how's my welding?
Turbo Mini Forums

How have I done for a noobie

I mean this in the nicest possible way, imho this bit is nearly spot on, the rest is either holes , bird shit or like a slug trail

image by smithsonmorris, on Flickr

Edited by oli79 on 11th Feb, 2015.

On 5th Oct, 2014 Shauna said:
What that's crazy, you go commando hahaha! How heavy is your helmet ?

I thought exactly what Oli has said when I looked at the picture.

Less wire feed, more power, move the torch slower.
When you get it right, you should be able to see the weld on the back side of the plate.

this is the back of it

every time i go slower with the torch i blow holes when i speed up it goes slug tail when i adjust the feed speed or touch any of the controls it spits like shit

this is my welder

how thin is the metal? if its <1mm you may find you have to do say an inch pause for a second do an inch and so on to stop excess heat in the pannel.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

using 0.9mm i think what ever is stated for using with mini panels.

Look into Sip welder modifications, you'll find it welds much better afterwards, or it will at least give you a chance

Ill take a look thanks

Focus your attention to the molten weld pool, move along at a speed that keeps it a constant size. I can tell from looking at your welding that you have a jerky movement, steady the hand thats holding the torch by resting it on the other hand.
Turn down the gas as much as possible bur not so much that the weld becomes porous. If you have too much gas flow it will blow the molten weld pool into a hole

I seriously doubt it!

Thanks Paul I got told to turn the gas up by a mate :/

it welds perfect sometimes and ill do a good inch or so then when i stop to move then go again it welds shit

Yep, that's what my SIP does too. One day I'll do the speed controller mod.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

stitch weld it. With the amount of heat build up in that thickness you can't really do a seam weld

Masturbation is not a crime its a hobby

Sorry to say the SIP Migmates are hateful machines in standard form, and will just leave a beginner thinking they'll never get it. Either give up with the SIP and trade it in before you waste any more gas, or modify it...

Edited by PhilR on 11th Feb, 2015.

I have the exact same welder and as everyone else says its not the best . I have heard the mod works well but I just went with a nice new R-Tech one instead and now I'm finding my welds much nicer

i got the welder for £50 and I don't wanna give up on it just yet I wanna see if it will go My mates welds look good with it, ill have a play tomorrow and see what I can do

Also any other tips on welding like.

Plug welds and what size holes to drill
Stitch welding?

anything else I should know? ill clean this up and go again see what I can achive

I'm using a piece of shit welder too. The only way I can get a decent weld is with the wire feed set to its lowest setting and the power as high as possible before blowing holes.



Once the new garage is finished, I'll be investing in a new one.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

They don't look too bad

I keep dropping the wire speed down aswell and witch one on my welder does the power?

Again, not meaning to sound like a BAC but trying to learn to weld with a sip welder is like trying to learn to surf on an ironing board, it's possible but not worth the hassle, I can't understand why people spend £1000s on their cars and 100s and 100s of pounds on heritage panels to then attack them with a machine that's worth less than a round of drinks, if it's shit-it's shit never minding the fact it was cheap. I've used a modded sip 130 and it was still wank compared to my Clarke, that said others don't rate the Clarke, it was always just barely acceptable and mine has taken a sudden downturn in performance now it's old, so I will be doing as others have suggested and buying a good used cebora/snap on 130 mig.

Also what wire you using?, I find 0.8 needs so much current to melt the wire it blows holes, 0.6 wire all the way for me

On 5th Oct, 2014 Shauna said:
What that's crazy, you go commando hahaha! How heavy is your helmet ?

Oli im using 0.8 wire as it came with a massive bearly used roll and okay ill start looking for a decent one then bit gutted. ive welded all my frame work into the mini with this weldier but none of the panels

Again, what Oli said.
I have had my Snap On 130 turbo for about ten years. It may have been more expensive at the time than the SIP/Clarke stuff, but it's still worth roughly what I paid for it. It's never missed a beat.

Also, I may get jumped on here as I am by no means even a slightly compitent welder, get a piece of scrap the same thickness as you want to weld, put it on the bench and set the welder so you can weld roughly with one hand, change the feed with the other. Start on the lowest power, mid wire feed and just start roughly welding, if the wire burns violently, breaks off and there's a gap before it arcs again turn the feed up slowly, if the torch is jerky and it splatters like fook turn it down till you get the smoothest crackling sound possible, now try to do you best weld, if it's sat on the surface, go up one power level and repeat the above until you can't help but burn holes, then go back one power setting- as Tom has stated above, the lowest power that allows the weld to be seen underneath(but not through a hole lol) you can tweak it from there, just my 2 p worth and in no way a guide of weldingu

Edited by oli79 on 11th Feb, 2015.

On 5th Oct, 2014 Shauna said:
What that's crazy, you go commando hahaha! How heavy is your helmet ?

Loads of very good videos on YouTube that really helped me... Worth a watch!