Having said that ,I've run my gas mig with cored wire and it seemed to weld ok;car passed it's MOT.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Nov 2002 20:51
WELDING - richard1985
Umm not sure to be honest.....its a "mini" van as opposed to a small van... its that well known car the "mini" thats been stretched a little.
hope that helps
richard
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Nov 2002 21:53
what van? - CMark {P}
Hi richard,
got it. You're right, the "mini" car is well known. ;-)

It is not a J4 then. The J4 was the forerunner to the Sherpa and a horrible, horrible thing. My brother and I shared a 1973 one, so we know. Even then (late 80s) they were as rare as hen's teeth having all been quite rightly crushed in the scrapper.

CMark
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Nov 2002 20:24
WELDING - Andrew Hamilton
Good article in Car Mechanics May 2001 re Mig Welders. Best buy was SIP Migmate 130 at £169. Warning regards stiff trigger.
Car Mechanics February 2002 about budget welding inverters for TIG welding. Best buy Weldability Tecnica 1000 or Ferm Technica 1000 also from Screwfix Big stuff. Need TIG torch.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Nov 2002 23:57
WELDING - PB
When I restored an old Midget about 15 years ago I bought a Clarke 100 basic MIG welder, one off the bottom of the range. Once I got used to it, it was absolutely fine on any gauge metal up to about 1/8" and it did a lot of welding. I think the key is practice.
PB.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Nov 2002 06:12
WELDING - Brooky
I agree with PB. And I also have a Clark gasless and find it OK ish - I guess a SIP would be better. 100 amps with a good earth clamp is a hell of a lot of heat for car/van welding. The key to gasless is finding the wire make that suits you. It dear about £30/reel. But what you need is practice and protection - and a stiff trigger is a real bummer, when you will be likely to need quick control to do manual pulsed welding on really thin stuff.
Good luck
PS mig drip scars for about 18 months.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 5 Nov 2002 08:44
WELDING - John S
Richard

Have you considered an oxy-acetylene kit? Not only can it weld, but you can also braze, cut and heat. I find them more versatile than a MIG set. Wide range of heat with different nozzles etc


Regards

John S
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 2 May 2006 19:22
WELDING - highflier
try a tig welder, a bit more expensive but a much better result i found, you could hire one.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 22 Jan 2020 10:38
WELDING - edlithgow

Back in The Yook on a winter vacation visit and noticed they had flux-core wire welders in LIDL for 80 quid.

Dunno if they are any good, but I've mostly been fairly impressed with LIDL stuff for the price.

I'd guess this kit doesn't have the option of conversion to gas, though I havn't confirmed this.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 22 Jan 2020 15:31
WELDING - edlithgow

Also "automatic" welding helmets for about 20 quid, which seems remarkably cheap.

Never used one of them but I'd think it would be very useful, since otherwise you can't really see what you are doing until you start the arc.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 22 Jan 2020 20:26
WELDING - Oli rag
The automatic helmet does sound a good buy at that price as they do make the initial part of welding much easier. Not so sure on the welder as I’ve heard they’re nothing like as good as a gas mig.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 23 Jan 2020 10:19
WELDING - edlithgow
The automatic helmet does sound a good buy at that price as they do make the initial part of welding much easier. Not so sure on the welder as I’ve heard they’re nothing like as good as a gas mig.

Was actually 23 quid (actually actually the 22.99 jive) but still remarkably cheap.

I've only used oxy-acetylene on a car, though I did an evening course using gas mig on thicker steel and aluminium, which seemed to work quite well.

OTOH the last MOT welding I had done before I left the UK they were using a small flux-core (Clark I think), so they thought it did good enough welds to get the punter to pay for.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Our honest used car pricing is a little bit different to all the others. You can get to our values through make or model - you don’t have to follow a prescribed route. Plus, it’s live, which means we can react to changes in the market quicker than any printed price guide.

Honest Used Car Prices

From which small car to buy at which price point to the best UK-built cars, our Top 10s have the lot. Click now for your shortlist.

Unsure of what to buy? Our Top 10s are here to help you....