new member in Ayrshire

[gav0994]

Hi folks,

Have been lurking in the background for a few weeks now browsing most of the sections on the forum and I am amazed at the knowledge that is available on here!

Well, here is a wee bit of info on myself; I am a former soldier in the Royal Engineers and was a military Air Conditioning engineer to trade which is where i first learnt to do oxy acetylene brazing. Afte learning this i felt confident enough to do the welding on my series 3 SWB landrover with a small hobby mig welder. I then upgraded to a Kende 150R mig which served me well on small projects over the last few years including 3 ATV off road trailers and mesh cage sides for an Indespension 8' x 4' plant trailer. I have now fitted it with a Euro Torch universal connection.

Due to being made redundant in the new year myself and a friend are attempting to get a small fabrication business up and running. It is early days yet but I have amassed a fair few pieces of equipment including a Sealey MightyMig 190 welder, chop saw and a Carter 2500mm x 2.5mm Box pan folder and the most important thing of all - a wood burning pot bellied stove to heat the workshop!

looking forward to many interesting discussions and will hopefully get a few pics of projects on in the near future!

Cheers

Gav

 

[gavuk]

Far too many Gav's on here ......welcome , sounds like you pretty sorted ,how did u get on with the kende welder?....never used one of those .....

 

[gav0994]

Hi,

I found the Kende to be ok for small jobs, but now I have decided to start doing bigger things I found that it just wasn't up to the job. It is a bit better since I converted it to a standard Euro torch which was an absolute pain to do as I had to add in an extra relay to switch the gas solenoid. I find the wire feed a bit pathetic at times, but it did the job ok.

The Sealey MightyMig is a much better bit of kit and I have had no problems with it whatsoever.

 

[jackjosh]

Hi There
The advice on here looks pretty good. I am still in the RN and also live in Scotland (Faslane). Before joining up though I did a 4 year welding apprenticeship, so of course the Navy made be a Fitter but the "Forces" work in mysterious ways!
Good luck on your new buisness and hope it goes well.
Paul

 

[gavuk]

best of luck with your new venture ,i wish i kept my little sealey 130a when i upgraded to a 180(thermal arc)...as the thermal arc is too big to chuck in the car for mobile stuff....are you looking at trailers or general fab,gates etc ......there are a few threads here about trailers and how the law has/is changing...... worth using the search button .....

 

[gav0994]

mainly looking at doing agricultural type stuff, feeders, off road ATV trailers etc. Live in a semi rural area and have decent contacts in the farming world so will have plenty of people to try demo products out on. Have had a good read of the "trailers" threads of the last few weeks. Going to be a hard set of rules to enforce given the amount of trailers on the road and the lack of Road policing officers/VOSA officers.

We use an ATV to haul storm damage wood/ dead trees out of a local woods for firewood so any new ATV trailer designs are well and truely put through their paces!

 

[grim_d]

Welcome!

Where abouts in Ayrshireland are you?

 

[gav0994]

Hi mate,

In the Doon valley region. Don't want to give specific location on here incase some wee "angel" decides he'd like to help himself to all my gear when I'm not at the workshop!