Anyone tried DIY welding?
Discussion
We have reached that critical rust point with one of our cars, where it's needing welding for the MoT, and how expensive it is!
At most independent repair shops, £100 does about a six-inch square of welded-in metal. The garage does a good job, but with a bit needed each side each year, it's becoming cheaper to scrap the car.
I'm aware it's mostly labour we are paying, so I wonder if anyone has gone out and bought themselves a welding kit and done it themselves?
At most independent repair shops, £100 does about a six-inch square of welded-in metal. The garage does a good job, but with a bit needed each side each year, it's becoming cheaper to scrap the car.
I'm aware it's mostly labour we are paying, so I wonder if anyone has gone out and bought themselves a welding kit and done it themselves?
Just did a days welding course at this place http://www.dorsetruralskills.co.uk/courses/welding
Found it to be relatively easy and something I plan to do more of. One of the blokes on the course was planning on doing work on his cars, so would suggest it's doable for a DIY'er.
Found it to be relatively easy and something I plan to do more of. One of the blokes on the course was planning on doing work on his cars, so would suggest it's doable for a DIY'er.
I'm fond of a bit of welding at home, I undertake my own restorations, although I've learned over the years to avoid cars with lots of rust.
300 to 400 quid should get you an ok setup for home use. Nip to your local machine mart, pick up a little clarke mig, get a rent free argon/CO2 mix bottle, auto darkening helmet and some other consumables.
Have a good practice before tackling the car, get used to the setting and practice your techniques... And away you go.
All you need to know is on the welding forum:
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/
If its just for a one off job then maybe consider just putting it into the garage and paying your money, because otherwise you'll have some bulky kit taking up space in your garage.
If you have got quite a bit of welding then it maybe worth spending the money and learning to weld, it's. very satisfying doing it yourself.
I'd recommend mig for beginners and if you end up doing a lot maybe trying out tig welding further down the line.
300 to 400 quid should get you an ok setup for home use. Nip to your local machine mart, pick up a little clarke mig, get a rent free argon/CO2 mix bottle, auto darkening helmet and some other consumables.
Have a good practice before tackling the car, get used to the setting and practice your techniques... And away you go.
All you need to know is on the welding forum:
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/
If its just for a one off job then maybe consider just putting it into the garage and paying your money, because otherwise you'll have some bulky kit taking up space in your garage.
If you have got quite a bit of welding then it maybe worth spending the money and learning to weld, it's. very satisfying doing it yourself.
I'd recommend mig for beginners and if you end up doing a lot maybe trying out tig welding further down the line.
If there's less than £300 worth of welding, DIY won't be economical.
Hire welder, comes with gas bottle £65
Or purchase second hand welder + rent gas bottle + gas fill + gauntlets + mask.
Teach yourself to weld on something easy like angle iron - 20 mins for basic proficiency in technique.
Then get some scrap panels from a car, spend a couple of hours, if you're anything like me you'll be switching between blowing holes in the panels or not getting penetration.
Then move on to working on a car, boiling hot underseal running up your sleeve. Manky metal that you can't weld, so you cut further back then start worrying is it going to cause structural issues. Smell funny smouldering smell then realise you didn't lift the carpet back far enough inside. Get cramp from the contorted position you've got yourself in. Watch as the floor pan warps because youve got too much heat in it and you've still not competed the weld right round as required by mot...
Nah I reckon financially you need at least £300 wroth of work to stand a chance of breaking even and on top of that id pay someone else £200 not to have to weld in crappy circumstances!
Hire welder, comes with gas bottle £65
Or purchase second hand welder + rent gas bottle + gas fill + gauntlets + mask.
Teach yourself to weld on something easy like angle iron - 20 mins for basic proficiency in technique.
Then get some scrap panels from a car, spend a couple of hours, if you're anything like me you'll be switching between blowing holes in the panels or not getting penetration.
Then move on to working on a car, boiling hot underseal running up your sleeve. Manky metal that you can't weld, so you cut further back then start worrying is it going to cause structural issues. Smell funny smouldering smell then realise you didn't lift the carpet back far enough inside. Get cramp from the contorted position you've got yourself in. Watch as the floor pan warps because youve got too much heat in it and you've still not competed the weld right round as required by mot...
Nah I reckon financially you need at least £300 wroth of work to stand a chance of breaking even and on top of that id pay someone else £200 not to have to weld in crappy circumstances!
If the welding is needed to pass an MOT that would suggest it is structural. As much as I enjoy DIY and would love to learn how to weld, I can't say I would trust my first learning efforts on such a safety critical job.
