introducing me...

[rottie007]

hi all, my names Nick, im a welder/fabricator by trade all mig ali/steel/stainless mainly and work for a company that make horseboxes and repair commercial vehicle trailers etc.

got given a slightly rusty (sarcasm there) bedford HA camper and decided
that rather than take it to work an be a laughing stock for even attempting
to restore it (yes its that bad) I would have a go at home, went out today and via a website I go on have bought myself a mig welder, took 2 people to get it in the van and its huge lol. single phase Norman Butters machine , no idea of model but the wire sits in the middle and it feeds through a top mounted wire feed .

figured somewhere like this would be the best place to get info on it so here I am !!

 

[rtbcomp]

Welcome to the forum, and don't forget pics of your restoration in the Projects section.

 

[rottie007]

just had a look and under the grime I found a sticker !! its an Autoweld 2

 

[Chipper]

Hi Nick, welcome Great forum, this. Get some pics of your camper on...!
cheers,
Bill

 

[rottie007]

ive put a post up in the projects area...

sit down first though.. its in a bad way

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=25940

 

[rottie007]

not sure where we show our tools on here

figured some pics of my plant would be a good thing also , be interested to hear of anyone else running a similiar bit of kit...

here she is anyways...

as you can see its a butters (autoweld 2)

biggest wire feed motor I ever saw.....

contact block looks in need of a good clean so this is tomorrows job before I start splatting bits of metal together

can see a fair bit of this hitting the bin as well, seems cleaner on the lower layers

switch for 0.8 or 0.6 never seen this on a welder before..

previous owner couldnt get right tips so been running sealey ones

will be going to my stockist tomorrow to see if he has some proper ones and some lenses for the mask that came with it (Esab 10-11 mono which is mopre comfortable than my speedglas!!)tip is unscrewed in this pic

presuming these are the rectifiers???

did a test weld before I bought it using the scabby wire an crap metal and it welded beautifully, bloke told me he had never had to change wire speed on it as it did it automatically, took a few twists of the wire speed control to bring it to life but it slows an speeds the wire a treat now..

will be giving it a little makeover of its own before I start on the van just to show it I care...

 

[madkayaker]

that looks a decent unit however how low does it go down to it might be to powerful for tin work

 

[chap]

I wonder what the switch for 0.6mm wire actually does?
Surely it will be capable of doing thinner stuff, otherwise it wouldn't have the 0.6mm setting?

 

[rottie007]

low enough to sit a big fat bead on a piece of 1.5mm plate.. and as im using 1.2 and 1.5 on the van I reckon itll be fine

 

[rottie007]

also im presuming the switch changes the power to the wire feed motor to give you a set of reduced/increased speed settings for the different wire thicknesses?

 

[Sparkey]

also im presuming the switch changes the power to the wire feed motor to give you a set of reduced/increased speed settings for the different wire thicknesses?

Yes, well...according to this diagram you're right...
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2588&highlight=parvalux&page=2
Welcome btw!

 

[Drains]

Those old NBC units are the dogs - the Autos are for, er, auto work, so you shouldn't have any problems on bodywork. If it runs 0.6 wire it'll be fine. Those Parvalux feed motors are chunky enough too. They do burn out after about 40 years, but replacements can be had.