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Gaza
18th Feb 2006, 06:47 PM
I am building a press (very big one see home made jigs for a blow by blow account) i need to tack weld the frame before my pro welder comes in to complete the welds. I have an old stick welder and its a s h i t er so i was going to get a new gas less mig set up. I have herd that mig is way eaiser to do than stick, plus the gasless has good performance.

How hard is it to MIG weld, and do any of the MIGs for under 500 bucks any good.

DanP
18th Feb 2006, 07:10 PM
Gaz,

I reckon it doesn't get any easier than stick. Lots of things can go wrong with a MIG eg. too windy (not a prob with gasless), your lead's not straight enough, feed rate wrong, spastic user, nozzle clogging, spatter sticking wire to nozzle etc. You need to know what you're doing a bit more with a MIG. However, once you have it set up well and you maintain it as you go, they are fantastic to use and you don't need to do anywhere near as much cleaning of your welds after you stop.

With stick, the only real fault you can get (when the machine/consumables are in good working order) is with the user eg. poor technique, wrong amps.

The CIGWELD brand of machine were always good when I was welding about 10 years ago and always seem reasonably priced.

That's my 10c worth anyway. Someone like Graham Collins will probably come along and make me look like a fool. :rolleyes:

Dan

Wood Butcher
18th Feb 2006, 07:50 PM
I'll agree with you Dan. I can weld with stick, mig or tig and if I am to do a quick job I would go for the stick every time. Mig is great once it is set up but there is little tolerance for different metal thicknesses/positions on the same setting. Stick you can adjust the arc length while welding to get a hotter or colder weld if needed. Also with gasless mig you still have the slag to chip off and I've been told that you don't save a heap due to the high cost of the flux cored wire.

Grahame Collins
18th Feb 2006, 07:53 PM
Re Dan P's comments .He is correct in every aspect. I will add the following:

Cigweld at one time made a very nice little home use Gas/Gasless machine. I demonstrated one for them years ago in a home show. We sold a bunch of them if I recall. If you must have a machine look for.

All spares including contact tips , diffussers ,insulators, gas nozzles. and liners.
Make sure it gas a Tweco or Bernard torch or gun- many of the others are crap.
Ask your salesman about those and if you can,t get those spares overnight don't buy it. Also avoid all plastic drive wheels.
Ninety nine percent of failures in your mig will be mechanical and your machine will require constant minor maintainence. Migs are not cost efficient unless you have a lot of work for them.When they work they are great, but if they don't, and you haven't the expertise to diagnose the faults they can be an expensive and non productive toy.
Please excuse my little rant,but I really hate to see people spend good money on a machine that may recieve little use.

Me.I am a lazy bastard and will happily use my stick machine from one year until the next doing the occassional tighten up the loose thingies as my total maintainence. You state your stick machine is a SH...er. I suspect it may only need minor maintainence.Check for loose cable terminals and poor connection.Sometimes the cable to handpiece connection gets loose.It is getting hot,pull it apart and clean and tighten the connection.

If tacking up for your pro welder ,do this - Use a 2.6 electrode on 3.25 amps, a clean new fresh one please -not one left in the back of the ute when it was raining etc! High amps and short arc length will keep the bead flat enough to weld over again. Tack at corners on diagonal opposites and check diagonal and parallel measurements as you go.

I hope this helped
Grahame

DanP
18th Feb 2006, 07:59 PM
Re Dan P's comments .He is correct in every aspect.



:cool:

ozwinner
18th Feb 2006, 08:05 PM
, spastic user, Dan

From experiance Dan?

Al :D X 1 brazillion

DanP
18th Feb 2006, 08:08 PM
Yep.

Dan

PS. Stop flashing your brazillion.

ozwinner
18th Feb 2006, 08:12 PM
Yep.

Dan

PS. Stop flashing your brazillion.

Go on....
Ya love it, all the boys love it.

Al :D

glock40sw
19th Feb 2006, 12:04 PM
Gaza.
I have the CIG transmig 165. I use gas as well as gasless wire and Ali too.

For what I do, it's great.
My mate across the back fence, he has the CIG transmig 135. He only runs gasless wire. He swears by it.
If he needs Ali, he comes and uses mine.
Parts are easy to get here in Grafton. I don't know what availability is like in other areas.

Also the Uni-mig seem to be plentiful as well.
Gasweld in Coffs Harbour sell imported migs. They may be OK, But I didn't want to take the chance.

Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor
Grafton

P.S. The local RESCO shop has an inverter 140 amp stick/tig unit for $445 + $110 for the tig gear.

I am tempted to get one and try tig welding.

I still haven't started the restoration of the 1955 Moris Minor. The tig may be handy for the body work repair? Any thoughts or comments, Grahame?

Grahame Collins
19th Feb 2006, 07:11 PM
An inverter Tig certainly could be the way to go, but the low price rings my alarm bell. I would treat it along the same lines as I answered the mig question.
Get Mr salesman to pull the handpiece down into its individual components.
I am speaking of the consumables- the ceramic cap,the collets.You know of course these machines need to be fitted with different collets to suit different O.D. tig tungstens. The same questions of course. Readily available within a day or two is acceptable.

I tried an inverter tig a while back and was able to weld a bead along the top edge of a piece of 1.6mm steel standing vertically on edge.That would make it great to weld your Morrie with but the price would phase you a bit. It was a Fronius and was $2300 just for the bare box. (and I mean box - I have seen bigger lunch boxes) She who must be obeyed says I can buy one when I retire.
Grahame