Clive Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 OK, so the chap does serious fabrication. He will be using expensive stuff, hence his dislike for clarke as they are "hobby" kit, just not what he would use. Wheras some expensive SIP stuff is "industrial". That would explain it I reckon.Dont fret about seeing weld quality. I have spent a few hours welding today with my clarke gasless. Some is very nice, some isn't. Depends largely on what I am welding and how clean I can get it. Not easy in some of the deep corners on a spitfire, especially where there is inaccessable sealant/underseal in box sections that causes splatting :B Undeseal is easy to get into those corners, impossible to get off. Ho hum.Clarke and sip produce similar welds, however the sip is just too problematical Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willcolumbine Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 You can't really judge the quality of the welder from a picture of the weld. There are so many other factors at play that it makes comparison meaningless! Operator skill, gas used, quality of wire, diameter of wire, cleanliness of the metal etc all play their part.Clarke welders are not cheaply chucked together in the far east. They are made in Italy and are very high quality for the cash, they have great parts backup and are fully servicable.My 160TM produces truely excellent results and has done right from the off. I'll have a look and see if I've got any pictures but they will be a nice smooth weld rather than the nice dithered example above as I've been mostly welding thin bodywork, which you don't want to hang around on! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willows40 Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 For the around £300 mark i would go with a clarke welder, Really can`t fault mine and it gets used alot more than most peoples. Its had at least 10 years hard use and still going strong.cheers andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVANHOE Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 I have a clarke 250 T which I have had for more years than I care to remember, I have welded bodys, chassis, and a whole host of other stuff with it. Here are some pics of pajero rock sliders.http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj215/andyshirley/mild%20steel%20sliders/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSter Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Willcolumbine - If you have any pictures you could post up i would be really appreciativeperhaps someone should open a shop where you can go and test out welders so you can pick one to suit your own individual ideas/need and find comfortable to wokr with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxide Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I do a fair bit of welding on car bodies and have had a Erfi 700 The old green record model, it as lasted me for 20 years and apart from umbilical and tips and shrouds it as never needed any thing or given issue. I think you will get the newer yellow 700 equivalent now for around 600 pounds. If you must buy cheaper then buy what you can get parts for. sip or clarke nothing in it both are about the same buy an erfi if you can in the lower budget welders price range they work very well. . I was given a sip migmate 130 dual purpose it had never worked properly from new, it was not feeding wire out reliably regardless of adjustment.. I tried it for a will on gass, and finally replaced the soft umbilical liner with a steel one and went on to use gasless wire, i was surprised how well it worked, it has reliable feed now and welds ok, For me the big let down with all thee cheapos is the wire feed roller area, just bendy and nasty, but the sip on the gassles wire grips fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willcolumbine Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Ok! Here's a photo of my very first 'practice' sheet. Most of these welds were done when I first got my welder. One of the vertical ones is a very dodgy because I was messing with the wire speed and having a sneezing fit at the same time! Most of the rest all have pretty decent penetration. The bottom part is a section of the sheet that has been cut off, drilled and then plug welded to the back side of the sheet with some nasty seam welding as well. Not all perfect welds, but at least it's not a dreadful splatterfest... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSter Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Thank you for that looks good for a practice sheet and good penetration by the heat displacement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSter Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Finally took the plunge today and purchased a Cebora 180 auto star welder including a full spool of .8 wire a fully bottle of gas and regulator along with new earth strap and euro torch for £250 i am well pleased and have pulled some tidy welds in the 20 minutes i was playing about with itThanks for all help tips and advice i will post up some pics of how it goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willcolumbine Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Cool! That should do the business for you. You might want to go down to 0.6 wire for bodywork though 'cos it makes life slightly easier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Moore Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I took careful note of all the brands mentioned here, went to town and couldn't find any of them! The Australian market is a little different, apparently. The hobby-ist choices at the various welding shops were a Cigweld 175 amp mig/tig/arc combination, or a Lincoln Electric 180 amp mig welder. Both cost the same. I went for the Lincoln Electric, as the salesman told me that, while it couldn't do tig, it was much better at mig welding. It weighs twice as much, so hopefully that means more robust innards. It has several NASCAR stickers on it to appeal to the good 'ol boys, and it's assembled in Mexico. We'll see if Mr Clarkson was wide of the mark...This weekend will be spent practicing my welds before I try and fabricate an airbox for the Herald. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willcolumbine Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Lincoln Electric have a really good reputation so i don't think you'll have too many problems! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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