Morris Minor Owners Club

Can you do all the welding repairs on a Morris using a mig run off of a house supply?Ive been looking at a few migs and reading threads on here and coupled with the realisation that im gonna have to weld at some point, probably sooner rather than later, im now considering purchase of aforementioned welder.

Yes!

Seriously yes, if you buy a welder with a reasonable amperage (the higher you go, the higher amperage circuit it needs to be connected to, so don't be looking at over 200 Amp machines.......) 140 - 160 should be fine on a standard 13 Amp plug, my 185 needs to be connected to a 16 Amp circuit.

I've been using one of the dreaded Sips for more than 10 years, always on 13 Amp plugs, the new Sealey one is much more powerful and solidly built but it's really heavy and awkward to move round so so far I've gone on using the Sip

Don't forget that when a manufacturer says something like "needs a 20A supply", they mean "to operate for more than a few seconds at its maximum current". The current drawn from the mains depends more on the settings for a particular job than the numbers in big print on the front of the machine. This opens up the possibility of buying a good quality industrial welder, but not using it at its maximum setting - or at least, not using it for long.

The welder will be an altogether chunkier box of tricks than the market stall ones, but it will have a good quality wire feed mechanism and probably incorporate bottle storage. It will also probably have a higher duty cycle - notice how cheap welders, when you read the small print of their spec, can only operate at perhaps 30% duty cycle if you want to weld anything thicker than 22g. For a given welding job, a good machine will probably draw less current than a cheap one, because it will have a better quality transformer.

I bought mine secondhand from a small local dealer, with a new torch and lead, a full big spool of wire, and even a full gas bottle "to get you started", for less than the cost of a Machine Mart cheapy. I don't think I've ever regretted buying a tool that was "too good", or "more professional than I need". I think we've probably all erred in the other direction.

Kevin

I used a 130 Amp welder for classic cars for 18 years and didn't find any job it couldn't do. Landrover chassis to paper thin floors all welded up ok.
When it got worn out I changed t a 150Amp, but as both had 6 power level settings, the settings were closer (a little more controllable) on the 130A welder...

Sealey 185 Mig (I think that is the name) would pop the CB for the garage lighting until a convenient house extension gave me a chance to get a 30 amp line run into the garage directly. Now it works all day long without trouble. I'd guess a sensible sized welder will be alright if you don't have much else running off the garage mains at the same time.
I use mine to weld very thick section tubing for making jigs and trailer chassis etc.

Best to 'find' a large bottle which ought to last for decades rather than try using those piddly little Halfords bottles. Mine is 5 foot tall and has only needed changing once in two decades of welding. Also, try to get a welding rig on fully castoring wheels since on castoring paair and one fixed pair makes mine a bu66er to move round the garage.

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PI ... rce=affwin

Perhaps this one then.

Hello Deano,

do have a look at this web site, it's just the place for a beginner or for that matter those with quite a bit of experience. :-http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/.

Another tip is that domestic circuit breakers often trip with welders even if they seem to be the right size. Most domestic breakers are 'B' type (Typically the breaker is marked e.g. B16 on the front). Change it for a 'C' type of the same current rating as they are less sensitive to surges of current.

Alec

I recently saw this in a christmas brochure in a motor factors. Is this Mig any good for Moggies - http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.a ... onID=61889

Ps. I just noticed its the same one Deano was thinking of buying.

ive used a Clarke 135T for all my projects run off a 3 pin 13amp supply with no trouble at all using co2 gas. i managed to build a kit car from scratch with it . i would'nt be with out it. money well spent.[/img]<br><br>