geoffbeaumont Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Okay, with my complete newbie hat on... I bought a MIG welder (Sealey 180) second hand a couple of years ago and it's been sat in my garage doing nothing since then. Had a play when I first got it and found the wire wasn't feeding properly, but have only just got round to investigating properly. Turns out there are a couple of blockages in the plastic conduit the wire runs in. Other than that, all looks in good order. So, just need to work out what bits I need to buy. I think I've worked out that the conduit is called a liner? There seem to be both plastic and steel coil versions - bizarrely I can find the steel coil ones cheaper. Obviously plastic will fit as that what it had, would a steel coil one fit and if so would it be any better? Does the plastic type come in different internal diameters like the steel coil? I'm also going to need to get a gas bottle and a regulator - any recommendations for the regulator? Planning on finding a local place I can walk into and ask for advice, but I'd quite like to have some idea first... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco tony Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 steel liners for mild steel or stainless wire. Plastic for aluminium wire only, avoids contamination of ali weld. Standard one size fits all (diameter), but get the right length, 3 or 4 meter. You may need to trim it to suit a small amount on the length. As for gauges, keep an eye on e-bay for cheap ones or any welding supplier will sort you out. decide what gas you are going to use then decide on how you are going to get it. BOC will charge you rental for the bottle but if you decide on co2 for gas, you may get lucky and get an old pub bottle and someone to fill it, this will also determine your type of gauge. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landgover Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Okay, with my complete newbie hat on...I bought a MIG welder (Sealey 180) second hand a couple of years ago and it's been sat in my garage doing nothing since then. Had a play when I first got it and found the wire wasn't feeding properly, but have only just got round to investigating properly. Turns out there are a couple of blockages in the plastic conduit the wire runs in. Other than that, all looks in good order. So, just need to work out what bits I need to buy. I think I've worked out that the conduit is called a liner? There seem to be both plastic and steel coil versions - bizarrely I can find the steel coil ones cheaper. Obviously plastic will fit as that what it had, would a steel coil one fit and if so would it be any better? Does the plastic type come in different internal diameters like the steel coil? I'm also going to need to get a gas bottle and a regulator - any recommendations for the regulator? Planning on finding a local place I can walk into and ask for advice, but I'd quite like to have some idea first... The torch is important there are a number of different brands and they all use there own brand parts parts. Check the make of the torch and its size (binzel 15, 24, 25 or tweco 2 ,4 ) there are some 20 makes and you also need to know how the torch is fitted to welder, is it a direct fitting , screw on euro,or tweco style block. Most modern welders are fiied with a euro block and this allows any torch brand with a euro to be attached to the machine. You will need to replace the liner steel liner for steel wire and teflon liner for aluminium . Take the old liner with also ensure the tips are the correct make and size for your wire. Any FLOW regulator will do ( USUALLY ARGON WITH A SMALL % OF OXYGEN AND OR CARBON DIOXIDE. CARBON DIOXIDE IS ALSO USEDALONE AND MAKES THE WELD VERY HOT. The bottle fittings are different for Argon blends and CO2.) Aregulator with a flow bobbin will pay for its self in she saving on gas usage.(HFC Simpson Welding Products) ALONE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 No instant socket type fitting: The torch is a TW. How do I tell it's size, and what impact does this have on the liner I need?: Wire is 0.8mm - I think it's steel, but there's no markings to say so. Tip fitted is the correct size, and there are 0.6 and 1mm tips in the side of the welder: At least some of the wires seem to be for specific size ranges? - I've only found one plastic liner on the web, and that doesn't specify wire size (mind, it doesn't specify anything else either, so I won't be buying it... As a novice, which gas should I start out with? I.e. which is easiest to get to grips with (cost probably isn't a big consideration to start with, as I probably won't be using a huge amount of it)? landgover - is this the sort of regulator you're suggesting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 [Absence of grown up alert] I think you can buy conversion kits to convert these types of welders to Euro torch. I would suggest that it would be money well spent at this stage...... [/alert] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuck Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Geoff, If you are only just starting out with a mig I strongly suggest you have a look at this website: www.mig-welding.co.uk It's as friendly and useful as this one and has some great tutorials. Whilst you are there register for the forum and look up a member called weldequip, if he can't find you a part nobody can, on top of that he's a nice fella and gives very reasonable prices. HTH's, Mick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FKD Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 [Absence of grown up alert]I think you can buy conversion kits to convert these types of welders to Euro torch. I would suggest that it would be money well spent at this stage...... [/alert] Yeah you can but a good euro torch set up is about £200 so I would leave it alone or chop it in for one that has...You can buy a uk built welder for about £500 complete all you need is gas and wire... Gas:argon/co2 is fine as for your wire I would chuck it and buy new,mild steel wire works out about £1/kg,don't buy cheap stuff buy precision wound it feeds sooooooooooo much nicer, a good single stage reg is about £30+vat Not sure what liner you will need(some cheap torches use plastic liners for steel) first port of call would be sealey, if they talk silly money have a word with local welding supply. Check out weldability on the web good gear and OK prices... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 [Absence of grown up alert]I think you can buy conversion kits to convert these types of welders to Euro torch. I would suggest that it would be money well spent at this stage...... [/alert] I've seen one of those kits on one of the welding supplier sites - looked like it would be easy enough to fit to my welder, but given that if I fit one later all I'll be wasting is a few quids worth of liner it seems a lot more sensible to get started with what I have and then decide whether I need to upgrade anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
integerspin Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Liners are a consuamble, last liners I bought cost something like a quid. A complete binzel type euro torch was only 25 quid or so last year. the plastic liner is PTFE and is for ali wire. As far as I know the liners are all the same, buy a liner suitable for .6[.8uses the same liner I think] and in the right length, not sure if length is a factor as they are always far to long and you trim them to length. Fit a nice new tip and clean wire and see how it goes. If it doesn't feed your going to have to use .8 wire, has to be bad[sIP] not to feed that. I don't buy my wedling stuff from mylocal welding shop, far to expensive, I use john davies in liverpool, the website disappeared a few months ago, I don't know if he is still in business. Don't buy 15 kg rolls of wire unless your using it a lot or it's in a dry place, I find I am always chucking rolls of rusty wire away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted April 27, 2009 Author Share Posted April 27, 2009 the plastic liner is PTFE and is for ali wire. According to www.mig-welding.co.uk a lot of 'hobby' welders are only supplied with plastic liners - depends on the machine whether you can switch to steel, I think. Haven't figured out whether I can with the Sealey yet. Don't buy 15 kg rolls of wire unless your using it a lot or it's in a dry place, I find I am always chucking rolls of rusty wire away. Don't know if my welder will take 15kg rolls anyway - I certainly wasn't planning on buying large quantities of anything until I'd learned to use it (except I'm not going to mess around with tiny little disposable gas bottles). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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