Anyone near Alton (Hants) who can weld?

Hi all,

Well I've finally taken some time out to tot up all the jobs that need doing to get my knackered old series 3 back on the road/mud.

Step one was a thorough weeding and now I am looking down the barrel of a rear 1/4 chassis repair along with a front left dumb iron.

I am fine with stripping the beast and preping/aligning etc etc but I have zero welding skill or equipment so I'm looking for anyone local who might help me buzz the new bits on.

Heeellllpppppppppppppppp!!!

Fair size job that, you'd have to give someone a bung to do that.

I'm too far away from you so thats a no go.

Have you thought about learning, you can get a good quality 150 amp mig set of ebay brand new for just over a hundred quid.
What ever you do dont buy a clarke.

Hope you get sorted, oh and welcome to the site, theres lots of combined knowledge here.

if yu do all the prep work, I might be prepared to come along fur ya, in between jobs

If I am not too far away then I will under take this for you.

Best to PM me rather than upset the mods

I have a clarke mig, and have never had any problems with it.....ecept for the swanneck....

I wondered after I posted that if I should of used a bit more tact.
I have used clarke migs, and they work, what bothered me with the one I had was the wirefeed assembly, it didnt look tough and often jammed the wire.
The other thing with a good set is the transformer windings are copper rather than aluminium found in other sets, copper gives you a lower resistance and a steadier voltage.
Still its not justified buying a top notch rig if your not gonna use it.
Soz jackual.
Dont know whether you can get them or not over there but you can get general purpose swan necks for industrial sets which might fit and last longer than the original, binzel make them, its also a good idea to mod your rig to fit a removeable euro torch if it hasnt allready got one, you can get the sockets seperately and are not that expensive, I did this to an S.I.P. which made it better to use, just make sure the rig has a solenoid gas valve, some of the smaller ones dont, the torch trigger is a combined switch and gas valve, some even have a permanently live torch.

Yeah, nah i understand, its meant more for the hobbyist, but still a great machine for learning the ropes....Cheap and cheerful, well not so cheap really!

Looking to get a bit of a bigger unit, its a wee bit underpowered at max of 100 amps!!! But when i bought the unit i was working on small engines, tin lawnmower decks which often need patching up, this lil bugger fit the bill perfect!.....Now not so usefull with repairing chassis sections!,

I will say though, to stay away from the gassless flux cored line, looks like a pidgion with diarrhoea has been wandering around the weld

Yep gasless is really hard to get right, in fact I've never seen a good weld with that stuff, your rig must have polarity reversal then, as with gasless wire you need a positive earth.
If your bashing landy chassis's, then twice the power would be a good srating point, 200 amp, I have a industrial 180 amp and it just about does it.

Well cheers for all the posts folks.

Hopefully the strip and prep will be swimmingly.

I expect all those nuts and bolts to come apart without the slightest problem!

Take photos please!!, we likes photos we do!!!

Better go and buy a grinder wetty, its the only size spanner that undoes manky rust bolts.

and a case of wd, did you know they made after shave:-

dr pepper said:

Have you thought about learning, you can get a good quality 150 amp mig set of ebay brand new for just over a hundred quid.
What ever you do dont buy a clarke.

Click to expand...

Don't suppose you could give me a link to one? I would probably end up buying a ****ty one or something knowing my luck

dr pepper said:

Better go and buy a grinder wetty, its the only size spanner that undoes manky rust bolts.

and a case of wd, did you know they made after shave:-

Click to expand...

been usin it fer years mate

Seems I was talking crap mate, the rig I was talking about was on offer, just spent ages on ebay, and all the rigs I found were cheap sip or clarke clones.
This is a similar rig to mine, they are goor, professional quality.

MIG WELDER 150 INDUSTRIAL WELDER NEW WITH EURO TORCH on eBay (end time 23-Aug-09 10:31:43 BST)

Probably more than you want to pay though, be aware that cheaper sets will not gibe as good a weld, and some annoyingly trip to 'overheat' all the time.
If you can afford it stump up the cash and get one, you'll only do it in a years time like I did.

How do you get that cack under yer arms then trucker?, or do you just stand over the lid and stick an air line in the top.

it comes with a hand sprayer mate, dead easy