My S2 coupe bit of a rebuild and repair thread.

[Tractor Dave]

And TIG is way way more difficult to master

[B5NUT]

What I'm figuring out more and more with this car is take what you have a repair or adapt it. With that comes a world or pain and a welder. I've already sent a couple of bit away for alloy welding and even though the price is cheap enough, I'm having to wait 2 weeks and then there is the cost of travel etc. So having your own kit makes sense. Sure I'm going to need practice welding more, but if you mess it up most times you can just grind it back and start again. Looking at some of the r-tech welders a while back and they were around the £1K mark for a AC/DC welder.

[Tractor Dave]

I was tempted by the R-tech. I like Trev's blog and he rates them.
However, last year I did evening classes at my local college and got qualified to weld. No matter how much practice, I struggled to master the TIG

[B5NUT]

I was thinking about looking at doing some night classes, need to have a look around in the new year. Years ago (30) I did my apprenticeship at ICI there I learned to stick weld, and many other useful skills, but a lot of them have just been forgotten as career move to a different path.

[K Simmonds]

And TIG is way way more difficult to master

Yep, TIG is way more tricky to master, but once you can do it boy does the quality of work improve, not just with alloy, their great on all grades of stainless as well. I can't use one at all yet, though the guy I work with has taught himself and is pretty handy with it now and has offered to teach me. He was very good with a MIG though prior to investing in his new TIG set up, much more proficient than me, think he simply has more natural ability as well as patience which is something I lack.

I got taught to weld and braze with just oxyacetylene as well as Arc in collage, though it's been so long since learning I've pretty much forgotten how to do it as I adapted to using a MIG as soon as I started working.

[SteveH]

I have an R-Tech 160 AC/DC rig with a decent torch. If you want to try your hand at it, you are welcome to come and spend a few hours playing with it. The Argon is a bit expensive but consumables are cheap. I'm in Bristol and Tea and coffee are included. I've used it to make my exhaust and inlet tubing along with lots of little bits and pieces.

[B5NUT]

Thanks that would be helpful. I'm not intending to order one just yet, as I've got hundreds of other pounds to spend on other more urgent parts & tools. I'm hoping when the weather improves around April next year then I'll start looking around for a machine and if the car is running by then take a road trip

[steve briance]

Look at the hobby weld gas range and use that with your current welder and get some new wire until you upgrade.

I used 5% argon / co2 mix for the first time last year after having only co2 for years... I was amazed by the difference in cleanliness and lack of splatter. Co2 from a pub was very very cheap but offset by cleaning up costs and overall satisfaction so overall the the hobbyweld 5 is a better deal for me and compliments my amateur welding.

[B5NUT]

Thanks, I think gas is the way to go. However I'm not 100% sure I want to invest any money in this welder, as I would need the gas, wire, pipework and regulator, and I don't even know if the gas side of the welder works, could be faulty. I think I'm now done with welding for the front-end when I get to the rear I'll see what is required and it it needs work then a new welder will be purchased.

[Bowie69]

Tig is lovely for fabrication,, but mig way better for car bodywork.

[B5NUT]

Just had a quick look at regulators and they are fairly cheap £11, just need to figure out what wire I would need. Also the gas is not cheap, about £70 for a 10 litre cylinder. Wonder how long that would last?

[steve briance]

I pay £40 (for cash or. 50 with card) for hobby weld 5 from a welding supplies place. The sort of useful indutrial estate unit that only does 1 thing but really well. I got a new welder from there recently as well and they offer in field service should it ever go wrong. The regulator I got was £25 but a decent one gives better control and with 2 gauges, it tells me how much flow i have as well as how much is left in tue bottle.

[Bowie69]

They normally give an idea of how long a bottle will last at 9l/min flow rate -I'm sure you can ask whoever is selling it. 10l is still quite small, but even at that price WAAAAAAY cheaper than the disposable bottles you can get.

Careful on fill pressures, some are much lower than others.

[K Simmonds]

Tig is lovely for fabrication,, but mig way better for car bodywork.

That's good point, TIG is the best for fabrication work on a bench, not so practical for welding a patch into a floor pan, whereas that's where a MIG comes into it's own.

[K Simmonds]

Thanks, I think gas is the way to go. However I'm not 100% sure I want to invest any money in this welder, as I would need the gas, wire, pipework and regulator, and I don't even know if the gas side of the welder works, could be faulty. I think I'm now done with welding for the front-end when I get to the rear I'll see what is required and it it needs work then a new welder will be purchased.

You could perhaps consider a good second hand MIG, that you could even see working before you buy it and will probably come with wire, my 30 year old SIP works just fine on steel from 0.5mm up to 5mm. Flat out it would probably manage on steel a couple of mm more but 5mm is really about it's practical limit.

I have a 30L bottle of Argoshield light which is mostly Argon, 93% if remember correctly and what's recommended for car body work, produce's super clean welds even if you can't get the work piece perfectly clean. I paid a deposit of about £40 for the for the bottle and the first fill cost £35, with several future fill's costing much the same, think the last fill cost £37.50 three years ago. That's from my local welding sundries supplier, a guy I've know all my life who also sold my regulator for £30, quite a nice one with two gauges.

I also invested in Euro torch conversion kit to update the machine which cost about £70 for something of decent quality, though most second hand welders that have had serious use will probably already have been updated by now.