Kel-Arc Welder?

Anyone heard of this device recently?
I seem to remember it around in the mid 90's as a good machine for welding thin panels.
Aiming to purchase a MIG for car bodywork repairs but thought I'd revisit this first.
Incidentally, are the No-Gas machines really that bad in the real world?
As I have no garage and would be welding outside in the yard, they sound ideal for my use.

I have one still it works quite well but it is now badly warn and the triger is damaged.
I saw one on ebay new but it was a lot of money i thought. eastwood motor company have them i think again strong money for what they are.
I fitted heaps of wheel arches etc with my carbon arc kel/arc. Back in the 70s they used to sell a little yellow half round arc welder about 70 amps for use with those spot guns. I was about the only one who used one around here. i quite liked it.

Kel-Arc Welder

I have Both the Kel-Arc spot welder and the stitch welder. They are now made or are available from eastwood. It is about 155 for the set. I found mine used seperatly and paid about 30. The stich welders havent changed much in design, but the spot welders have changed some mainly in the orientation of the handle. The change is good or bad depending on preference, but i like the older models. On top of the design the older models were all metal and take more abuse around the shop. They are great for working in small areas and irreplaceable for working with thin metal. The spot welders are great because you dont have to acess both sides of the metal to use them.
As for the mig welder, they are much much easier to learn to use, and tend to make cleaner welds. I prefer them to do my autobody work, but still like the arc for other aplications in addition to being less expensive to use. I just got one of the gasless machines, but have not had a chance to give it a try. If i remember i will post on the sucess or lack of in the future

kel arc

learned to weld with one of these welders when i was 16, took some abuse.didnt think they were still on the go. (going back to early 80s!)

Interesting thanks.
My thinking was that I could buy an arc welder, which is cheaper than a MIG and the Kel-Arc add-ons would suffice for thin bodywork.
But it seems that MIG is the way for general use by all accounts and, at the end of the day, it would probably work out at a similar cost anyway.
Thanks all.

Arc vs Mig

I have both mig and arc, and find they both have there uses. Only a diy mucker myself and i've just bought one of those Kel-Arc spot weld guns off ebay. And it happen to come with one of those stitch welding guns that vibrate. I did have one of them vibrating guns years ago which i bought from a company called XP Welding who no longer exist. It came in kit form and i had to make it myself.It run off a 12volt battery.And with a good battery it would weld thin metal. I havent had chance to use the spot weld gun yet but have heard good reports. Have also used one of those carbon-arc attachments for arc welders to do some braizing. Still got it. Had great sucsess braizing a tool cabinet and a old m/cycle exhaust pipe that was like a rusty colander. Stitched it up nice filled in all the holes. They work ok as long as you use the right carbon rods, the ones with soft cores. In the absence of gas for braizing i think there very good.

Brazing attachments for arc welders.

You all probably already know this but found a supplier on ebay called D's Welding Supplies. selling brazing attachments/spot weld guns/carbon rods/and those arc guns that vibrate.All around the £30 mark. So they are still about, and obviously still being used. It's always nice to know where to get these things. Ta Ta!:

kel/arc arestill made in norfolk england tip

sparky01 said:

You all probably already know this but found a supplier on ebay called D's Welding Supplies. selling brazing attachments/spot weld guns/carbon rods/and those arc guns that vibrate.All around the £30 mark. So they are still about, and obviously still being used. It's always nice to know where to get these things. Ta Ta!:

Click to expand...

allways use there soft centre rods not gouging rods as these will burn through the metal
and nice to know all there welding equipment made in england

This is an old thread, circa 2009, it has been covered recently here:

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/...cted-the-rawl-welders-mate.69612/#post-927290