Monday, November 6, 2017

Welding updates...

As per my last post, I started a 6 week welding course at the local college.  I was four weeks in when the college staff went on strike.  For now at least, things are on Hiatus.

We spent quite a bit of time on SMAW (stick welding) which was highly educational;  The biggest lesson being that it is much easier to strike an arc with an auto-darkening helmet!  I was fortunate that we moved on to MIG on the last day, with a good three hours of lab time.  

With my Saturdays free I decided to have a look for my own machine.  As usual I turned to Kijiji in the hopes of finding something locally.  I cannot for the life of me understand advertising an item for sale and then ignoring potential buyers.  This is what I ran into on six different occasions until I found something within an hour from home. 

For the bargain price of $80.00 I turned up this little Italian made gem built in 1985.  



It's a little beaten up, but everything fires up nicely and it has its own stand (on wheels).  That being said, the gun is a little damaged and the tip was missing.  I discovered that it takes a 6mm Euro-type 15 which is available on Ebay and other online sources.  I bought a 5 pack from Scotland which came to about $7.00 including shipping!  

If you Google BeccaMig 140 virtually nothing will come up. I did email TelWin, the company who built it and was politely told that due to the age, they have no data to share.  I was hoping they might have had an archived manual somewhere. 

Without any Argon gas there isn't much I can really do, however I was able to test with the new tip and everything is a go! 



Until next time....