What Welder ?

[RetroRob]

Hi guys just getting round to do some more resto to my manta ( welding ) , i have a cosmo gasless welder which is crap , any ideas on a good welder ???

Cheers guys

Rob

[ray70]

Hi Rob,

I hope the Cosmo isn't crap cos thats what I have also, but mine seems ok upto now, mine is the 130 model

good luck Ray.

[stradacab]

What is your budget?

[pat]

i'd opt for a clarke one for personal preferance , about a 130 amp mig or slightly higher 150ish max should weld anything you can wave it at , good contruction and parts and service availability

[RetroRob]

Hi Rob,

I hope the Cosmo isn't crap cos thats what I have also, but mine seems ok upto now, mine is the 130 model

good luck Ray.

mine is a 100

What is your budget?

about £200-£300 ish not bothered if its used

[Ems]

There's lots of advice on this site:

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php

[Rab]

Don`t know if still can be got but have a CEBORA Pocket Turbo130 Max Min Setting 1.5mm - 5mm steel. Had noo fur well ower 17 year and never let me doon unlike the person using it

[Jason b]

Clarke 150A welder gets my vote. The most important thing is to get a proper sized gas bottle of argoshield light or equivalent with a proper regulator. Small bottles just don't cut it imho. I am by no means a welder, but with my really old battered clarke 150TE that I bought second hand I have yet to find something I couldn't produce a weld I was happy with (self taught). It'll do anything from peugeot bodywork (just) up to welding the 6mm strengthening plates to the turrets on my 106 rally car. The problem with cheap welders is they often don't have the range of settings required for welding really thin metal as well as the thicker stuff.

Here's a pic of making up one of the two overaxle bends of my twin exhaust using it yesterday:

Not too bad considering how windy it was... I really wish I had a garage to weld in!

Whatever welder you choose, best of luck! (www.mig-welding.co.uk is an invaluable resource too)

Edited March 28, 2010 by Jason b

[lamchop77]

Clarke 150A welder gets my vote. The most important thing is to get a proper sized gas bottle of argoshield light or equivalent with a proper regulator. Small bottles just don't cut it imho. I am by no means a welder, but with my really old battered clarke 150TE that I bought second hand I have yet to find something I couldn't produce a weld I was happy with (self taught). It'll do anything from peugeot bodywork (just) up to welding the 6mm strengthening plates to the turrets on my 106 rally car. The problem with cheap welders is they often don't have the range of settings required for welding really thin metal as well as the thicker stuff.

Here's a pic of making up one of the two overaxle bends of my twin exhaust using it yesterday:

Not too bad considering how windy it was... I really wish I had a garage to weld in!

Looked into welders just of recent cos i'm thinking of getting a new one. Basically you gets what you pays for. 600 quid mark and a Portamig is probably the best bet, mate of mine has a mighty mig from sealey which welds really well 440 quid but made in china so how reliable it will be who knows (allegedly it won't last long).

I have a clark 160 which has been ok, few little problems. My bro has a clark 150 (the blue one) which is cheaper than mine but is just as good. For your budget i would opt for the blue 150 clark as it is cheap enough to throw away after a couple of years. The biggest problem with the cheap welders is the wire feed which is made to a budget, this really affects the quality of the weld so most cheap welder have iffy wire feeds. Unfortunately the jump from iffy to good seems to be about 300-400 quid on the price!!

HTH

Chris

[Jason b]

Yeah wire feed is really the big factor with "hobby" welders. However for the "hobby" user, it is hard to justify portamigs etc. (though god knows I'd love one!). My clarke 150TE I paid £80 for and it's very battered (it's the original model 150TE from years and years ago!), the wire feed sometimes goes haywire and runs flat out, however I just learnt to tinker with it until it welds right. As a student I can't justify buying an expensive welder just yet. However for beginner, the better the equipment the easier the learning curve.

[d384 fhv]

I have a sip 170 amp welder, bought it brand new for around £400 (i think). Ive never had any problems with it so far although i heard people having wire feed issues with them.

If you know how to properly weld you dont really need an overly expensive one. When i first used mine i didnt have a clue about welding never used one in my life, (the chassis legs look crap on my car), now that i am a sheet metal engineer i can lay a good weld with mine.

With your budget you should be able to pick up a decent make second hand one.

[opel2000]

As someone that welds every day to earn a crust, I can honestly say that after having used expensive proper industrial MIG plant and then going to use my old SIP welder, it became so clear that anyone can weld better with more expensive equipment.

The main problem with any budget welders is the wire feed, if the wire is not fed out at an even consistent rate then the user will get crap results.

Having used the Clark Welders, they do have a superior wire feed over the SIP welders, Can't remembr the Clark model I've got (about £250.00 Red one) but it is far better than the SIP welders I've owned in the past.

Anyone can become a better welder with better equipment, or to put it another way, someone could spend £150.00 on a piece of junk and think that welding is difficult........ It isn't.

About time a definitive welding guide was put up on here again............

[mantadoc]

For welding advice, barring basic stuff, better head to a welding forum.

For Manta advice you wouldn't post on an Escort forum and this is a Manta forum not a welding forum, welding is just a means to an end

You can get a good idea of what people are using on here and se some of the results, both good and bad, some people weld because they have to, some people, like Clive, will be pros but going on e welding site such as www.mig-welding.co.uk might give access to hundreds of pros, second hand welders and many ways to do things.

[opel2000]

For welding advice, barring basic stuff, better head to a welding forum.

