Paper brick device

[Plymtom]

Talk to me before you invest in a welder mate, its a minefield. I can help you there at least. Building a simple burner is a good starter project, you can easily have a hotplate and even water heater. What sort of burner were you looking at ? Or has it not got that far yet ?

Lidl and Aldi was the plan we also get those bar stools for the kitchen which as they come only have four spot welds which give out after a while particularly with the larger one of us, mine broke too whether it was me or he what did it remains unclear, but I am sure more weld would make it a non issue, from there the welder would be probably something my youngest would play with perhaps. We brought an old refrigerent gas bottle home with us we fancy making a stove out of, but that was for out door fun, indoors I'm dreaming but http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wood-Burning- ... SwTA9X2DBw but trouble is no chimney in the kitchen it'd have to go in the dining room ..... I'd need a cunning plan, I couldn't hang my guitars above it any more that's for sure.

[shocker]

My multi talented uvver arf is a dab had at flue installations, having been travellers ( for a time) we installed a few burners in various vehicles and she routes the flues in the E.European style so the flue works as a radiator - a heat exchanger too if needed, for hot water. Her gas welding and brazing knocks mine into touch, mine is farm style, strong but not always perfect looking. Still Im more a MIG man these days and know all too well the limitations of, ahem, budget machines....I know bad workman, tools, blame etc

...BUT ! One thing I can offer - I have already made all the mistakes and cockups so maybe you wont have to ! If you are set on going for ARC then please consider a low power invertor from italy rather than a buzzbox.

You cant go wrong with this forum to guide you through the whole adventure - http://www.mig-welding.co.uk
...it covers all kinds of metal sticking, not just MIG and more besides, join and search...some idiot called "shirker" or something posts on there very occasionally

[Plymtom]

My multi talented uvver arf is a dab had at flue installations, having been travellers ( for a time) we installed a few burners in various vehicles and she routes the flues in the E.European style so the flue works as a radiator - a heat exchanger too if needed, for hot water. Her gas welding and brazing knocks mine into touch, mine is farm style, strong but not always perfect looking. Still Im more a MIG man these days and know all too well the limitations of, ahem, budget machines....I know bad workman, tools, blame etc

...BUT ! One thing I can offer - I have already made all the mistakes and cockups so maybe you wont have to ! If you are set on going for ARC/MAG then please consider a low power invertor from italy rather than a buzzbox.

You cant go wrong with this forum to guide you through the whole adventure - http://www.mig-welding.co.uk
...it covers all kinds of metal sticking, not just MIG and more besides, join and search...some idiot called "shirker" or something posts on there very occasionally

Cheers I'll bookmark that for as and when the time comes

[Yorkshire Andy]

Talk to me before you invest in a welder mate, its a minefield. I can help you there at least. Building a simple burner is a good starter project, you can easily have a hotplate and even water heater. What sort of burner were you looking at ? Or has it not got that far yet ?

I've had no problems with my Sealy supermig

https://www.toolstoday.co.uk/sealey-sup ... oCb5Hw_wcB

For what I use it for its been well worth the investment

And a 30 quid lidl 100a arc for heavy stuff

[Yorkshire Andy]

...BUT ! One thing I can offer - I have already made all the mistakes and cockups so maybe you wont have to ! If you are set on going for ARC then please consider a low power invertor from italy rather than a buzzbox.

You cant go wrong with this forum to guide you through the whole adventure - http://www.mig-welding.co.uk
...it covers all kinds of metal sticking, not just MIG and more besides, join and search...some idiot called "shirker" or something posts on there very occasionally

I like the inverter welders but found a cars floor pan much too thin even at about 30a with very thin rods... Could get the metal to stick but couldn't "boil the flux out" before the weld melted through the steel and dropped on the drive....

Once mig welder arrived and set up 5 minutes to clean up and reweld job done

The old buzz box is good welded up my camping trailer just the duty times are a bit low leading to lots of tea drinking

[Yorkshire Andy]

And on the paper brick subject

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12371&p=135551

They took an age to dry out!

Burnt OK but not really worth the time or effort and mess

[shocker]

Dont get me wrong Andy, I use an ancient buzzbox myself for heavier stuff, its just easier on a learner with an inverter ARC, what with them being so light, small and cheap these days. Great for someone without a lot of storage or work space.

I wouldnt use ARC on a modern car myself unless maybe brazing. I DO use it on Landy chassis though. My point was really that the cheap, no-gas, MIG machines around these days can turn an easy, versatile and effective method of welding in to an expensive headache and put someone off for ever. Which would be a shame.

And nothing wrong with Sealey, they do some nice machines. My last big machine was a Sealey and was great.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Must admit I did look into gasless mig but the engineer I know told me not to bother and go for a gas unit big 5kg co2 argon was £65 deposit and about £30 a fill so not too bad

[shocker]

Self fluxing MIG wire has its place alright, when you are on a site or up the moor sticking a tractor back together in a gale its a godsend. You'd be going through bottles of gas every minute trying to get some shield, else. It does have some positive properties that you can manipulate with experience but its not the cure all that the vendors would tell you. Theres nothing stopping you using flux wire in a proper MIG either, but its best to start with the real thing and do what you have done - get your gas independently. The days of being tied down to a bloody BOC contract are thankfully, at long last, over. smiley...oh sod it,I cant be arsed

[Jamesey1981]

And don't forget to change the polarity of your electrode for flux core, it gives terrible welds if you don't.
Solid wire needs DCEP, flux core needs DCEN, and I've always found it needs a bit more wire sticking out too, in my experience it makes it much easier to get a good weld.