Advice Needed Welding advice

[Captain Jack]

So, I've been looking at buying a welder for a while. When I say 'looking', I mean 'thinking'. After my Laminas metalwork is complete, I would like to fabricate something to allow my two 1.8m Channel Master (PF and OS) to use my heavy duty PM designed for a PF Precision dish. That will requite a lot of metal work.

I am pretty tired of drilling holes all the time (oooerrr!) and holding bits of metal together with bolts - works well enough but not really pretty.

Soooo, I've been researching the welders and various types and need advice. For me, it's a toss-up between a TIG and a MIG one. The arc/stick welding a bit 20th century and apparently makes a bit of a mess. The TIG one is obviously the cleanest one but apparently the trickiest? I don't see it being my different from soldering a piece of wire. And MIG (the gas based one) seems like a compromise but perhaps easier to use than the TIG. It's also a lot cheaper....

My head says get a TIG but my bank account says buy a MIG (actually, it says stop wasting money but that's another voice...). @RimaNTSS will say 'get a TIG, придурок'...

Max thickness I'll be welding will be 5mm but generally 3-4mm stainless steel.

Thoughts/advice?

 

[RimaNTSS]

Stainless steel..... правильно, definitely TIG! Did you know that there are TIG/MIG/Arc welders available?
But, idea to get welder at home is great one!

 

[A nonymous]

Toolstation have a good priced SIP branded TIG/Arc welder. I think you will have to buy the TIG gun and gas separately although all in all its not a bad price.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p75918?table=no

 

[Captain Jack]

I am a bit wary of the cheaper ones simply because they don't come with anything extra and relatively weaker power. I was looking more at this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SIP-S-I-P-05266-P178-Inverter/dp/B008M6Z23O/ref=sr_1_1?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1461332315&sr=1-1

Seems to be a good starter and comes with everything but the gas.

 

[battenfan]

Stainless steel..... правильно, definitely TIG! Did you know that there are TIG/MIG/Arc welders available?
But, idea to get welder at home is great one!

Are you happy with your Gamastar and have you tried welding aluminium with it yet? I've read some forum that it requires a pedal to control the current and reduce it fast as aluminium oxide has a higher melting point than aluminium itself.

 

[Archive4]

I seem to recall advising you on welders before, had she already been taken

 

[RimaNTSS]

No @battenfan , used Gamastar only couple of times, but professional welder said this is good machine for the money I've payed (made not in China but in Czech republic) . So, Gamastar still stays almost unused, but will dig it up soon to practice.

Add: And, did not try to weld any aluminum, mostly INOX.

 

[dig deep]

Have a MIG with some special gas. Works fine with anything but stainless
Alu is OK using the right stuff Never even tried stainless, kind of useless stuff for me

 

[Captain Jack]

Stainless well probably be the one I'll be welding most of. Blame Rimant for that...

 

[Captain Jack]

So today I bought a load of welding bits. Got the welder I pasted a link to in my previous post along with a refillable bottle of gas, gas, gloves, mask, filler and welding rods for TIG and arc (respectively)... £500 worth of stuff. Let's hope it lasts a lifetime!

Bye bye bolts!

 

[Captain Jack]

This is why I treat everybody like an idiot - because most people are. Received my welder today but it's completely different from what I ordered. Instead of SIP P178, I received an HG1800DC model, which is missing tungsten bits for TIG and an electrode holder for ARC. I mean, how hard can it be to pick the right box from the warehouse?!

Idiots...

 

[jeallen01]

Sounds a bit what can happen if you order your groceries on-line - "not in stock" so send him the nearest thing we have and hope he does not complain!

 

[Captain Jack]

Apparently the HG1800 is an "upgrade" to what I ordered but it came without the electrode holder and the old one did. Hardly an upgrade...

 

[RimaNTSS]

If HG1800 is better than originally ordered one, then it is possible to buy all the periphery (wires, holders.... you name them). Maybe that can be good solution.

 

[Captain Jack]

Yes, I think that's what I am going to do... Can't be arsed messing around with post or customer services.

 

[RimaNTSS]

But you could ask customer service WTF! And ask them to send you some wire free of charge.

 

[Captain Jack]

Tw@ts... Heard absolutely nothing from the company since last Friday with no missing bits arriving in post. This is what I sent to them:

This is ridiculous. You don’t buy a Transit van and get a Vauxhall Corsa with a wheel missing, citing it to be an “upgrade”, without *any* sort of communication beforehand. And you are *still* advertising SIP P178 on Amazon, despite having told me that this model is no longer available?!?

I already bought the missing bits at my own personal expense, no thanks to absolutely anyone at Langley Steelworks.

I shall shortly be reporting you to Amazon for bad business practices.

...and so I shall.

Moving onto welding itself... I guess it's a nice little welder without having anything to compare it to. Having been practicing TIG and arc on scrap bits of metal on Wednesday and "fabricated" (if you want to call it that) a small welding base I can attach to my vice.



This is with a TIG after a few hours practice. Need to really steady my hand... And straighter eyes! TIG is tidier but arc is easier but messier - still need to figure out correct amperage and arc lengths for each.

Next, I'll be fabricating an arm for the PM so I can move the declination jack mounting point higher up the frame. And perhaps attach counter-weight like @John did.

 

[PaulR]

Did you chamfer the bottom edges of the side pieces and 'V' the lower plate (if it's thick enough) to give the weld somewhere to bite in and fill?

Are you sure it's TIG you're using and not MIG? It's perfectly possible to weld steel with TIG - you feed filler metal in from the side like traditional oxy-acetylene welding - but MIG is more common and easier.

 

[Captain Jack]

Did you chamfer the bottom edges of the side pieces and 'V' the lower plate (if it's thick enough) to give the weld somewhere to bite in and fill?

Hm... no idea! I filed it to clean it up for TIG welding, so I guess yes? I am not sure what you mean here...

Are you sure it's TIG you're using and not MIG? It's perfectly possible to weld steel with TIG - you feed filler metal in from the side like traditional oxy-acetylene welding - but MIG is more common and easier.

Definitely TIG Using pure argon with a torch/tungsten and a separate filler rod, whereas MIG has a spool.

The reason I didn't go for MIG is because it seems to spatter matter everywhere during welding (same with arc) whereas TIG is much tidier... but a much steeper learning curve to do it properly. Plenty more practice and patience required still...

 

[PaulR]

Basically you open up the joining area so that the weld can penetrate deeper. This improves the strength of the joint. Of course if you've over-engineered the piece to start off with you may not need this extra strength...