For Manta advice you wouldn't post on an Escort forum and this is a Manta forum not a welding forum, welding is just a means to an end

Idea is we are supposed to be a club, where there are professional expertise in a club, then that expertise is best shared "without" the need to go seeking the expertise elsewhere.

Can't say I've seen the same comments when people have been asking about the 2.4 Frontera engine............... i.e. "this is the Manta club, if you want to know about the Frontera engine then go to the Frontera forum"

Nope, can definately say I've not seen a comment like that before.

[keith1200]

The mig below, is the one I own. I got it 2 years ago 'mainly' on the advice given on OMOC. I repaired both my inner and outer chassis leg. (1mm and 1.5mm). Its prefect with bare metal however!! It didn't have the power to weld through 'weld-through paint'. What I mean by that is; it lacked the electric current(AMPS); the weld wouldn't penetrate both pieces of steel and would just build up, it was a fooking mess. Moral of the story? don't use weld through paint with a cheap mig.

The one below uses both 6mm and 8mm welding wire. It has the option of (gas-less weld) I wouldn't recommend that. You can also use SIP shourdes with it, however these shourders are roughly, 5mm shorter (Halfords are SIP retailers) kinda says it all. Personnal? i think its a great wee welder and it's ideal for someone who 'occasional' has to weld for mot work etc and it would probably be fine for a complete rebuild however in retrospect; I probably should have treated myself to £500+ one. Anyhow its brilliant for its price and you can't go wrong with it, at that.

Keith

ps my uncle has owned a clarke mig welder from the early 90's (used to weld my first manta) and its still going strong. He had to replace something do with the wire feed, and guess what? the parts are still available new

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/135te-turbo-mig-welder/path/diy-mig-welders

[lamchop77]

Idea is we are supposed to be a club, where there are professional expertise in a club, then that expertise is best shared "without" the need to go seeking the expertise elsewhere.

Can't say I've seen the same comments when people have been asking about the 2.4 Frontera engine............... i.e. "this is the Manta club, if you want to know about the Frontera engine then go to the Frontera forum"

Nope, can definately say I've not seen a comment like that before.

To be perfectly honest , i would agree with looking at a welding forum. Check the forum mig-welding.co.uk through weldequip (just try weldequip as a search). The stuff on there is really good even has a beginners guide. The bloke who runs weldequip is a really sound bloke as well and doesn't seem to favour any one welder, but will tell you if its a dog or not.

Chris

[mantadoc]

Can't say I've seen the same comments when people have been asking about the 2.4 Frontera engine............... i.e. "this is the Manta club, if you want to know about the Frontera engine then go to the Frontera forum"

Nope, can definately say I've not seen a comment like that before.

If the question is "How do I put a Frontera engine in a manta" - Then this is the best place

If the question is "I have questions about my CIH which happens to be a 2.4 Frontera lump" - Then this is the best place as CIH experience here pre-dates Frontera existence

However, if the question is "How do I fix my Frontera engine that in standard trim / in a Frontera" - The the best place is probably a Frontera forum where they'll know that without the stay to the block the Plenum works loose.

In the same way if a question is "how do I get access at this panel" or "how do I start to repair a jacking point" then here is the best place, if it's about the techniques and eqipment of welding a welding forum offers more points of view about that subject for someone to base an opinion on.

I have a 23 year old Snap Mig, so I can't advise on buying new welders however www.mig-welding.co.uk has 10,400 members all talking about welding.

The mig below, is the one I own. I got it 2 years ago 'mainly' on the advice given on OMOC. I repaired both my inner and outer chassis leg. (1mm and 1.5mm). Its prefect with bare metal however!! It didn't have the power to weld through 'weld-through paint'. What I mean by that is; it lacked the electric current(AMPS); the weld wouldn't penetrate both pieces of steel and would just build up, it was a fooking mess. Moral of the story? don't use weld through paint with a cheap mig.

The one below uses both 6mm and 8mm welding wire. It has the option of (gas-less weld) I wouldn't recommend that. You can also use SIP shourdes with it, however these shourders are roughly, 5mm shorter (Halfords are SIP retailers) kinda says it all. Personnal? i think its a great wee welder and it's ideal for someone who 'occasional' has to weld for mot work etc and it would probably be fine for a complete rebuild however in retrospect; I probably should have treated myself to £500+ one. Anyhow its brilliant for its price and you can't go wrong with it, at that.

Keith

ps my uncle has owned a clarke mig welder from the early 90's (used to weld my first manta) and its still going strong. He had to replace something do with the wire feed, and guess what? the parts are still available new

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/135te-turbo-mig-welder/path/diy-mig-welders

To the best of my knowledge these are the "next evolution" from the Taskmaster / Cebora / BOC / SnapMig 130 like mine and have many interchangable parts. If it last as long as mine, and you know mine has seen fair usage, would be a good buy.

[tlyons]

My Clarke 150TE is only a baby in relation to the stories so far, ~5years old. I've used the 150TE on Manta (inner arches, new nose cone, floor, sills), Mini & MG floors, curtain rail brackets, Manta Suspension arms (Note only done a few 100miles on those welds, so fingers are still crossed ). Chickened out on the chassis rails, though with two manta's I think its time to christen my torch!

However didn't touch it (Welder) for ~2yrs, until last weekend. Gave me really bad weld on a rusty lawnmower, thought it was just the rust on the mower turned out to be the corrosion on the wire!! I had a spare reel and hey presto much better weld. Time to chuck a 5Kg reel I'm in Ireland and the air is a little moist, so I guess this is to be expected?!?

I've only ever welded with Clarke welders, I'm no expert but they have done the trick for me.