Repco catalogue welders

[ozscott]

Its a misconception that MIG is better than stick. Mig has its place and was designed for cut down time in long runs and continous welding situations because of the drum feed. Its pus to use gasless, so your up for a bottle to do it properly. It can do allow and smaller thickness steel than stick, but you cant beat stick for thick sections amp for amp.

As for the secret for the galv, I dont know. I was welding up some bracing the other day under the house Roughy - 3/4 inch thick rod. I used 3.0mm rods and used the highest amp setting for them and blasted away the galv nicely (too lazy to grind). Its really hard to say what the problem is without seeing a photo of the job and knowing the type of rod being used and also what gear you are using. One of the things that I learnt the hard way was storing rods properly (dry) and then cooking them for a couple of hours in the oven to regenerate them if they take on moisture - which they bloody do at a drop of a hat.

Cheers mate

[ozscott]

...galv can be a turd compared to bluesteel to weld

[Hamish73]

I fix welders for a job, have done for about 10 years, we do warranty work for all the big names.

The smallest MIG that I have seen good results with ally is a 220 Amp machine.
The other problem is wire feed. The ally wire is very soft and difficult to feed, even with teflon liners and oversized tips. Hence you try and use the largest diameter wire possible. Proffesionals use a 'push pull' system where there is another motor in the handpiece to pull the wire through. If you want to TIG ally, you will need a AC TIG. A new AC TIG will start at about 4K. Tig welding ally isnt exactly easy either, and will take plenty of practice.

BOC (rebadged Kemppi) have recently released a inverter MIG which is a handy little package. It would be the ultimate portable ally mig IMO, but wont give you much change from $2K

A Unimig 220 would be the cheapest option I would consider, at about $1200ish

[disorderly]

Hey Oscott,

As I live in one of the wettest places in the country(av annual rain-4000mm),Moist rods are a curse.

How do you "cook" them to dry them out?

Cheers Scott

[dicko1980]

Thank's dicko, yeah that helps.
dicko, is there a ball park figure in Amps for welding, 2 through to 8mm I seem to bugger up me welds in Gal, either imbedded slag, or burning through, Trying to weld 2mm thick 50mm square tube, and there pretty ugly.

I do grind and wire wheel the gal off but it don't make much differance.
I have the electronic helmet and good gloves, so I can see what i'm doing and not burning me self, so that ain't it.
Cause I have been welding for around 30 years you would think I would be better but Nup.

Any help would be great.
Sorry FNQ, for taking your thread a bit off track.

Depending on what sort of welder you are using at home, you will most likely struggle to weld 8mm carbon plate with the stick. You can weld it no worries with a DC inverter Stick, they're the little welders that look like toaster. If you have a an old Tranformer machine on wheels that is 10amp, then I doubt you will be able to get sufficient amperage for the electrode. As for electrodes, use 2.5mm's General Purpose, GP's, of a decent brand. You get what you pay for here. Your best selection of electrodes is to ring a BOC outlet and ask them for their advice, but I do know that they do have an electrode in their range which is suitable for Galvanised Steel. I can't remember the names for the GP's as I don't ever use these sorts of rods. At work we use Hydrogen Controlled rods that are a lot stronger. But unless you have a DC inverter or a decent welding machine you will not be able to run them. As for amperage around 75-85 for 2.5's to weld Gal. For 8mm carbon at least 120+ amps for a 3.2mm rod. To answer Disorderly's question about drying electrodes bake them in the oven for an hour at around 100C, no bullshit, just don't let the missus catch you. And I know this sounds stupid, but bake what you need, and if you do bake the whole box remove the electrodes from the paper box and plastic, as I have seen it over the last couple of years a few smoking ovens from complacent indivduals.

Cheers
Dicko1980

[Roughasguts]

Thank's dicko, was kind of thinking it may be me eqipment.
Could be slight moisture in the rods too, seem to take a long time to strike.
It ain't no invertor welder just seen the price of those, Ouch,
Guess I only use a welder 3 times a year so maybe I put up with it, pitty
really wanted to get a mig or tig, but don't want another cheapie welder.

[ozscott]

most good suppliers stick the baking time and degrees on the pack - WIA and BOC do it. WIA are great rods in my opinion.

As Dicko says dont let your missus catch you. It stinks so make sure shes out.

Cheers

[notsa]

Try grinding the gal off where the weld will be .

