Newbie living in Scotland

[jackjosh]

Hi There
I am soon to be buying a MIG welder and am looking at about £300 and will go for a Clarke.
it will mainly be used for car bodywork, so this is big enough.
I am a Lloyds class 1 welder in both MIG and MMA although well out of date!!
I served my time at VSEL building Nuclear submarines before joining the Navy and doing another apprenticeship as a Mechanical Technician where I learned to be a machinist as well.
I have a pretty big Metal Lathe in my garage as well. I own a 1986 Porsche 944 and this is the reason I am getting back into welding as I think I might need it!! Would like some advice on machines though Guys/Gals
Look forward to hearing from others.
Cheers

 

[keith19]

Welcome to the forum, Jackjosh! It's good to see you have an engineering background, like many of us on here.

Your £300 should get you a decent Clarke model, either go for an EN model if you think you might be using gasless outdoors as well as gas, or a TE gas only model if it's mostly the indoor work you'll be doing. The 151 EN (gas/gasless) or the 150 TE or the 151 TE would be worth a look:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/dual-purpose-and-inno-gasin-mig-welders
and:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/diy-mig-welders

The general advice is to get as big a machine as you can for your budget, so long as it has a minimum output amperage of 30A or less, for welding thin bodywork metal. No doubt there'll be others along tomorrow to help with more detailed advice.
Keith.

 

[NeilH]

you wont go wrong with a clarke MIG

 

[jackjosh]

Cheers for the replies Guys, the machines you mentioned Keith are the sort of thing I am after and do want it to go down to 30 amps for the car. I will be needing to make a stand for my lathe which weighs 200Kg so will probably go for the biggest one the wife lets me get. The combi machines sound good with the gas/gasless option, although when I was welding we always used gas even with flux cored wire(HY 80 Steel).

 

[beetlejac]

Hi where in Scotland are you?

 

[NeilH]

i think he wants to borrow your kilt jack.

 

[jackjosh]

Hi where in Scotland are you?

I live in Helensburgh.