The San Fran Van

[regcheeseman]

Fuck is it that bad haha [emoji51]. Thanks damont4 for kind words. And like you said I think I'll cut it back and start again.

Fruitbat you've freaked me out again but I'm appreciating the advice.

I only bought that welder cos someone on the other forum and someone on YouTube had said they had welded their t4s with it. The other forum guy had been doing similar repair pieces to what I'd be doing. When I seen it for 50 bucks on gumtree I thought I'd have it. But if your reckoning it's not up to the job I maybe shouldn't have bothered. a gas 1 seems to be the way forward. Is my welder just not neat enough ?? Slag an that, (prob my welding) or is the welder just shit?? Not penetrating enough. I've got it set on the lowest setting the now cos I'm fairt I burn holes.. is this wrong?

I bought an auto darkening helmet out screwfix for £30 when I got the welder. It seems to do the job. How much ish for a new / second hand gas mig?? And could I keep going wi mine till I can afford 1?

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Yeah - it's crap.

Shame really as the prep work and the fab on the patch pieces was top drawer

You can weld with gasless and you can get decent ish results - I've done whole restos with gasless welders.

You need to turn the heat up and weld in 1 second bursts - do expect to do a run, you'll burn through - gasless wire needs more heat. weld for a sec, wait a sec and weld for a sec - keep this up and build the bead up. Eventually you get used to knowing how much heat you can put in.

I'd grind back what you have done already it should tidy up ok.

Buy a gas welder as soon as poss - factor in that you need a rent free bottle (NOT CO2 from the pub), run 0.6mm wire and tips. Do not buy a cheap sealey/cerbora or snap-on. If you go for a budget welder - buy the clarke.

Dont buy a SIP migmate 150 - unless it has been extensively modified as they are poop


edit - the sealey and the cebora that fruitbat has highlighted are not what i'd include in the budget welder category, the ones he picked out are on the first step of the 'proper welder' category.

I want an R-tech IGBT unit - but they are a step up again - but sooo good.


Oh and both clarke you found second hand are known good units but the 150TE is about £80 overpriced

[Activ8]

Is it a good idea to buy used?

[Fruitbat]

Is it a good idea to buy used?

Depends how used and abused it is and if you know what life it has had .

[regcheeseman]

Is it a good idea to buy used?

Yes - you can afford a better welder, you get what you pay for.

It may need a new liner, some tips, a shroud to bring up to scratch but that's only £20 or so.

[Fruitbat]

edit - the sealey and the cebora that fruitbat has highlighted are not what i'd include in the budget welder category, the ones he picked out are on the first step of the 'proper welder' category.

I want an R-tech IGBT unit - but they are a step up again - but sooo good.

Thankyou , if I was in Fife T4’s position , I’d buy a Clarke welder on finance from machine mart , nothing worse that struggling with tools that aren’t up to the job and ending up with a sub standard work / repair , you just end up going around in circles , repair it once and it’s finished .

[fife t4 new]

Yeah - it's crap.

Shame really as the prep work and the fab on the patch pieces was top drawer

You can weld with gasless and you can get decent ish results - I've done whole restos with gasless welders.

You need to turn the heat up and weld in 1 second bursts - do expect to do a run, you'll burn through - gasless wire needs more heat. weld for a sec, wait a sec and weld for a sec - keep this up and build the bead up. Eventually you get used to knowing how much heat you can put in.

I'd grind back what you have done already it should tidy up ok.

Buy a gas welder as soon as poss - factor in that you need a rent free bottle (NOT CO2 from the pub), run 0.6mm wire and tips. Do not buy a cheap sealey/cerbora or snap-on. If you go for a budget welder - buy the clarke.


edit - the sealey and the cebora that fruitbat has highlighted are not what i'd include in the budget welder category, the ones he picked out are on the first step of the 'proper welder' category.

I want an R-tech IGBT unit - but they are a step up again - but sooo good.


Oh and both clarke you found second hand are known good units but the 150TE is about £80 overpriced

Thanks for kind words about prep and patches.

I guess I should have practiced a bit more with scrap metal and grinder settings before hitting the van. I'm just really eager to get on with it. Michelle is slowly resigning herself to the fact shes now a t4 widow haha.

I was kinda using your second on second off technique, but it was more like 5 on, 5 off. On lowest setting tho. I'm gonna practice more before I do anymore welding to the van.

