New member from the UK
 

Hi everyone,

My name's Tony, I'm from Bristol in the UK and I love making things.
I decided a while ago that I wanted to do a car resto and learn how to restore bodywork. I did evening classes a year or so ago and got a qualification in TIG welding (this was just for fun, I don't do it for my day job) which I hope will help but I am a completely new to metal shaping and fabrication and so have tons to learn.

Welcome to the forum, Tony :)

You're ahead of me on the TIG welding. I'm just considering a Thermal Arc 202 - nothing to do with my day job either. Yay for expensive hobbies!

Hi Tony welcome to the forum
Peter

Welcome from a fellow West Country chappie ;)

Turns out there are quite a few of us now in the South West of the UK, mostly dont know very much but no shortage of enthusiasm. There are a few very well qualified local metalshapers - they know who they are. It is all here on this forum. Welcome.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. Plenty of West Country enthusiasm/lack of knowledge here too ;)

@Dan, I've no experience of the Thermal Arc, I had a quick look online and it seems a reasonable price for an AC/DC welder although the duty cycle looks a bit on the the low side at 20%. You'll also want to factor in the cost of a pedal and these are surprisingly expensive.

From what I've read, Thermal Arc are very conservative on the duty cycle figure. The pedal is around £200, but that's a decent quality SSC one. The other alternative is one of the RTech TIGs, but they aren't as well specced on the AC side.

Anyway, sorry for hijacking your welcome thread! :)

That's good to know, I've got a R-tech AC/DC TIG welder and been happy with it, although it looks like they've replaced my model (the 210P) now with a newer one.