Hi all you geniuses in 2cv cyberspace i need your help. After months of searching for someone to do some welding on the 2cv I have rechassised and having been let down i thought f...k it i'll buy a welder and learn to do it myself Can anyone reccomend a suitable mig welder for a 2cv?

I've just replaced my SIP migmate 130 with a Clarke 160. However - I've not taken it out of the box yet!

Where are you? You're welcome to take the SIP away foc - it's in the way here. It does kind of work, needs a good service, so probably not the best for learning on (you won't know if it's your technique or the welder being crap).

Weldequip has a lot of advice on his site: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/shop/

Hardy,

There's a 5 page thread here you may find useful:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1920&hilit=welders

Mesh thanks for your offer. The truth is i have NEVER used a welder before but i am sure i can learn how to do it..........it aint rocket science and more than that i am proud to have rechassised my car and if i can do the welding i will be over the moon AND another 2cv will be saved. I am based in Hastings East Sussex where there seems to be a shortage of welders and i am hoping to start a welding course next month so.......heres hoping

Neil thanks for that very helpful thread

What are the pros and cons of MIG versus TIG. I've been looking at getting tooled up for welding. Did a little years ago. Will need lots of practice. My welds weren't the prettiest.

tig is more technical uses a non consumed tungsten electrode neat welds-trouble is everything has to be immaculatley clean, and it uses pure argon shielding

mig is much more forgiving of slightly less than ideal conditions youll find on the car it uses co2 as a shielding gas which can be got cheap but by far the best is argon co2 mix such as argoshield light from BOC or cougar from air products

much of what you do will be "positional" welding where you are lying in a pile of crap trying to weld something you can barely see. TIG is useless in this situation.

that offer of the SIP is a good one -They get a terrible reputation because they have some very cheap components that stop working very soon after you open the box from new

follow the good info on welding forum- a steel torch liner and a new swan neck liner. a simple brace for the feed are a must and it will work. Then address the electrical side of the wire feed and you will have a good little welder.
one of the worst welders i used was a BOC Cerboa( which is also a snap on) the contact in the trigger used to burn which meant stripping the torch every day.

Sean

I used to have a little SIP. My welds were _abysmal_. Then I tried Louis' big welder (I forget what brand, but a good 'un, as you can imagine. I could almost weld.

So the SIP met the skip.

On the basis of the general feeling that they're about the best of the small welders, I recently bought a Cebora (/Snap-on/BOC)...

there is a world of difference between a small hobby mig at the end of a couple of extension reels on a disposible bottle of co2 and an industrial mig with the proper gas, plugged into a dedicated 16a or 3ph circut. On the lowest settings the gas makes a huge difference to the weld much "wetter" with argon mix

SIP does work despite the terrible slating it gets( remind you of anything in the automotive world?) very few hobby migs come without problems-even the famed snap-on badged cebora isnt without fault.

but then i do like a challenge

ps SIP for free, modify: £30 of bits+1 hr = cheap little welder that'll get I'm started and keep I'm busy burning holes in rust

I read a lot and still went and bought a second hand SIP 130 Mig on eBay a while ago. I have never done any welding before and was prepared for a bit of frustration. I replaced the sleeve liner, shroud and tip and had a go. On nice clean flat steel (~ 2mm thick ) it was not long before I could lay down a nice even bead. When I first started on the super thin less clean 2CV steel it was not so pretty. I found the low current you need for the thin metal makes it much harder to maintain a steady arc. The legendary poor feed of the SIP machines has not really been an issue - keep the lance tubing as straight as possible or only let it follow gentle curves. The disposable gas canisters certainly add up to a significant cost. Many people use pub gas CO2 - I have so far only used CO2/ Argon mix.
Anyway it's a case of practice makes perfect. Best of luck.