Morris Minor Owners Club

well a lot of support for clarke welders there, I've got a couple of months to look around for a used ex pro welder, after that if no joy I may well be making a trip to pompy to pic up a new clarke.

As an aside, but still on the MIG subject, is it possible to tac weld with a MIG unit, I need to strengthen that cab prior to any restoration work.<br><br>

In a word yes. In fact if you do a series of tack like welds that actually join each other before they stop glowing you can make good progress, and less likely to blow holes, and the weld has more of an arc welding appearance, ie flatter, (especially if you 'push' the wire into the weld momentarily) as opposed to the more typical 'raised' mig weld. These things I have found out as I progressed, I expect you will too.

Can't help thinking you may get frustrated tacking that lot together- one thing mig hates is rust- makes it spit like a grumpy cat. Make sure you clean back to shiny metal ! The great thing with a stick welder is it will weld rust as well as metal, but I think your cab would vapourize if you showed it an arc! Good luck, and go for the biggest you can run off 13 amps (160 amps), it makes a difference to the weld quality even if you don't use all that power, a bit like a 2 litre engine running better at 60mph than a 1 litre does even though they are still both well in their limits!

David...

If you want - at some point soonish I will come over and let you have a play with my MIG if you want (a sealey one)

Matt, I may well be heading over to Southampton to grab those wings off you in a couple of weeks, If you still have them. Check out the sealey then.

I wish I had read all this information on MIG welders before I spent £170 on a SIP Turbo 105 (as recommended by Practical Classics) 2 years ago. It was brand new but I had to mend two faults before I could even use it! The gas pipe as it passed through the metal box had been sliced almost through by a tab that was meant to hold it in place, and the torch mechanism was loose which meant that the switch would stay on after I took my finger off the trigger. The wire feed is erratic as well. Might put it on eBay and buy a Clarke or a Sealey instead.

My advice, go for sheilding gas, ideally argon/co2 mix, it welds so much nicer than other methods. Probably worth getting a size x (small) argoshield from BOC or similar for your project, and returning it when you've done. HAving said that I do have a small Clarke gasless set (came in a deal I did) and it is handy for small repairs when the workshop is full, and for finishing a job when the gas runs out.... Nothing wrong with the weld quality, it just dosn't look as nice.