British-Cars.org

Welcome to the DMR Site for British Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite General - MIG Welding

Rather than hijacking ally's thread, I would like advice on what criteria should be used for choosing a MIG welder for general Midget repairs.

I've heard the Clarke ones are decent for starters, but gas or gasless, amperages etc.

Thanks in advance,

OSM
OrangeSpyderMan

I found this site helpful

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
K Harris

+1 to all over the above!

That site is great.

The clarke pro 90 is avalible on ebay for less than £200 and is a great kit in my (albeit limited) opinion. 90 amp is plenty enough for anything on the midget and it goes down to 25 amps for really thin stuff.

I have no experience of using gasless so can't comment on that aspect.

One thing if you do get the clarke, get a better mask (a hands free one). You can then use your second hand to help you to steady the torch and get much neater welds.

Cheers,
Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

I use a Clarke 135TE and it was ok but not brilliant - I was having problems getting consistent welds. However I changed the earth clamp for a heavy brass looking one (about £11 from ebay) and replaced the useless regulator with a SIP one and the welding has been transformed.

I would also recommend a decent auto darkening mask and have recently upgraded to a Speedglas one. This has a light shade of 3 which makes positioning the torch much easier before striking an arc. Most of teh cheaper masks have a darker light shade of 5 and it is noticably darker. Speedglas aren't the cheapest but I now think they're worth the money.

Jed
J Southwood

Clarke will be fine, they are generally considered to be the best of the hobby welders, any better and it is pro kit and three/four times the price. I'm using a clarke 150te, bought secondhand a few years back, go for gas and get a proper gas bottle, CO2 Argon mix and a regulator, you can get cheap deals if you hunt around.

Gasless will burn hotter and is not good for bodywork really, and they splatter a lot, it is possible but you are making life harder for yourself.

Don't be tempted by cheap the cheap machines in Screwfix and the like, they will not go low enough in the amps stakes, need to go down to 25/30 amps for body work.

Some photos of my welding effort...
http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u1/markdjoy/

MarkDJ-glos

Interesting comment by Jed about the cheaper auto-darkening visors. I bought one and found that it makes welding so much easier. But what also really helps is to have a good bright illumination of the work. One of those workshop floodlights on an adjustable stand makes it so much easier to see what is going on and you can see the weld pool as you work.
Guy

Also - If you have the option of getting a welder with a stitch function, I'd be going for it. It makes life so much easier on thin stuff. Also if you are only welding steel use co2 gas you don't really need argon unless welding aloys and the price is a lot cheaper
Cheers Willy
William Revit

Whilst on the subject of CO2 or Argon/CO2, I've managed to be able to sort out the combinations of setting to get decent penetrative welds with CO2 but when I picked up a bottle of Argon/CO2 mix then the welds are no way near as good.

Is there a rule of thumb for the difference as I've messed around with setting on Gas Supply etc and I just can't get good welds now.

I'll probably have to revert to CO2 only but the local Halfrauds only stock the Argon/CO2 mix.

Andrew
Andrew McGee

Try a little more power as the argon could be lowering the temp. of the welding process -- maybee
Willy
William Revit

I use the second from lowest on the power settings with the CO2/Argon mix.
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
this site as mentioned before is really good, lots of pros get on there and they are more than happy to help the diyer.
MarkDJ-glos

Jed,

Which Speedglas have you got as they seem to do quite a few. I need a new autodark helmet as the old cheapy is playing up. Recently when replacing a missing section of hardface on an anvil it was varying its darkness from one weld to the next and generally making the entire weld area almost impossible to see even on the lightest setting. I went back to a standard 10EW and the difference was amazing in that I could clearly see the entire area being welded.

OSM,

If you can I would recommend trying the welder first to make sure you're happy with it. Plenty of cheap MIGs about sitting under benches because the owners aren't happy with them. Sometimes it's just the owners don't know how to set them up and other times it's the welder being a PITA. If you can get some instruction on how to weld and set the welder up beforehand that'll be useful. I was given a Clarke Pro 90 a few years ago and that ran sweet with Argon/CO2, another Clarke 150 was a real bugger which is largely sorted now although it still gives the owner trouble from time to time as she doesn't fully understand it. A mate has a SIP gasless and that was testing our patience recently.
David Billington

I have a cheap Clarke 100 MIG and use a big bottle of Argon/CO2 from Adams Gas. When I first got it I couldn't stop burning holes in the metal. Then a friend who is an expert welder came round and made perfect welds straight off with my machine. What I hadn't realised was that the wire feed speed is as important (if not more important) than the current setting. Once I got into it I rebuilt my MGB GT fitting new rear wings, new floors, new sills, new boot floor, new rear valence with little bother.

An auto-darkening mask is essential I reckon, and the suggestion of a good bright light is also a must.
Mike Howlett

Mike,

While an auto-darkening helmet is nice I wouldn't consider it an essential, people did manage without them for years. With a helmet on your head and a spare hand to steady the torch you can position and flip the visor down with a nod or with the bright light see the area through the filter. I would consider putting the money towards a better MIG such as a good name 2nd hand proper one, sort of depends what you plan on doing with it.
David Billington

I have a flip down and manage ok. Was something like 10-12 pounds, whilst an auto darkening was circa £50 if I remember rightly.

On the subject of gas, you can get CO2 in 600g disposable cylinders (rather than the normal 390g for argon/co2) so the cost of co2 over the long run is a fair bit cheaper.

Cheers,
Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

As Guy has pointed out - if you have a good floodlight on the work then the 5 shade auto darkening helmets are ok. I got fed up with trying to illuminate the dark recesses of a car so splashed out.

David - I picked up a 9100X from toolnweld but I notice that their prices have gone up in the last 2 weeks. Mind you a 9002D still has the light shade of 3 and gives dark shade of 9 & 11 which should be ok for most usage. I went for the 9100X also because I thought my wife was contributing towards it as a birthday present, but she didn't. If I'd realised I'd have picked a cheaper 9002 or the 100V.

Jed
J Southwood

I use a Miller Elite auto darkening helmet and a Cebora 140A Mig unit and BOC Argo shield light.

I find if I illuminate the work area too much it activates the auto darkening all of the time

I pulse weld a lot as the glow of the tip illuminates the work area and I can see what I am doing as the auto darkening switches off to reposition the tip

Cheers

S Deakin

This thread was discussed between 13/08/2011 and 14/08/2011

MG Midget and Sprite General index

This thread is from the archives. Join this live forum now