What MIG welder is suitable for car repairs?

Gas will be fine with a breeze shield round you. You need the shade as well, as I can't see a thing when the sun is shining.

As you have a lot to do, and are learning, a 2 litre bottle of argoshield is what you need, but these cost about £30 to fill up, and around £35 to buy. BOC will rent you a 2 litre bottle, I don't know how much for.

I'm not sure what happens if you buy the bottle when it runs out of test, might be better rented, then at least they will swap out the bottle when it expires, and you can send it back to BOC and claim a refund.


I use the 110 litre CO2/Argon mix disposable bottles from Machine Mart, when they are on VAT free they are £13 give about 11 minutes welding, the 2 litre argoshield contains 494 litres, supposed to last 50 minutes. (you can do the maths yourself, I only weld on a patch every couple of years so disposable are fine)

The argon/co2 is good for thin metal, different mixes needed for thick stuff.

I can't weld but fancy seeing if I can pick it up,
have seen a local advert details below and it looks a bargain to me,
but wondered if any experts could advise if it's suitable for me, car work. light fabrication applications

advertised at £130
CLARKE MIG WELDING KIT 130EN
Dual Purpose with gas or no gas.
Includes Auto change visor helmet. Tools, 0.9 wire and tips.
Has had minimal use and in good condition. Multiple power settings, Professional type torch.





here's a link to the same model at machinemart

thanks

Halford wrote: I can't weld but fancy seeing if I can pick it up,
have seen a local advert details below and it looks a bargain to me,
but wondered if any experts could advise if it's suitable for me, car work. light fabrication applications

advertised at £130
CLARKE MIG WELDING KIT 130EN
Dual Purpose with gas or no gas.
Includes Auto change visor helmet. Tools, 0.9 wire and tips.
Has had minimal use and in good condition. Multiple power settings, Professional type torch.

I got one of them there ok for a starter one thing that's annoying is there's not to many power settings but your not going to get better with out a lot more spending but I can weld up any thing that's needed to be done with, I would say with the 0.9 wire that its being run gassless (I mite be wrong) I would swap over to gas with a small refillable bottle not a cheep once bottle they leak and run 0.6 wire 0.8 is a little heavy for these welders


here's a link to the same model at machinemart

thanks

I started off with a Clarke MIG 130 and it was fine for a cheap welder. I made lots of farm equipment out of 6mm steel with it which have been used every day since and still working fine, but the machine was at its limits. The torch was the weak point for me but I was doing 4ft long welds on full power- not something most people would ever have to do. I got fed up with buying the small gas bottles, but there again I was doing a lot of welding. I've never tried gasless.

For patching up cars and odd jobs these cheap mig welders will definitely get the job done. When you're starting out, welding lessons are a far better investment than a fancy welder.

cheers guys, so it looks like a good deal then,
have made a cheeky offer,
don't expect the seller to accept it, but the wife would kill me :pinch:

:ohmy:
Just got it for £100 :woohoo:
at least now, the wifes got a reason to make me suffer :dry:
But I'll be in the man shed having fun