The fact you've achieved full restoration with a gasless is encouraging cos I'm skint lol. I'd hoped to buy panels 1 by 1 every week or so as I got round to them but that's out the window if I've to save for a better welder. £300 is way out my price range the now. And I dont do finance. I'll just have to practice and persevere wi what I've got till I can go for a Clarke 1 but that probably won't be till after Christmas [emoji20]

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[regcheeseman]

Thankyou , if I was in Fife T4’s position , I’d buy a Clarke welder on finance from machine mart , nothing worse that struggling with tools that aren’t up to the job and ending up with a sub standard work / repair , you just end up going around in circles , repair it once and it’s finished .

No problem - I missed your post and didn't want to contradict. (unusual I know)


And Fife - if you are 40+ consider getting a cheater lens for your eye shield.

I've been welding for a lot of my early life, plenty of tig work that was like welding porn. I bought a TIG for home use and my welding was shite, it wasn't until I googled that I found out about cheater lenses, and my welding was transformed. It'll never be as good as it was - the joy of failing eyesight but at least I can run a bead down the join line instead of a splattery mess about 5mm away from where I was supposed to weld.

[fife t4 new]

No problem - I missed your post and didn't want to contradict. (unusual I know)


And Fife - if you are 40+ consider getting a cheater lens for your eye shield.

I've been welding for a lot of my early life, plenty of tig work that was like welding porn. I bought a TIG for home use and my welding was shite, it wasn't until I googled that I found out about cheater lenses, and my welding was transformed. It'll never be as good as it was - the joy of failing eyesight but at least I can run a bead down the join line instead of a splattery mess about 5mm away from where I was supposed to weld.

I'm 38 reg so that could be a factor. Eyesight is generally pretty good. No glasses or that. Do you get these lenses for the cheapo screwfix helmet? Having never welded before this so I've nothing to compare it to?. I've done a good bit lead burning but no mask or anything like that. I can kinda see an orange ball forming in a lot of brightness but cant see the metal pooling or anything like that??

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[fife t4 new]

*Prob more like a green ball

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[fife t4 new]

What size diopter Reg?

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[regcheeseman]

You should see the metal pooling a bit - but mig is fast, it's all about settings, technique and practice - lots of practice.

That welder you have is shocking but it 'should' be able to weld better than that - although it may be down to setup, hard to tell via a forum post

I have a 3x cheater, my eyes are not too bad, it's just the transition from light/dark that old eyes cant cope with, I need a lot of light to see things properly.

5 secs is way too long, 1 on, 1 off, don't want it too hot or too cold - it's all about that practice and experience.

This is gasless



Not great - but it's solid.

[d-9]

That's pretty good for gasless reg.

Generally I tell people not to buy a used welder. Who sells a welder unless it's shit or fucked? You see a lot of use snap on welders that have had the crap beaten out of them for 15 years, maybe they were good new but your better off with a Clarke 150 now.

Have you got an auto darkening mask? Makes all the difference if you can see what your welding. If you don't, get one of them not spending more on a welder

[regcheeseman]

That's pretty good for gasless reg.

Welding outdoors a lot, it's probably better than a gas welder would have done; besides, I wouldn't post a picture of some of the pigeon poop I've done.

The https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/ is the place to go for some great advice and good reviews on welders for all budgets

Like this sort of thing note that clarke comes up again

Just a thought - you have got gasless wire havent you? Cant tell by looking but it should say flux cored wire or similar on the reel. If it is still on the wire it came with originally that may speak volumes about the quality of the welder or the wire or both.

If you ever get suduced by the middle aisle at Lidl, remember the Regcheeseman addage:

Lidl stuff - it's a lidl bit shit.

Put it back on the shelf, buy a brownie or one of their egg tart things and walk away (after the obligatory excessively long wait at the only till that's open.)

[fife t4 new]

All my repairs are done outside. Van's too big for kevs garage. I'll buy a cheater lens. Only a few quid on ebay.

That gasless welding is very impressive reg. I can see how you've got it flowing. Where mine is just a grouped bunch of snotters.

Dunno if its gasless wire. I think it's the original stuff that came with it so I'd hope so.

Thanks for those links. I'll be looking on there with interest.

Seems on a budget Clarke is the way to go. Theres a machine mart driving distance from me so I'll have a look at the weekend.

CHEAP GASLESS MIG FOR SALE haha.




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[fife t4 new]

That's pretty good for gasless reg.

Generally I tell people not to buy a used welder. Who sells a welder unless it's shit or fucked? You see a lot of use snap on welders that have had the crap beaten out of them for 15 years, maybe they were good new but your better off with a Clarke 150 now.

Have you got an auto darkening mask? Makes all the difference if you can see what your welding. If you don't, get one of them not spending more on a welder

I've got a screwfix auto dark mask mate. But I get how you think I'm doing it blind haha.



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