Hello

[Aberdeen Angus]

My name is Dave, aged 42 and I live in a wee little village called Strichen in Aberdeenshire.

I have been wanting to get in to welding for years and finally purchased a small cheap arch welder (big mistake). It was a bit of an impulse buy and boy did i and still do struggle with it.....I can see why it gets called Stick Welding!!

After weeks and weeks of moaning the wife has decided to buy me a Sealy Mightymig 150 Gas/gas-less for my birthday in the middle of Feb. I have been told that MIG is far easier for a newbies to welding like me.

I am a total novice so will probably pop up on all sorts of threads asking really daft questions, so please be patient with me.

I will post pics of my first efforts on the Arch welder over the weekend......not good.

 

[Sparkey]

Welcome to the forum Dave!
Aberdeen Angus eh? Are you a farmer?
Welcome!

 

[cumbriasteve]

Hi Dave
MIG is the thing for thinner naterial without a doubt, a stick welder is good though for anything heavier, they are not really that hard to use for basic welding, if you are sticking a lot ( excuse the pun) try upping the amps and check the earth is well grounded on clean steel, also the free rods with these machines tend to be a bit useless, a quality rod makes a lot of difference.
For a 'newbie'one of the biggest aids is an auto darkening helmet, as cheap as £25 now, helps to stops the hand wondering away when you raise your mask to strike the arc.

 

[Coo]

Welcome !

You can use your Arc welder for making your welding trolley out of box
Helluva frustrating getting started with them, although once you do get the knack it's easy enough.

What will you be making/repairing/welding??

 

[Aberdeen Angus]

lol.....No not a farmer. I am English, from Essex, I work as a buyer for offshore pump company....boring computer stuff which is why i want a practical hobby.

I am planning on getting an old trailer to revamp and then the plan is to work on a boat and the wife wants to re-builds a Moggy, so I have a feeling the MIG will get some good use once i have sussed out how to use it.

 

[Aberdeen Angus]

Hi Dave
MIG is the thing for thinner naterial without a doubt, a stick welder is good though for anything heavier, they are not really that hard to use for basic welding, if you are sticking a lot ( excuse the pun) try upping the amps and check the earth is well grounded on clean steel, also the free rods with these machines tend to be a bit useless, a quality rod makes a lot of difference.
For a 'newbie'one of the biggest aids is an auto darkening helmet, as cheap as £25 now, helps to stops the hand wondering away when you raise your mask to strike the arc.

ahhhh, i was wondering if i should alter the amps, i just went by the diameter of the stick which was 2.5.

I am going to get one of those masks when i get my MIG in Feb. The mask i have got now is a hand held one and it is utter crap. As you say, with a new rod in when i raise the mask, my rod has drifter about half an inch away from the work.

 

[voipio]

With a bright lamp close to the work, it is possible (just) to see the workpiece through the mask, making weld starting a bit more precise. The other thing is to is to practice lightly dragging the stick towards the start point of the weld to strike the arc. That way it's less likely to stick. With 2.5mm rods, use at least 80Amps, preferably 100. I got a stick welder many years ago and started my first welds (well, you couldn't call them welds) using 1.6mm rods and the lowest current setting. Big mistake! 140Amps and 3.2mm rods, would be even better!!

 

[Sparkey]

lol.....No not a farmer. I am English, from Essex, I work as a buyer for offshore pump company....boring computer stuff which is why i want a practical hobby.

I am planning on getting an old trailer to revamp and then the plan is to work on a boat and the wife wants to re-builds a Moggy, so I have a feeling the MIG will get some good use once i have sussed out how to use it.

Lol! how wrong could i be! I thought that because of your nickname, Aberdeen Angus or black Angus is a Scottish cattle breed....
But ofcourse you knew that! Here they are:

Cute eh?

 

[Aberdeen Angus]

Lol! how wrong could i be! I thought that because of your nickname, Aberdeen Angus or black Angus is a Scottish cattle breed....
But ofcourse you knew that! Here they are:
View attachment 19408
Cute eh?

That pic reminds me of a night out in the local pub!!!

 

[Sparkey]

That pic reminds me of a night out in the local pub!!!

Lol! that must have been some party!!

 

[backpurge]

Lol! how wrong could i be! I thought that because of your nickname, Aberdeen Angus or black Angus is a Scottish cattle breed....
But ofcourse you knew that! Here they are:
View attachment 19408
Cute eh?

I've suddenly started feeling very hungry for some reason

 

[Sparkey]

I've suddenly started feeling very hungry for some reason

Mmmmm yeah! big juicy steaks................


But that's a bit harsh to say right?
I'll shut up now before all of the vegetarians will jump on my neck........

 

[mike os]

best meat in the world.....


well almost