16vmini wrote:other option is to buy as welder , but pay someone to help you for a day to get started ...
i learnt to weld myself .. not going to say i am profesional .. and i am 100% sure my van could have been done better .. but i sit in it know i done it .. and i know the state of it
Matt
Some words of encouragement, thank you
I have said hello on Mig welding forum so hopefully get a feel if there is anyone local willing to help a little.
I understand that in an ideal world I would take her into the welders and have them professionally fix every bit of rust, panels off etc etc but the sorry truth is that if it costs £800 just for the roof 4 corners, then £360 for windows etc etc that it will run into the thousands if they do it all. So somewhere something either has to be neglected, in which case what is the point in having professionally restored corners that are let down elsewhere. or fixed by myself.
I guess you have to start somewhere. If it goes breasticles up I will just be back to square 1. Appreciate the advice guys.
aye .. go for it .. get some GAS for welder , BOC do some good deals sometimes .. you will use lots of disposable ones otherwise.
the main thing is to get rid of rust .. if you can see some dent/ripples / not perfect panel gaps ... dont worry .. look at it and say "i did that" ... next time you will do better...
I have a large Co2 bottle from my home-brew beer set-up haha.
I am going to get a bit of starter tuition at work as they have a MIG in the tech department and a guy that fix's his landy etc. I will then see if a mates welder that has been in his garage for years is any good, if so down to scrappy to get some panels etc to practice on.
I have a dry garage space, that although is about 50 meters from the house I should be able to get a lead to.
At the start of April I have 2 weeks off so hopefully will start with one of the smaller jobs like the rear window and see how things go. As long as I don't go blowing holes in things, cutting too much back and avoiding anything structural hopefully I cant go far wrong.
For the tricky bits I will budget to get a mobile welder and offer to labour / learn from him.
OK boys just bagged myself this Snap on MIG 130 Turbo of fleabay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0966886189.
It goes down to 30Amps so hopefully ideal for this thin metal. Not sure if I am paying over the odds for it though at £227? It is local and comes with regulator, supposedly in good condition.
It'll take a while to get a feel for the welding. I did a lot of arc/stick welding as I grew up on a farm, but it still took me a while to get the hang of mig welding. A lot of it is about having clean metal to weld together and choosing the right wire speed and power setting. An auto-darkening helmet is the first thing you should buy. Its worth getting a big bottle of gas too, as those tiny disposable ones don't last long at all. Could I also suggest that you concentrate on one bit at a time, rather than attacking all four corners at once! Otherwise you could feel a bit overwhelmed.
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