Practically Classics Forum

Diesel Fionn wrote:I have a gas less MIG I got in Aldi. It's very basic as all you can control is the wire feed speed. It's quite strong on thin stuff like citroen C15 back doors for instance . I'm going to be using it on my Rover P6 resto and I'm worried it may not be good enough. I'll have to do the inner sills but haven't gotten around to looking at them yet. are gas free MIG's a total waste of space or do they have their purpose?

Pro's and cons.
Gas free does a perfectly good job, but you'll be cleaning slag off the weld, and the weld itself may well spatter more and not necessarily be as pretty.

Then again welding fresh metal to crappy remnants, unless you get everything spotless is often liable to get the odd bit of spatter.

Gassless may be more appropriate on imperfectly cleaned surfaces as the flux core may help clean up the crud a bit better

The wire for Gasless is expensive compared to gassed mig, but if you're not welding the titanic, this isn't necessarily a problem

The KEY thing for welding is PRACTICE. If you're uncomfortable about your skills levels, get some metal of the appropriate thickness, and have a good crack at welding bits to other bits. Have a good look to see if you're getting good penetrating welds, and a good tug and yank and bend to see if they're strong, or if you've just done the welding equivalent of tacking them together with copydex

Martin wrote - If you want a really cracking small Mig, then check out the Cebora 130, -available from BOC ( and a few other places I am sure)
This little darling was unavailable for about a decade, but now it is back. This was the machine which both BOC and Snap-on sold with their names on, and you can be certain they sold it for a lot more than the original Cebora brand

I checked this out thinking that a model that Martin had put to professional use would be very expensive - so I was supprised when I found it new for less than £300 - MIG's are a handy bit of kit to have but of late I gone over to TIG - the heat distoration is so minimal and it gives the great avantage of being able to weld alloys with quick conversion of the tip and few adjustments on the settings - this in combination with a recently aquired timed spot welder & power spot has given the workshop a vast flexibility on what we can now undertake - has two of fleet owned by freinds are alloy bodied over a steel chassis (Jowett Jupiters) along with the other 4 cars owned between us being steel bodied.

I tend to only use tools and plant which are available to the enthusiast. The Cebora is the best small Mig that I have ever used, and it is very reasonable.
Like I said Snap-on sold it as their own, ( and you can bet it wasn't cheap then)

Tig can produce top quality welds and as said it produces very little heat soak due to the gentle arc. -But Tig is by nature slow and more demanding in terms of skill. I love the Tig, but it will never replace the ubiquitous Mig. - Used in conjunction though, if you can afford both!

.............And then there is the Gasless Mig.

I have a Gas/No Gas machine which is very good for outdoor work as the shielding Gas is produced in the Arc and remains attracted to it.
The downside of the Gasless Flux-cored system is two fold;

1. The weld will tend to Glaze and resist over-welding.

2. The fumes are thick and f*cking poisonous.

I had only just put up my post about the Gasless Mig and I read the Technical help section of the May issue and there was a question about Gas free MiG's. However some of the answers here have been great help. I really do need to practice welding and get a mask that auto dims. I have some spare panels that I can practice on, once I fit the new ones. I'll only need to weld the sills hopefully.... I must also check my local Aldi again, they were selling off the Flux cored wire cheaply.