I've been in electronics for most of my working life and therefore learnt to soft solder very early on. Since retirement, I've taught myself to silver solder/braze. I now wish to learn electric welding. Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to buy a defunct gasless MIG welder, complete with self darkening helmet and various other accessories. I think the guy just wanted rid of it as the price was less than a new helmet. The fault turned out to be really crappy crimps between the aluminium transformer windings and the copper welding cables. Having some aluminium solder, I made some brass sleeves and soldered the joints.

There was an article some time ago in MEW about converting a gasless welder ot one using gas. This involved reversing the polarity of the welding cables. My welder is AC (about 22 volts off load and not a diode in sight). My question is should I persevere with this obviously cheap and nasty pile of crap or should I weigh it in and buy something decent.

Don't know why the title has gone dyslexic.

Edited By Anthony Knights on 12/06/2017 17:50:55

Edited By Anthony Knights on 12/06/2017 17:51:34

Edited By Anthony Knights on 12/06/2017 17:53:28