Deals on mig welders?

muddyl

Does anyone know of any good deals or websites for mig welders and accessories?
Wanted to teach myself this for a while as i'm always working on cars.
Cheers, mark

Mr_Toad

muddyl wrote: »

Does anyone know of any good deals or websites for mig welders and accessories?
Wanted to teach myself this for a while as i'm always working on cars.
Cheers, mark

Speak to someone who knows what they're talking about and tell them what you'll be expecting it to do.

A friend of mine decided he needed a welder, he's building a kit car and he also designs and makes recumbent bikes.

Not knowing much about welders he bought what he thought was a bargain and at the start it all went well. He did a welding course at night school and bought some thin steel plate to practice on.

It was only when he tried to weld thicker metal on the car and frame tubing on the bikes that he found out that his welder wasn't up to it.

It couldn't generate the power to weld thicker metal, by thicker I mean anything really useful, without tripping out. Weld that looked OK weren't deep enough they were surface welds but had no strength, not ideal if it's a car chassis or suspension mount point!!

He now has a welder that is up to the job but it wasn't cheap!

ChiefGrasscutter

I've seen recommendations for the clarke range at machine mart
No personal idea about them myself.
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/welders-accessories

My own experience of welding was using big industrial rated welders where lack of power was never an issue. I suspect I'd find the DIY ones rather feeble.

Once you start going beyond the DIY scale you run into power supply issues as the bigger ones will be all 3 phase.

Mr_Reeman

I bought my Clarke mig off ebay for £40. It is very good, but on the higher settings it does blow it's 15amp fuse, even though it is meant to be used with a plug.

For body work it is fine though.

SteveJH200

Here's just the place and look at the forum as well. I know the chap that runs it so you won't go far wrong.

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

muddyl

Thanks for the help guys. Appreciated.
I'll see where this leads me.