By all means, buy some cheap kit and learn, but practice on old wheelbarrows or barrels (anything that won't kill you if the welds fail) first.
By all means, buy some cheap kit and learn, but practice on old wheelbarrows or barrels (anything that won't kill you if the welds fail) first.
ShaunTheSheep said:
If there's less than £300 worth of welding, DIY won't be economical.
Hire welder, comes with gas bottle £65
Or purchase second hand welder + rent gas bottle + gas fill + gauntlets + mask.
Teach yourself to weld on something easy like angle iron - 20 mins for basic proficiency in technique.
Then get some scrap panels from a car, spend a couple of hours, if you're anything like me you'll be switching between blowing holes in the panels or not getting penetration.
Then move on to working on a car, boiling hot underseal running up your sleeve. Manky metal that you can't weld, so you cut further back then start worrying is it going to cause structural issues. Smell funny smouldering smell then realise you didn't lift the carpet back far enough inside. Get cramp from the contorted position you've got yourself in. Watch as the floor pan warps because youve got too much heat in it and you've still not competed the weld right round as required by mot...
Nah I reckon financially you need at least £300 wroth of work to stand a chance of breaking even and on top of that id pay someone else £200 not to have to weld in crappy circumstances!
Hire welder, comes with gas bottle £65
Or purchase second hand welder + rent gas bottle + gas fill + gauntlets + mask.
Teach yourself to weld on something easy like angle iron - 20 mins for basic proficiency in technique.
Then get some scrap panels from a car, spend a couple of hours, if you're anything like me you'll be switching between blowing holes in the panels or not getting penetration.
Then move on to working on a car, boiling hot underseal running up your sleeve. Manky metal that you can't weld, so you cut further back then start worrying is it going to cause structural issues. Smell funny smouldering smell then realise you didn't lift the carpet back far enough inside. Get cramp from the contorted position you've got yourself in. Watch as the floor pan warps because youve got too much heat in it and you've still not competed the weld right round as required by mot...
Nah I reckon financially you need at least £300 wroth of work to stand a chance of breaking even and on top of that id pay someone else £200 not to have to weld in crappy circumstances!
Exactly this.
doogz said:
I learnt how to weld a few years ago.
I'd done bits and pieces before at mates garages, with a bit of help from them, and some reading on the net, but I signed myself up for an evening class at the local college. £80, 3 hours every thursday night for 3 months. Well worth it, couldn't have bought the materials I used in that amount of time for £80, never mind the use of all the equipment and the teacher/lecturers experience.
See if anywhere near you runs anything similar?
I learnt to weld at one of those courses, and I totally agree! Absolutely fantastic value, and getting proper instruction is a fantastic grounder. After that the Mig forums are a wealth of information.I'd done bits and pieces before at mates garages, with a bit of help from them, and some reading on the net, but I signed myself up for an evening class at the local college. £80, 3 hours every thursday night for 3 months. Well worth it, couldn't have bought the materials I used in that amount of time for £80, never mind the use of all the equipment and the teacher/lecturers experience.
See if anywhere near you runs anything similar?
M4cruiser said:
At most independent repair shops, £100 does about a six-inch square of welded-in metal. The garage does a good job, but with a bit needed each side each year, it's becoming cheaper to scrap the car.
It'd be cheaper to get them to repair the rot properly, once, instead of bodging over the worst bit each year.It's the preparation for welding which us the time consuming and costly bit.
But if you want to have a go just cos you want to, why not?
Decent DIY sets that run on 240v are reasonable prices now, but the truth us you'll probably end up with it gathering dust in your garage once the novelty has worn off.
But if you want to have a go just cos you want to, why not?
Decent DIY sets that run on 240v are reasonable prices now, but the truth us you'll probably end up with it gathering dust in your garage once the novelty has worn off.
Just gone this route myself.
Make sure you get a decent welder to start with, that will go low enough in current for thin bodywork (30A) usually ok. I bought a used Snap-On (Cebora) 160 Turbo Mig with a pub gas CO2 bottle, regulator, almost new spool of 0.8 wire and beefed up earth cable for £170 locally. Had a few practice runs with a mate who can weld and got into it quite quickly.
The better the welder, the easier it will be for you. Clarke & Cebora seem to be quite well regarded for DIY welders. Check out the mig-welding.co.uk forum also - lots of useful tips/advice.