[dogsbody]

Gidday
I just had the floor ribs welded into my tinnie for the sum of 150 bucks.At first i was gonna do it myself,borrowed Dogsbodies welder, bought the wire, was told that the welder would not get the result required then got works argon gas and hooked her up.I then proceeded to destroy aluminium with it and after much frustration found the yellow pages and called in the mobile welder.The point i am trying to make is i didn't destroy my boat for the sake of 150 bucks.SMC mobile welding speak to Shane.Thats for the Brissy humans.Jimbo

I think there was a issue with the regulator thingy either that you are puss at welding. I think i'm just a little less puss than you. Mine went great.


Dave.

[Owen]

Roughasguts,
With regard to renting bottles, there is a major difference between industrial gases and household LPG.
Oxy, Argon etc are filled to high pressure - up to 20,000 KPI.
Acetylene has it's own maintenance issues regarding acetone and the carrier in the cylinders. These factors mean the bottles have to be regularly tested and certified. The bottles also cost a lot more to manufacture, so the gas companies need to get a return on their investment.


MIG welding, and to a lesser extent DC TIG welding is generally easier for the novice to come to terms with than stick welding on thin metals.
Stick still has it's place, but these days it's more to do with the chemical and metallurgical advantages than ease of use or speed.

Finally, aluminium welding requires better quality, better maintained machinery and a higher skill level than steel or stainless.
Not a week goes by that I'm not forced to tell someone that yes, they can burn aluminium wire in a brand X machine, but NO, they won't get a good job... especially if they aren't highly skilled.

If you are intent on learning and/or buying equipment to weld alloy, do yourself a favour and hire some gear first to see what they do and don't do well.

DO NOT hire them from a general hire company. Go to a welding supply company so that they are set up properly.

PM me if you like and I'll give you a list of things to look for and how it should be set up.

Hamish73
If you're ever looking for a job let me know.
Always looking for sparky's

[Owen]

Its a misconception that MIG is better than stick. Mig has its place and was designed for cut down time in long runs and continous welding situations because of the drum feed. Its pus to use gasless, so your up for a bottle to do it properly. It can do allow and smaller thickness steel than stick, but you cant beat stick for thick sections amp for amp.

Cheers mate

Methinks you are making some pretty serious generalizations here Scott.

There is no doubt that in the MAJORITY of situations that MIG is "better" than stick.

MIG can be "puss" to use gasless if you use crap wire or try to use it in an application to which it isn't suited. e.g. panel work.
On heavy sections with wires like NR232, NR233, NS3M, Fabshield 21 etc etc etc it is a joy to use. Well as close to "joy" as hanging onto a bloody welder gets

Can't beat stick amp for amp??
Maybe... If you hamstring the MIG by restricting amps and therefore travel speed. But you get your stick welder with a 4mm rod and 150 - 200 amps and I'll get my MIG at 280 - 320 amps with some 1.6mm metal cored wired and we'll see who can lay down more weld on a 16mm plate.

It's horses for courses. No one welding process, wire, electrode, brand etc does everything so well it replaces all others.

You don't own one fishing rod do you?

What is "best" for the job is determined by .... what is available.... what is affordable .... what do you have the skills to use

[Hamish73]

IMO, stick welding is limited these days to situations where quality is the only consideration. Engineers have q lot bigger range of filler maqterial and shiel;ding properties.
Go out to caltex refinery and you wont see a mig in sight, all pipework is done with a stick. No inverters, dirty old Lincolns, mostly engine driven Dc generators. Comes back to the 90% operator 10% equipment thingy... kinda like fishing I guess.
For joe average a mig is the only option, especially with ally. I have considerable experience with all forms of welding (just testing then whilst fixing them), and still managed to turn a small crack in my tinny into a big fuggin hole TIG welding thin 'used' ally isnt as easy as it looks.

Owen, than ks for the offer but I'm happy where I am. Out of intrest whats your company?

[Owen]

Hamish,
Not really looking to advertise here, but the offer stands any time you feel like a change.
I'm probably your "opposition" at the moment.
We have two stores in Brisbane. One in Eagle Farm and one in Rocklea.
Our logo is a green triangle.

I'm in Gladstone myself and desperately looking for a sparky with experience on welders.

[ozscott]

Cheers Owen. I was generalising. I think some people who dont know better think that MIG is superior to stick and thats not the case.

There are pros and cons for both. An example of a con for MIG that noone has mentioned is that because it only welds well (and you can only see it properly) running Gas, you cant then take it into the wind - even fairly light wind, because the wind blows the shield away.

Cheers

[ozscott]

I have had some fun learning to TIG 2.5mm alloy at TAFE - using $6000 machines though. Especially with pulse, you can get into a nice vibe and lay very nice tight scales of weld. I havent tried thinner stuff.

Cheers