What mig wire to use,what wire to get ,difrent makes ?

[lellyden]

Just got a good second hand sip 130 welder ,

[amgrave]

The lower the amps you intend to use the lower the wire dia. Thick steel higher amps thicker wire.

[les]

0.6 is the gauge I used, and found it satisfactory.

[lellyden]

Cheers Den

[SageGreenPete]

I struggled with .6 and changed the liner, tip and wire all at the same time to .8 and found the results better, I'm also a novice.

[don58van]

Most of the metal you are likely to be working with on a Minor is fairly thin.

I am a relative novice (although I did a short night-time college course on welding) and I find the .6 good for most jobs on the Minor. Make sure you have the correct tip and drive wheels for the gauge of wire you are using. You also have to get the pressure on the drive wheels right to ensure smooth wire delivery.

Getting the right balance between current, wire-speed and angle of the tip to the work are things you have to learn. I found it helpful to watch lots of y**tube tutorials.

I hope it goes well for you.

Don

[lellyden]

Thanks for all the advice ,cheers Den

[volrod544]

for most of the car i would use 0.6mm, you should be able to weld up to 2mm with that.if youre doing thicker stuff you may require some 0.8

[lellyden]

What is the best wire to get, or are most of the wires the same quality,there are a Lott of difrent ,

[biomed32uk]

As has already been said for 90% of work on the Minor 0.6 wire is the way to go, making sure the feed rollers are in good order, the tip is good and the liner. Which really means the wire feed system is all in good order.

Go and get some thin sheet to practice on, gives you a chance to play and get to know the welder for the fine tweaks. Lots of good online tutorials with tips and tricks, how to hold the torch, angle, push or pull the weld etc.

Half hour and you should be laying some decent welds down, it really is pretty easy to get some nice looking work, almost the hot glue gun of welding.

[lellyden]

Hope so .restoring a 1963 ,4 door rose taupe .red and white seat

[biomed32uk]

Have you started a thread on the restoration, look forward to seeing it. I am no pro welder but get some very nice looking welds with my Clarke MIG, quite how some people manage to get it looking so awful I don't know. It has to be nice and clean for MIG to work well, so some time spent brightening everything up as best as possible is rewarded with a decent weld, which is also a strong weld.

As for wire I just get it from the many suppliers on the bay.

[mogbob]

Welding Wire sources ..I'd try and stick with well known names if possible. If you have a local Welding Supplies shop I'd use them.
A good source of help and guidance.
The large reels work out cheaper in the long run ...IF you are using wire for a full resto.
Most hobbists stick with the smaller reels. Not all welding machines can take the bigger reels. The wire starts to get surface rust after a while if it's left on the machine, in a damp environment.
So buying a large reel might be false economy in the long run.
Really clean metal is good advice before you start welding , don't forget the spot where you attach the earth clamp either.
Have few spare tips to hand , plus the larger ones , for thicker wire if you're going to use that.
Bob

[mowogg]

I have used 0.8 mm flux fired wire. It takes a bit more patience but you do not need a gas supply.

I did notice quite a difference with different wire suppliers. I use a 5 kg reel every 5 years or so

[MikeNash]

Dear Mr Den,
See http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/tutorial.htm It may help you.
At the moment I'm using gasless wire on my ancient Clarke Pro-90 with success -well it's no worse than my gas welding which is serviceable but isn't the best looking. I'm using some stuff I bought at Halford's (SIP, I think) but I'm told that gasless wire by Lincoln(?) is much better.
Regards, MikeN.

[IaininTenbury]

I changed from 0.6 to 0.8 wire a few years back, purely because the welding suppliers didn't have 0.6 in stock when I went there and as always it was urgent so I came away with 0.8 and a pack of tips. To honest, I've not noticed much difference, I guess I slowed the wire feed down a little to balance the input of material to the weld and its probably worked well on the odd occaision I've needed to weld really thick stuff. I've changed a few reels since then and now stick with 0.8 as it seems easier to get hold of round here from agricultural engineers welding suppliers type places. I always use 15kg rolls as it gets used a lot, and my welder was chosen because it would take that size, so my experience possibly isn't too applicable to a more diy weekend use, only that from my experience I didn't notice much or even any difference...
As for make, I tend to stick to Parweld products at the moment, which have a pretty good reputation, both welder and consumables but again its down to local suppliers stock Mig wire is Mig wire really, though precision wound reels tend to run smoother than random wound ones. I imagine there's more variation in flux impregnated wire if running gasless, but other than the small Clarke welder I keep as a backup I rarely use it. The last reels I bought came from Aldi I think...

[RobThomas]

Make sure to keep the wire dry...best bit of advice I ever had. Nothing worse than slightly rusted wire, except maybe slightly rusted metal that you are trying to weld onto. Buying cheap wire from an autojumble will probably get you something that has sat out in the damp for a while.

Wrap the welder in clingfilm after you've finished with it to keep it dry and to keep the dust out of the expensive electronics.

+1 for the y**tube suggestion. That's how I learnt to weld.

[IaininTenbury]

Agreed, rusty wire really messes things up. Mine never sits still long enough to go rusty these days, but I have in the past had to scrap the top layers of wire on the roll to get down to the shiny stuff to weld with. Clingfilm it up or take the roll off and keep it in the house if only welding occaisionally especially if any damp in the workshop.

[ian.mcdougall]

Take wire off machine,put in paper carrier bag and pop in the airing cupboard ( or hot press as they say here in Ireland). I know, I know ( as Mr Meeks said in Cloud Atlas ) it is a pain to re-thread each time but at least you will keep rust at bay.