fbekholden.com

Has anyone had any experience with the Plasma cutter/tig in one machines. I am finding that the Mig Welder I have just blows through anything under 1mm thickness, even with the amps down as low as it will go. I was thinking about getting a Plasma cutter and Tig in one machine. You see them on ebay for a few hundred dollars. I thought the tig will be better fir thinner welds and then I have a bit of rust work to do (actually a lot) so I thought of getting the plasma cutter to make the cutting easier than using a cutting disc. From past experience I know things are cheaper for a reason, but my thought is I don't use it that often so I thought it may last a little bit. Just wondering if anyone has tried one before.

Hi FeeBee;
I just bought one only cost just under $300 free postage and I'm in WA.
Haven't tried it yet but will let you know when I do it looks the goods but wether it works or not is another issue I suppose.

Regards
Neil H

A 1mm cutting wheel will give you a far better finish for rust repairs than a plasma cutter.

Plasmas have their uses in difficult spots, but 1mm discs on a 5inch grinder are my preference for cutting just about anything up to 10mm thick.

If you've got a pic of your welder and your joint prep you may get some useful advice here on your technique.

i purchased one of those cheap units off evilbay ..

1 st one went poof as soon as i turned it on .. replaced by sell postage at my costs
it didnt work on tig mode seem torch was faulty diagnosed by me they replaced torch and it worked fine for several months the stopped working on the tig side
vendor didnt respond to emails ebay where not interested.. work great as a light weight boat anchor now ..

friend lent me his cheap wse tig $700 buck unit been using it for months no problems would love to try a good tig just to see the difference
i purchased a $1000 plasma from total tools worked a treat and if it ever fails can return it to them for repairs it has a 3 year warranty .
i plan to purchase a tig off them when i have a spare $ 1400 bucks floating around to me it worth the extra $$ as trying to get cheap evil bay item repaired is a waste of time

Its not your mig that is the problem. Im figuring you are trying to do a continuous weld which is virtually impossible on thin metal.
Try just tack welding it.
Re the tig. Tig welding is harder to do than mig.
Unless you can oxy weld you are going to blow holes everywhere as well.
Dont buy a cheap chinese crap machine.
Watch some demos of welding on you tube and practice.

cheers for the replies to all. They are all quite valid points.

I have always thought that if its cheap it wont be any good, but the amount of would use I thought it would suffice. I guess that is the problem with buying from the net and not from a store, there is no one to talk face to face if it does play up. Hope it works well for you Neil and look forward to hearing how it goes. I thought of the plasma to get into harder spots than using the grinder.
I don't have any photos of my machine, but I got it from Supercheap, it is blue and has max 180 AMP rated. It was a cheaper unit about $500, but did get it when they had a sale on. I have the amps turned down to the lowest setting, and am currently running the gasless 0.8mm wire. I am only tack welding, and not running a continuous weld. I ensure I get a good clean weld prep.
My real problem at the moment is that I have been doing some other little odd welding jobs, and practicing before I get into too much on the car, and when I have for example weld up some exhaust pipe, I am grinding the weld back so that you can't see the weld, and when there is a little porosity spot I go to tack weld to fill the spot, but the metal has grounded back so much its under a 1mm thick and just blows a hole. Definitely agree that its part of my technique and contributes to my learning curve, which I am enjoying.
When I have been welding the trolley for the car, the welds are quite good, as the steel is thicker, and my fillet welds are looking quite good now good sound of crackling bacon

Hi feebee. I am a welding jnspector in nsw. I deal only with pressure welding but the principle remains the same no matter what level or type of welding you want to do. Mate the best way to
Spend your time before you get welding on your car is to watch YouTube or better still, do Some homework and find a Local bloke who will let you watch him weld on a car. Just sit there with your mask on and watch for as long as you can. You will pick up so Many little tricks this way. Do this before you get too
Many bad habits. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Yes you can totally teach yourself but if you get a few pointers from a bloke who has experience you will improve quickly without making basic errors. Cheap
Welding gear is hit and miss but if you know a bit about what you are doing, it will take a Lot of the problems away. After over 40 years of welding, I still
Learn from others, even when I am testing them.