Club 80-90 Forums

I have unfortunately found a few patches of rust on my recently purchased "rust free" van. And from my understanding the rust is an MOT failure (within 30cm of brake pedal or seatbelt mount?).

There is a patch of rust in the driver side footwell, it was hidden under an almost bitumen like material, there is another patch on the driver side wheel arch (on top) and the last bit is above the rear door.

I'm considering buying a mig welder and having a go at welding some patches in myself, rather than paying someone to do it. I don't have any welding experience, but from what I have read 90% is in the preparation.

What are your thoughts?

Cheers

Yes.


It's good fun, but practise makes perfect, I'd advise on obtaining a welder and practising before you have to carry out the patches, I didn't when I first started which is why my patches looked like they had been applied by a bird flying past and sh1tting at speed. Passed the most though, albeit ten years since!

What sort of welder do you recommend? I've seen some gas and non gas ones out there, pros and cons of both. But I really have no idea.

To quote Henry Ford "If you need a machine and don’t buy it, then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it and don’t have it".

I have an old Clarke gas mig welder that gets me by. Outdoors you need a still day without wind for best results. From what I've read, gas is better than gasless.

Likewise I've got a Clarke gas mig welder https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/prod ... mig-welder

Does everything I've ever wanted it to do, mostly fabricating crackpot inventions, patches on various motors etc.

Argon mix works best, pub gas ok that's what I've been using for ages, although I've run out now so need to get a refil.

In hindsight a course would have been good at night school, but life work and kids got in the way, there's a mig welding forum with some really useful reading on it but finding a real life person that can show you the ropes then tell you your are crap at it and then show you again is brilliant

Do it! However, I've had several welders over the years including cheapies like Clarke, etc. my current mig is a top of the range Migatronic that I bought off eBay for less than the Clarke in the link above. If you're not in a huge rush, I'd recommend looking for a quality welder of eBay that is close enough for you to go and see/try. A good welder will do a good job with anything, you're just going to need practice.

Yes. For all the reasons above. Once you have got one, you'll wonder how you ever did without. Clarke one is ok imho. Works well for me, buy during vat free. Bri

If you are a bit handy, then definitely get a welder.

It's worth having a look on http://www.mig-welding.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; too...

Personally I wouldnt go for a Clarke, I would go for something with a euro torch, as spares are common.

Mark

I use a Clarke 135 turbo,have been using it regularly as I do mobile welding had it for 10 years + and its great.Buy from machine mart and they sell all the consumables.Avoid the pub bottle gas and them little bottles that last 5 minutes.But get some steel and practice first, a lot of it is prep but you also need to set machine up right..

As above I use a Clarke 135te and have modified it to run a euro torch.

Have a search on google for welding supplies in your area and ring around for the gas the best I could find was £90 for 10 years use and £25 + vat for a refill.

Regardless of what welder you go for keep out of the damp if there is any corrosion in the wire or the liner you will never get a decent weld.

I use a gas/no gas welder, although gas gives a nicer weld, with a bit of experience a gas less can give good results and is easier to use outside which is were I do most of my welding at home.

I found this site really useful.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All of my welding will be done outside, now I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so wouldn't be happy with ugly welds, if I go for a gas less welder is the general opinion with some practice it will be good as a welder that uses gas? Or am I better off just getting a gas welder?

Cheers for all of the help, the welding forums are really good

I have found this on eBay;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clarke-100E-M ... 19fcb7da0d" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Do you guys think this would be any good?

There's loads of information on various makes of welders on that mig-welding forum mentioned earlier.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;