Gazz292
Member
- Messages
- 218
- Location
- Scarborough
So, i've had a sip migmate 105 for 24 years (crikey, bought it when i was 19, how time flies)
And I got a Sherman 206p ac/dc tig a week ago (early xmas pressie from my GF)
The mig lived on a simple wooden platform with wheels all that time, had room for a 10 litre cylinder of argoshield light on the back of it, a couple of holes drilled in the back / top of the welders body for a chain and the bottle was secure, even tho it doesn't sound like it would be.. the cylinder had a 3 inch tall frame around it's base built on the wooden platform.
I gave up using big cylinders of gas ~17 years ago, back then it was boc or air liquide in my area i think, both very expensive for an occasional hobby user, i was paying more rent than gas 5 times over, and as i just didn't use the mig like i used to (bought to weld an engine mount in a different position, then used to restore a beach buggies chassis, make a few motorbike trailers, then bike towing frame etc) so going back to the disposable bottles did me.. if pricey when i had a project and would get through 3 or 4 of them in one day.
But the wooden cart made it just a bit too long to fit under my benches in the workshop shed i've been building over this past year, so i just rotated it sideways under there, this was wasting space tho.
Getting the tig made me re-assess the welder storage situation, and rather than make a weld cart just for the tig, or try and modify a commercial one to fit both the mig and tig on it (which would have been too tall anyway) i turned the mig in the tig's weld cart.
First i pop-riveted some low profile wheels to the base of the mig, fixed wheels on the back, casters on the front... these welders will rarely leave the shed.
Then i removed the carrying handle from the top of mig and sat the tig on the mig... and amazingly the tig is the exact width of the part of the mig's body panel thats is fixed, i can still open the side panel that includes a quarter of the top of the body to access the wire feeder an spool.
To secure the tig on the mig i just used 4 L brackets, the ones with 4 holes in them sold as repair plates in diy shops, and again...amazingly, when the L brackets were screwed to the tig using 4 of the screws that hold the body panels on the tig, it all lined up perfectly, and the tig's weight is on it's plastic feet, not the brackets / screws.
So i then pop riveted the base of the L brackets to the top of the mig, at the 'seam' side of the panel i had to take it off and open the holes out in the securing rail below it, or the pop rivets would have secured the panel in place permanently)
I also moved the disposable gas cylinder brackets from the rear to the side of the mig (drilled holes n pop riveted them on) otherwise it would prevent me pushing it under the bench fully like the wooden platform did.
And you can see i've added a few more brackets and terry clips to the mig's side panel. that hook on the rear tig L bracket in the photo above is a coat hook, it holds the mains plug when i wind the cable around the tigs body, stops it unraveling.
And here it is with all the cables on their brackets, looks a mess but it's tidier than having them just shoved under the bench by the side of the welders and getting rolled over / stood on, and i can move the 2 welders on the wheels and everything comes with it.
The tig torch is hanging on a magnetic tig torch rest that you'd usually place on your weld table (and i will do when i use the tig, this method gives me both a place to store the torch rest it's self, and secure the torch and umbilical.
The mig torch has a double hook that holds it nice and securely, and the migs power cable and fixed earth clamp mount on a terry clip.. i plan on changing the mig's earth lead to a dinse connector same as the tig, and i'll just use the tigs earth clamp in the mig when i use that.
For now the tig's earth clamp and lead slide under the carry handle of the tig, again they stay in place nicely.
A little 330mm long cardboard tube that some filler wires came in is on terry clips as my tig wire holder, got the 500mm long ones i got from weldes in there too sticking out.
And that plastic torch parts case sitting under the tig torch umbilical, i put 2 neodymium magnets in the bottom of the rear outer 2 compartments, and it holds itself in place on the migs top panel, a tungsten 10 pack sits nicely in the recess in the plastic case's top (the torch parts case came with the tig)
A small terry clip holds the peashooter on the front of the mig, there was a screw there already, so i just re-purposed it.
And finally i fitted the carry handle from the mig to the front of it (that's only got the right hand bolt in it, as the other one would be through the speed controller pcb... that's getting changed out sometime when i convert the mig to euro torch and a new wire feed assembly, plus a separate psu and pwm controller for the wire feed motor)
And here's where the welders will live when not in use (that helmet back there is my old one, the new one has its own drawer, where it lives with the foot pedal and gloves)
They fit under that drawer juuuuust right. (the yellow thing to the right is a mini shop vac.. and i mean mini, got a 4 litre capacity, but it was the right size to fit under that deeper drawer hence why i got it, and is perfect for a small workshop / shed)
And if you're wondering about gas for the tig... i haven't got the 20 litre cylinder from boc yet (accounts only just been set up) but when i do, it will live about 3 foot to the right of the welders storage space, behind my toolbox where the benches end and i have the height for it,
i've got a 3 meter long hose that will stay attached to the argon regulator, with the rectus fitting on the end to plug in the tig when needed (wonder how many times i'll try and weld without the gas plugged in.. having turned it on at the cylinder... if i do it too many times i might make up a whistle that plugs in the rectus fitting when it's not in the back of the welder)
And I got a Sherman 206p ac/dc tig a week ago (early xmas pressie from my GF)
The mig lived on a simple wooden platform with wheels all that time, had room for a 10 litre cylinder of argoshield light on the back of it, a couple of holes drilled in the back / top of the welders body for a chain and the bottle was secure, even tho it doesn't sound like it would be.. the cylinder had a 3 inch tall frame around it's base built on the wooden platform.