Make sure you get a decent welder to start with, that will go low enough in current for thin bodywork (30A) usually ok. I bought a used Snap-On (Cebora) 160 Turbo Mig with a pub gas CO2 bottle, regulator, almost new spool of 0.8 wire and beefed up earth cable for £170 locally. Had a few practice runs with a mate who can weld and got into it quite quickly.
The better the welder, the easier it will be for you. Clarke & Cebora seem to be quite well regarded for DIY welders. Check out the mig-welding.co.uk forum also - lots of useful tips/advice.
I was lucky - I was trained to gas weld by a coded welder. When I needed a MIG, I had a reasonable understanding of welding, so I thought it would be easy to weld with a MIG and bought a Clarke gasless MIG so I could weld thinner stuff with less distortion. How wrong I was!
Although I converted the welder to gas, it was never really successful and, after reading various books, checking web sites, I bought a Clarke 151TE and it was a lot better - but still not good. I spent about £300 on it last year so it had a decent Euro torch, a proper gas bottle (Hobbyweld sell the bottle - don't rent as it's a heck of a lot more expensive) and a much heavier earth lead. I was amazed how much better my welding was after that!
My instructor used to say "I can teach a woman to MIG weld in an hour" - and often did! However, I agree with others - get some training and it will save some expensive and dangerous mistakes.
You will probably find that welding new panels in will be the most economical - and safe - solution. That isn't really a beginner's job (as I found out 35 years ago!).
Although I converted the welder to gas, it was never really successful and, after reading various books, checking web sites, I bought a Clarke 151TE and it was a lot better - but still not good. I spent about £300 on it last year so it had a decent Euro torch, a proper gas bottle (Hobbyweld sell the bottle - don't rent as it's a heck of a lot more expensive) and a much heavier earth lead. I was amazed how much better my welding was after that!
My instructor used to say "I can teach a woman to MIG weld in an hour" - and often did! However, I agree with others - get some training and it will save some expensive and dangerous mistakes.
You will probably find that welding new panels in will be the most economical - and safe - solution. That isn't really a beginner's job (as I found out 35 years ago!).
MIG welding is dead easy, the secret is good preparation on 100% clean (free from rust/paint/sealant) metal. Use an angle grinder to prep the surface/remove rusty metal.
Make up a cardboard template of the metal before making your patch.
Make sure you overlap, not butt weld.
Make sure you disconnect the battery before welding & remove all flammable stuff eg. fuel lines/brake lines/carpet etc. from the adjacent area first.
Practice if it looks good it has penetrated properly.
Get a rental mig from your local tool hire place for the weekend.
Make up a cardboard template of the metal before making your patch.
Make sure you overlap, not butt weld.
Make sure you disconnect the battery before welding & remove all flammable stuff eg. fuel lines/brake lines/carpet etc. from the adjacent area first.
Practice if it looks good it has penetrated properly.
Get a rental mig from your local tool hire place for the weekend.
andyiley said:
MIG welding is dead easy, the secret is good preparation on 100% clean (free from rust/paint/sealant) metal. Use an angle grinder to prep the surface/remove rusty metal.
Make up a cardboard template of the metal before making your patch.
Make sure you overlap, not butt weld.
Make sure you disconnect the battery before welding & remove all flammable stuff eg. fuel lines/brake lines/carpet etc. from the adjacent area first.
Practice if it looks good it has penetrated properly.
Get a rental mig from your local tool hire place for the weekend.
As said, prep is the key, and 90% of the time it's getting good access to what you're welding.Make up a cardboard template of the metal before making your patch.
Make sure you overlap, not butt weld.
Make sure you disconnect the battery before welding & remove all flammable stuff eg. fuel lines/brake lines/carpet etc. from the adjacent area first.
Practice if it looks good it has penetrated properly.
Get a rental mig from your local tool hire place for the weekend.
Out of interest, why would you overlap rather than butt weld? Granted it would depend on what you're welding, but I've always been told it's better to butt weld when possible as you don't end up with a crevice where moisture and rot can start in again if you've overlapped?
doogz said:
dbfan said:
Although I converted the welder to gas, it was never really successful and, after reading various books, checking web sites, I bought a Clarke 151TE and it was a lot better - but still not good. I spent about £300 on it last year so it had a decent Euro torch, a proper gas bottle (Hobbyweld sell the bottle - don't rent as it's a heck of a lot more expensive) and a much heavier earth lead.
I have a 151EN at home, the gas/gasless one. I converted it pretty much immediately, Had no intention of using the gasless stuff, but the machine was on sale.Gassing Station | Home Mechanics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff