Welding
- Thread starter tequila
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andewilson
Well-known member
£25 - £30 an hour on an hourly rate or full jobs may come in a little cheaper.
Nick-Rackham
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It's just like call of duty point and click job done 
mjknight71
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D@VEY said:
...not to mention fires :lol:
Darrencambs
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tequila said:
Seriously, welding really isn't that difficult - getting a decent weld depends a lot on practice and preparation.
I can wholeheartedly recommend having a look at this site:
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
There are some excellent tutorials, and plenty of people willing to point you in the right direction if you post some pics of your first attempts.
Best to have a look through the site before you go out and buy a welder though - best to avoid SIP/Cosmo, or some of the chinese ones with a permanent live torch. I bought a cheap cosmo welder off ebay before I found that website, but even I can produce a decent weld now from what I learnt on there.
Spend £200 - £300 on a welder, find some scrap to practice on and you'll save yourself thousands. For body panels you really need to get one that goes down to 25 amps or so, and use 0.6mm wire with gas.
If you decide you'd rather pay someone to do it for you though, do insist on seeing some examples of their work. I've seen many repairs done by so called 'professional' welders that have all the structural integrity of two pieces of cardboard joined together with pigeon poo. Exactly the reason I decided to buy a MIG and learn to do it myself!
If you're ever anywhere near Huntingdon, Cambs, give me a shout and I'm more than happy to let you loose on some scrap to see how you get on.
Nick-Rackham
Well-known member
Like wise fella if you're ever this way, where in Essex are you? I'm just up the A12 past Ipswich
ProfessorWheeto
Well-known member
Anyone can weld however there are far less people who can weld well!
Some of that forum you can take with a pinch of salt, similar to volksmoan some of the advice coming off there is from people who only think they know it all, although there is some sound advice on there. Its a case of whos all talk and whos actually got some experience.
When restoring a van there are jobs suitable for the beginner and there are jobs that need to be done properly by someone who has some experience. As its not just a case of knowing how to set the welder up and getting going. A lot comes down to how your cutting and fitting the panel, for example not so much of a problem on the vans but for myself when I'm fitting rear quarter panels to a monocoque car you have to look at where the windows are and work out where the stress points are on the panel and then cut your repair section to avoid them. Thinking through your joins can also massivly reduce the chance of panel distortion.
And just because you can stick bits of scrap together on a bench doesn't mean you can weld upside down or vertically, or have the knowledge to manage your heat build up to minimise distortion on a pre stressed panel.
Sometimes does make me cringe to think that there are people out there fitting chassis legs and beam adjusters and think cranking their welder up to max will do the job but wouldn't recognize cold lapping if it smacked them in the face.
But as above between £25 and £30 an hour is a good price for MIG.
This can work out cheaper than investing in your own gear because you've got to look at the price of the welder, if you've got adequate power supply in your garage, price of your consumables, price of your safety equipment (masks, gauntlets, fire extinquisher, welding blanket etc) how much use you'll actually get out of the set up because once you've finished your van are you actually going to get any use out of your welder again, and if you've actually got a useable space to work in. (Welding outside isn't an option cause gasless is crap, and a garage stuffed with old paint tins, meths, oil, petrol powered garden equipment and all the usual garage junk isn't a safe space to work in)
It's also a wise idea to look into some night courses at your local college, the one near me offers a MIG course which is good for learning set up but it really only covers welding on the bench, its a pass or fail format and you get a nice city and guilds certificate but they also offer a vehicle restoration course which isn't as in depth on the welding but covers more on fabricating and fitting panels but doesn't come with any kind of certification. These however aren't cheap, I have done my Lv 1 and 2 City and Guilds TIG (Mild and Stainless Steel in flat and vertical positions) and have spent over £600 on the tution fees. I will however be planning on going back to do Lv2 Aluminium (just so I have a piece of paper to prove I can do ally) and the Lv 3 Steel (because its a year long course and starts to look at the composition of steel more on a molecular level) because they were really interesting courses.
Some of that forum you can take with a pinch of salt, similar to volksmoan some of the advice coming off there is from people who only think they know it all, although there is some sound advice on there. Its a case of whos all talk and whos actually got some experience.
When restoring a van there are jobs suitable for the beginner and there are jobs that need to be done properly by someone who has some experience. As its not just a case of knowing how to set the welder up and getting going. A lot comes down to how your cutting and fitting the panel, for example not so much of a problem on the vans but for myself when I'm fitting rear quarter panels to a monocoque car you have to look at where the windows are and work out where the stress points are on the panel and then cut your repair section to avoid them. Thinking through your joins can also massivly reduce the chance of panel distortion.
And just because you can stick bits of scrap together on a bench doesn't mean you can weld upside down or vertically, or have the knowledge to manage your heat build up to minimise distortion on a pre stressed panel.
Sometimes does make me cringe to think that there are people out there fitting chassis legs and beam adjusters and think cranking their welder up to max will do the job but wouldn't recognize cold lapping if it smacked them in the face.
But as above between £25 and £30 an hour is a good price for MIG.
This can work out cheaper than investing in your own gear because you've got to look at the price of the welder, if you've got adequate power supply in your garage, price of your consumables, price of your safety equipment (masks, gauntlets, fire extinquisher, welding blanket etc) how much use you'll actually get out of the set up because once you've finished your van are you actually going to get any use out of your welder again, and if you've actually got a useable space to work in. (Welding outside isn't an option cause gasless is crap, and a garage stuffed with old paint tins, meths, oil, petrol powered garden equipment and all the usual garage junk isn't a safe space to work in)
It's also a wise idea to look into some night courses at your local college, the one near me offers a MIG course which is good for learning set up but it really only covers welding on the bench, its a pass or fail format and you get a nice city and guilds certificate but they also offer a vehicle restoration course which isn't as in depth on the welding but covers more on fabricating and fitting panels but doesn't come with any kind of certification. These however aren't cheap, I have done my Lv 1 and 2 City and Guilds TIG (Mild and Stainless Steel in flat and vertical positions) and have spent over £600 on the tution fees. I will however be planning on going back to do Lv2 Aluminium (just so I have a piece of paper to prove I can do ally) and the Lv 3 Steel (because its a year long course and starts to look at the composition of steel more on a molecular level) because they were really interesting courses.
rev-al
Well-known member
Mind if I jump in ?
I've read with great interest the above - but now feel a little disappointed, as I recently bought a stick welder from a mate who emigrated -
I have the gauntlets, fire extinguisher + mask already, but have just read that stick welding is no-good for cars !!
Is this really so ?
Should I ebay my welder and go for an arc (which I don't enjoy as much)
Thoughts please anyone ?
I've read with great interest the above - but now feel a little disappointed, as I recently bought a stick welder from a mate who emigrated -
I have the gauntlets, fire extinguisher + mask already, but have just read that stick welding is no-good for cars !!
Is this really so ?
Should I ebay my welder and go for an arc (which I don't enjoy as much)
Thoughts please anyone ?
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Just a quick question on Profs post... Why is welding outside a no-no?
Because the gas blows away, or is nor consistent ?
Ozziedog,,,,,,, :mrgreen:
Ozziedog,,,,,,, :mrgreen:
ProfessorWheeto
Well-known member
gvee said:
As Ozziedog said you shielding gas will blow away and gasless is crap. If you have a lack of shielding when welding you'll end up with a porous weld with absolutly no strength in it. Try turning your gas off and see what happens, you'll get spatter and you'll notice hundreds of tiny holes in your finished weld, it will resemble the surface of the moon.
ProfessorWheeto
Well-known member
rev-al said:
Yeah stick is a bit agricultural. Suitable for stock cars as they are built out of honking great girders and lumps of steel.
You want a good quality MIG. A ebay cheapo MIG will have you tearing your hair out with irratic wire feed. (Even the Sealey Supermigs that are very popular have a crap wire feed)
I know I`ve just come back from the pub :shock: And I know my attention span is zero, but I`m reading that post where the person says they`re gonna get rid of their stick welder and get an arc ? Surely that`s a typo, and they meant to say a mig Least ways,, that`s what I hope they meant to say :mrgreen:
Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Ozziedogs are ,, GO !!! 8) :lol: 8)
Least ways,, that`s what I hope they meant to say :mrgreen: Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Ozziedogs are ,, GO !!! 8) :lol: 8)
rev-al
Well-known member
Yeah - typo
I meant sell the stick and get a mig of course - sorry - i'm afraid i was very,........very.........drunk. !
I meant sell the stick and get a mig of course - sorry - i'm afraid i was very,........very.........drunk. !