I gave up using big cylinders of gas ~17 years ago, back then it was boc or air liquide in my area i think, both very expensive for an occasional hobby user, i was paying more rent than gas 5 times over, and as i just didn't use the mig like i used to (bought to weld an engine mount in a different position, then used to restore a beach buggies chassis, make a few motorbike trailers, then bike towing frame etc) so going back to the disposable bottles did me.. if pricey when i had a project and would get through 3 or 4 of them in one day.
But the wooden cart made it just a bit too long to fit under my benches in the workshop shed i've been building over this past year, so i just rotated it sideways under there, this was wasting space tho.
Getting the tig made me re-assess the welder storage situation, and rather than make a weld cart just for the tig, or try and modify a commercial one to fit both the mig and tig on it (which would have been too tall anyway) i turned the mig in the tig's weld cart.
First i pop-riveted some low profile wheels to the base of the mig, fixed wheels on the back, casters on the front... these welders will rarely leave the shed.
Then i removed the carrying handle from the top of mig and sat the tig on the mig... and amazingly the tig is the exact width of the part of the mig's body panel thats is fixed, i can still open the side panel that includes a quarter of the top of the body to access the wire feeder an spool.
To secure the tig on the mig i just used 4 L brackets, the ones with 4 holes in them sold as repair plates in diy shops, and again...amazingly, when the L brackets were screwed to the tig using 4 of the screws that hold the body panels on the tig, it all lined up perfectly, and the tig's weight is on it's plastic feet, not the brackets / screws.
So i then pop riveted the base of the L brackets to the top of the mig, at the 'seam' side of the panel i had to take it off and open the holes out in the securing rail below it, or the pop rivets would have secured the panel in place permanently)
I also moved the disposable gas cylinder brackets from the rear to the side of the mig (drilled holes n pop riveted them on) otherwise it would prevent me pushing it under the bench fully like the wooden platform did.
And you can see i've added a few more brackets and terry clips to the mig's side panel. that hook on the rear tig L bracket in the photo above is a coat hook, it holds the mains plug when i wind the cable around the tigs body, stops it unraveling.
And here it is with all the cables on their brackets, looks a mess but it's tidier than having them just shoved under the bench by the side of the welders and getting rolled over / stood on, and i can move the 2 welders on the wheels and everything comes with it.
The tig torch is hanging on a magnetic tig torch rest that you'd usually place on your weld table (and i will do when i use the tig, this method gives me both a place to store the torch rest it's self, and secure the torch and umbilical.
The mig torch has a double hook that holds it nice and securely, and the migs power cable and fixed earth clamp mount on a terry clip.. i plan on changing the mig's earth lead to a dinse connector same as the tig, and i'll just use the tigs earth clamp in the mig when i use that.
For now the tig's earth clamp and lead slide under the carry handle of the tig, again they stay in place nicely.
A little 330mm long cardboard tube that some filler wires came in is on terry clips as my tig wire holder, got the 500mm long ones i got from weldes in there too sticking out.
And that plastic torch parts case sitting under the tig torch umbilical, i put 2 neodymium magnets in the bottom of the rear outer 2 compartments, and it holds itself in place on the migs top panel, a tungsten 10 pack sits nicely in the recess in the plastic case's top (the torch parts case came with the tig)
A small terry clip holds the peashooter on the front of the mig, there was a screw there already, so i just re-purposed it.
And finally i fitted the carry handle from the mig to the front of it (that's only got the right hand bolt in it, as the other one would be through the speed controller pcb... that's getting changed out sometime when i convert the mig to euro torch and a new wire feed assembly, plus a separate psu and pwm controller for the wire feed motor)
And here's where the welders will live when not in use (that helmet back there is my old one, the new one has its own drawer, where it lives with the foot pedal and gloves)
They fit under that drawer juuuuust right. (the yellow thing to the right is a mini shop vac.. and i mean mini, got a 4 litre capacity, but it was the right size to fit under that deeper drawer hence why i got it, and is perfect for a small workshop / shed)
And if you're wondering about gas for the tig... i haven't got the 20 litre cylinder from boc yet (accounts only just been set up) but when i do, it will live about 3 foot to the right of the welders storage space, behind my toolbox where the benches end and i have the height for it,
i've got a 3 meter long hose that will stay attached to the argon regulator, with the rectus fitting on the end to plug in the tig when needed (wonder how many times i'll try and weld without the gas plugged in.. having turned it on at the cylinder... if i do it too many times i might make up a whistle that plugs in the rectus fitting when it's not in the back of the welder)
. How long do you hope to get welding MIG out of that disposable bottle? Typically they last about 10 mins welding time.....
