Welding

[steve_earwig]

I'm still trying to get hold of a smaller bottle for my mig, the one I had is huge and I shouldn't really carry it about with my back. The trouble is it's looking near enough impossible to find one. I've not even used the mig for 4 or 5 years and I've really been missing it. I have plenty of jobs lined up for it, but I'm wondering that if I do get a bottle of gas it'll be dead (it's 30+ years old). Then again if it is dead then it'll be a good excuse to upgrade it with something shiny.

 

I was also wondering about getting a tig, anyone here using one? Of course it could end up as another welder, another sodding great bottle of gas to lug about...

[scaryoldcortina]

I use one of these, it's a rental free small bottle with an integrated regulator which works out perfect for me, I used to have an air products contract but changed when I realized I wasn't even going through one bottle in two years. With the AL system you buy the bottle outright and then pay for refills.

 

http://www.albeegascylinders.com/albee-weld.html

 

[steve_earwig]

Once again I find myself in the wrong country...

 

When I was in GB I used to use those small white disposable jobbies, can't get them here of course, but I always found them pretty useless as, even if I remembered to disconnect it from the regulator, the valves in them were so crap they'd be empty the next time I went to use it.

[Noel Tidybeard]

co2 fire extiguisher is what my bro-in-law always used

[steve_earwig]

They wouldn't fill one of them here, I asked.

[steve_earwig]

I've been and gotted my shiny new bottle of gas - hooray! 5 litres, nice and light it is. It cost me 90 quid though - boo! But it's tested for 10 years (do they have that there?) and that's 50 quids worth right there.

 

Now all I need to do is dig out the mig. I'll bet the wires' gone rusty for a start 

[fatharris]

 

This is my long-term project. I recently took a 10-week night class in welding and still can't weld.

 

At the moment it's hiding in the back of a leaky garage filled with everything that I removed from it.

 

Does anyone have any advice? My wife loves this car and its been in bits since January.

 

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[garbaldy]

Get someone in to help you get it done or it will sit slowly decaying.

[fatharris]

The main issue is location. It's not sat in the garage in the picture, its in a leaky block garage on a pallet with wheels, and there's no power nearby.

 

I've actually been browsing houses for sale to buy one with a garage that matches my needs, but according to the wife, that makes me "incredibly autistic and borderline retarded".

 

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[John F]

fatharris, on 04 Nov 2015 - 09:47 AM, said:

I've actually been browsing houses for sale to buy one with a garage that matches my needs, but according to the wife, that makes me "incredibly autistic and borderline retarded".

 

 

 

No, it makes you a bloke.

[steve_earwig]

I guess it depends what your needs are, a nice double garage with heating - good, 1000m2 with ramps and a pit - possibly not so good. Your wife probably wants trivial things like near the shops, public transport and schools, trivial stuff like that.

 

Years ago a mate of mine had a coachhouse at the bottom of his garden (that sounds posh but it wasn't really), huge barn with a few rooms upstairs. Now that would suit me down to the ground.

 

Update on my Clarke pro 90 almost an antique mig - I pulled it out of the shed. Cleverly, I'd not realised I'd needed to move it from when the wind blew tiles off the roof and it was right there, where the roof was leaking. Externally it looked ok but, expecting the worst, I gave it a quick blow out and gave it the pixies - it works! I didn't try the gas valve yet as the new regulator connector is tiny compared to the old, so I need to buy some hose, but I don't think that'll be too much of a problem. Wow - 5 years of neglect and the wire wasn't even rusty. I bet they don't make them like that any more....

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I was literally a few lines in and already thinking what a knob.

 

My dad an electronics engineer, my uncle a mechanical engineer. Both started off as school drop outs. My uncle started as a motor mechanic and is now fairly senior for a major airline. He has nothing but praise for old school motor mechanics so I found yer man's negative comments a bit off.

 

My da and I made plenty of bodged together tools out of scrap shite. I thought that was normal practice for shitters? That was half the fun of garage time.

 

My da taught me well - he gave me a comprehensive education in the concept of FDR (Fucking Do Rightly).

He also taught me to be realistic about my abilities and farm work out when its beyond me.

 

My da was my hero too but fuck me the rest of the world will remember him as just another nice bloke.

[steve_earwig]

Oh er, sorry.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Also I can't weld for shit lol

[drum]

Eraserhead fan Steve?

 

On topic: I use pub co2. Worked well enough to stop my series 3 land rover breaking in two after I put a new half chassis on it.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

If one decided to learn some welderage, would it be best to do a night course of some description or just buy a cheap welder and some scrap steel?

 

How hard can it be? (quite, judging by the state of the repair* on my wife's old ka)

[steve_earwig]

I guess you might get a better idea if you do a course but buying a cheap welder and having a go is how I learned. I was a actually quite good at one point, mind I suddenly had lots of mates who needed their motors welding.

 

Scrap steel, Ford Ka, same thing really.

 

Eraserhead fan Steve?
 

I do like weird me. I guess I can identify with Henry too, all this weird shit is going on around me while I try and carry on as if it's normal.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I have this notion that someday I'll have enough spare cash to buy an old land rover (pref series 3) so welding would be a handy skill....