Aircooled VW South Africa

Anyone used these guys/their products?

They have a Mig131G gas/no gas welder going for R2800. incl. Postage to Jhb R135.

's not a bad price. Dude says that guys use coreflux wire for welding bodywork no probs. I've heard that gas is the only way to go?

Again I am going to chip in. No-gas is sh!t. Just no proper penetration, is sputters a lot and 90% of the time is is 'voëltjie kak' wleding. If you want to do MIG properly, do it with gas. In my experience, the lower budget machines that has got the two buttons for your Amps (button one - "1 or 2" and button two - "Low or High") and one for the speed of the wire feed, is tempremental at best. I could get to work with it properly on repair panels. You either dont get penetration to join the two together, or you end up burning holes on your panels. It is a cheap price that, but for good reason.

I know that budget to spend big bucks on a welder is always a problem. Especialy if you are not going to use it everyday to earn a living. But it DOES pay to pay(pardon the pun) for a decent machine.

Here is a pic of the first one I am talking about:


Cost €290. I have one, but the layer of dust is so thick on it!!!

Then I went and got one of these:


Much easier to work with (although it still cant touch the REAL Pro machines out these (even more $$$). Here you have REAL control of the amps and wire feed. Cost £600. You can clearly see that it is double the price, but the money I have saved on damaged(burnt) panels, hours of panel repair and panel beating/filler has made it worth it.

The real issue though, is the gas itself. Dont bother with those little 110litre bottles. Utter waste of time. They deplete TOO QUICK. Here:


You will have to get a proper small gas bottle. You cant buy these. You have to take it on contract(not sure in SA though!). But even WITH the contract AND refills, it works out MUUUUUUUCH cheaper in the longer run!

Hope this helps.

The one I was looking at has Four settings! Is one step up from the one with Two settings.

Reckon it's half as bad as the real cheap one?

contact barry. He has a nice little welder that I borrowed from him at one stage.
Not sure about its Tig capabilities, but is also does arc - I like the option of arc and mig/tig in one.

I visisted a guy the other day to have a look at something and saw that he was using a mig welder from Adendorff. He told me he was very happy with it and then showed me a Beetle body he welded to a syncro chassis. He said he hardly stopped, welding the thing almost continuously without problems. It was a Mac-Afric MigMag with 150 on the front. They go fo about R1995 and the bigger model R2.2k. Uses CO2 gas. I think he said it cost him R2000 rand for the big bottle as deposit + the first fill. There after something like R400 for a refill.

For the amount of welding I'll be doing, I think this should be fine.

BTW here is a pic of his creation.

That is a NICE Baja right there!


Sure, you can work with one of those machines. Didnt say it is impossible As to the gas... I very much doubt that it is CO². It is Argon. If not, it is the very first time I hear someone weld MIG with CO²

Here they introduced two (new?) gasses to replace all the different variaties.... One for Tig and one for Mig(cant remember which one is which. But IIRC, I have the new Arcal gas.) What is nice about these bottles is that it has a 'regulator built in'(well, actually it is only a gas-level gauge) and a lever to open the gas, instead of the old type turn-valve

My Acetylene bottle (Altop make) is also the new type WITH a regulator and lever built in. Oxygene is still the same old.


As to my Mig bottle... When I went to refill it, they couldnt find my contract. The woman had the guy refill the bottle anyway And the 'cool thing'..... technically speaking, it is now mine


For refilling bottles in SA, do they swap it out with a new/refilled bottle or do they refill it right there on the spot for you?

The machine from Mig Welder Factory Shop...
Four settings: 25 / 35 / 50 / 75A Was down at Adendorffs on the way home - they had mac africs with the 2 option switch, plus a high / low switch that gives you 16v / 21v.

Think I prefer the MWFS version, although I haven't seen it.

I like the ones they use in American Chopper, that pen contraption (uhu, check out my welding lingo, worried yet???)

I use an sip welder from wildo tech in Midrand it is their 175 amp model I have had it for 16 years with hardly any problems I have bought one of those cheap ones before that one and sold it to another sucker before using up one roll of wire
Armand

dsan wrote:I like the ones they use in American Chopper, that pen contraption Tig Welder (uhu, check out my welding lingo, worried yet???)

There, fixed it for you

If you plan on welding sheetmetal with MIg (and need to learn it too) you are going to want controllability. 2 (or 4) power settings alone won't cut it. Is the wire feed speed variable? if not forget it as the only other option you have for control is your traverse(hand) speed, and although cranking up the heat and moving quicker is the best thing you can do if you absolutely MUST weld sheetmetal with MIG. No beginner is going to have the confidence or ability to do that.

Why do you want MIG in the first place?
It is a great technology for production welding (ie welding all day long) that has filtered down to the hobby market. DIY guys like it because it is easy to pick up the torch and make pretty welds. Pretty welds ARE NOT always good welds. Learn how to make good welds first - this is best done with O/A, TIG or even MMA(arc). If you are accomplished in any one of these three and need to produce stuff faster, then buy a decent MIG - Thermodyne would be my recommendation. Don't buy cheap Chinese crap with no after sales or spares support. O/A gives you a bunch of other benefits in terms of cutting, heating etc.

Building your own car at home, with the amount of welding you are going to do, MIG is only going to save you a couple of hours anyway. The issue however is that most of us don't want to invest the 50 or so hours that it will take to become reasonably profficient at gas or TIG.
Pointing a hot metal pump at a target is not welding.

Right - was at Makro today - Eurasia 160 Amp for R5500 with variable amps and variable wire speed (they all have variable wire speed). This was gas version.

Why Mig. Cos everyone tells me I can't use arc, even with 1.2mm rods. Why not Tig. Cos it's slow, although it appeals to me. Why not OA? I can arc weld but not OA. I don't feel like learning another completely different skill when I've got one that will work.

I don't need the pro version, just one good enough to get the job done - and that's the price point I'm trying to determine.

Haven't managed to track down wildo for sips.

Eurasia is OK. Seems like a good price.

Hi All,

I am in constant contact with tool suppliers being from a power tool supplier. There are many brands out there and some are good as they have back up and spares available etc. I would suggest that when purchasing such a unit that these factors are taken into consideration! Price is important but should not be the determining factor!! I would also suggest looking at those shops/stores whose primary business is supplying industry with their tooling etc. There is a load of out there so caveat emptor (buyer beware)
I am able to assist with companies names in the Cape Town area - GOOD prices and back up! Let me know if any of you need some info.

Andy