mig welding-help needed

farkamhall · Post by **farkamhall** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:45 am

hi all, anyone know what the cheapest mig welder is or does anyone near me have a mig welder that they could do some plating with.i have some repairs to do to the floor and door pillars and the top of front guard,not a lot but needs doing before i chop the top.thanks. i live in tahmoor nsw 2573

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:30 am

Let me get this straight, you don't have a welder to do some rust repairs, but your going to chop the top yourself

, do you know what your in for? Trev

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Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:52 am

You are letting yourself into a world of hurt if your going to start cutting up your car and not sure what your doing. Get a welder and do a lot of welding on other things before you start on the car.

farkamhall · Post by **farkamhall** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:53 am

hi trev, i know what you are saying but the top is not being chopped until a lot later down the line and my son is going to do the work but he is in Kalgoorlie at the moment with all his tools. i just need to get the little rust plating repairs done now.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:56 am

Makes sense now, Trev

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Smooth customs · Post by **Smooth customs** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:34 pm

Cheapest isnt always the best way to go.

And if you have no previous experience, you could be creating more work for someone else later, and the greater chance of personal injury trying to do something with equipment that must be used with the upmost care.

I am interested is seeing your conversion when it is started, doing a 4 door and leaving it as a 4 door is no easy task. Let alone getting it to look more than a sedan with the roof chopped off. Do you plan to build a folding roof for it?

farkamhall · Post by **farkamhall** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:34 pm

hi smooth custom, thanks for the comments but i did not say the conversion was going to be done on the cheap, only that i needed a cheap mig for some minor plating. the actual major welding etc is being done by my son who is a boilermaker\welder wih over 15 years experience so i am sure he will do a good job and working off engineers specs.i do intend to have a folding roof made later.

Smooth customs · Post by **Smooth customs** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 5:16 pm

Your initial question was about the cheapest Mig welder.

And my responce was that cheapest is not always best way to go!

I made no reference to the manner in which you would be approaching the conversion on your sedan

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:59 pm

Smooth customs wrote:cheapest is not always best way to go!

I'll second that, I suffered a cheap italian welder for years when I inherited a cigweld MIG a few months ago. The difference is unbelievable, wait the extra months to save the money and get a brand name MIG.

farkamhall · Post by **farkamhall** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:51 pm

smooth customs, please accept my apologies if i read your post wrong. i know that cheapest is not always best but seeing that my son has all his welding equipment with him in kalgoorlie, i cannot see the point of spending a large amount of money on an expensive mig, when it is only required for some very minor plating.

ben · Post by **ben** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:23 pm

My 120amp mig (italian)

cost me $600 about 10 years ago. If you use 0.8 gasless wire ($30) you should have no worries doing most jobs. Renting gas tanks etc will cost you more, but i agree with the others about getting what you pay for, althought i have never layed my hands on a brand welder so can't comment. I can say its better having your own, than a piece of shit hire one.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:42 pm

hey Mr Hall, you can by a 100amp gasles mig (SIP brand ) for about $300
at any descent hardware, it will do the car ok. with limitations.
But a better unit would be a CIG Tech130 I think its called, gas or gasless
130amp as the name suggests . they have come down in price recently, around $750
Regards Tim

farkamhall · Post by **farkamhall** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:40 am

Tim, many thanks, will take a look aroundbut hopefully will be ok now as my neighbour has a big mig for his truck work and is bringing it over this weekend coming. thanks all for replies.

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