Welding

[darrenmartin]

Any of you guys work in the sheet metal/welding game? if so can i pick ya brain as to the best type of kit for me too be able to do a bit of welding at home in the garage. Nothing to extreme just stuff like the exhaust stud fix (welding the bolt on) and bits and bobs. Cheers guys

[tony.mon]

I'm not a welder, but to weld a nut onto a broken stud a cheap stick (arc) welder will do.
Doesn't have to look pretty or be neat, after all.

Unless you want to fabricate other parts, or do more than just this job, a cheap one forom Ebay or Machine Mart will do.

[darrenmartin]

cheers Toni i figured if any1 would know... it would be you

[steeveeo]

Hi
I am a sheet metal worker .
if you have not done welding before ,you will find it frustrating trying to weld small componets with any welding machine .especially a stick welder.
buy the best machine you can
some of the hobby welding machines are not up to the job.they over heat quickly and cut out.
practice on some scrap metal until you get use to the machine you buy.
make sure parts are rust free ,and a good fit.
you will get good results from a MIG 130e turbo fan machine with gas .you can weld stainless and aluminium with these machines by changing the wire and gas to suit the material being welded.
gas bottles available from local gas suppliers with out having to pay rental .
dont use pub gas bottles as the gas is not the correct mixture for welding ,parts will suffer from oxidisation.
hope this inf0 helps

[darrenmartin]

It does, many thanks Steeveeo

[sirch345]

I'm not a professional welder either, but I've done a fair amount of welding over the years. I have a stick (Arc) 130amp welder in my workshop, that does most ordinary jobs well, but as Steeveeo points out using an Arc welder for thin metal is hard to do.

I can weld thin metal with a fine rod as I have had plenty of practice at it. Even so if I have very much thin metal to weld I usually end up borrowing my Brothers MIG welder. That is a MIG 130 amp turbo fan (the very same one Steeveeo suggests) with gas machine. I wouldn't bother with a non gas type MIG welder.

The only down side I can see with a MIG is the gas. You don't really want to be paying rental from BOC for a gas cylinder, especially if you only use it occasionally, as rental is not cheap, a different story if you're using it every week.

The problem I've found (and my Brother too) is that buying gas locally in small canisters from Halfords is fine, that is until you come to use the welder a few months later, by which time the remaining gas has disappeared from the canister. As well as turning the gas valve off we've even tried disconnecting it from the welder too, but the same thing still happens. So each time we use the MIG (because of a reasonable time gap from the last time it was used) we nearly always end up buying a new bottle of gas.

If you are going to be welding with an Arc welder on your bike (re: exhaust stud) disconnect the battery before you start.

Chris.

[oldbikeman]

Mig welders can be rented cheap .Ibought one for £35 off some desperate outside Cash Converters but £50 should get you a running set.Oh yea and I use a gas bottle as used to pressurize beer kegs in pubs.You just need a regulator to fit and they,re cheap to re fill.

[darrenmartin]

info taken on board thanks guys