rabbitears wrote:
StuartN wrote:
Can you recommend, for someone fairly ignorant of welding or brazing, what equipment could be used in a small home workshop for joining brass, iron and steel? Typically either for fixing broken ironmongery or making small pieces of equipment and reinforcement for woodwork.
My only experience is soldering brass and copper, with electric and gas irons. I use bolts and rivets to join things, but welding or brazing would often be neater.
I would suggest a small Manual Metal Arc (MMA) set (also known as 'Shielded Metal Arc Welding' or 'SMAW' in the U.S.A.) They would be perfect for welding your iron and steel, although they won't weld brass. But they are easily portable and many of the smaller models can be plugged directly to the mains electricity supply, although some may need the help of a petrol generator.
Also they are cheap and easy to repair and maintain as there isn't really a lot that can go wrong with them as they are a suprisingly simple machine inside. The only consumables you need to buy are the electrodes, which are usually cheaper than MIG wire and gas. They do take a bit more practice for you to to get competant compared to a MIG, but they are a lot less hassle and once you have learned to weld with one properly, you will have learned a valuable skill.
P.S. - Just remember to buy the right type of electrode for the the type of work being carried out.
These are good and cheap but just be aware they are not really suitable for welding sheet metal thicknesses, they need to be used on thicker stuff such as the sort of steel a trailer would be made out of for example. MIG is good for panel steel (i.e. car thickness and higher) and they are also fast.
A little Oxyacetelyne kit is very versatile as they can be used for welding, brazing, cutting (gas Ax) and heating. Brazing is very versatile and is good for joining disparate thicknesses together or in particular joing cast steel. The main problem I found with a Oxacetylene kit is the company here won't fill bottles you own, and so force you to rent their bottles, if you can get around that issue then get a little Oxyaceteylene kit. another way to lower cost is instead of Oxygen and Aceteylene use Oxygen and LPG, using the same cheap LPG tank and fuel as you use for a barbecue. You can't weld with it unfortunately but it will still braze, heat and cut.
But yeah if its things like attaching bolts to steel plate a regular ARC welder as rabbitears says is your cheapest option for purchase and operation and involves less mucking around with gas and things.