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Our front bi-fold metal gate broke due to hinge stress caused by moving pavement. I could not get anyone interested in repairing or replacing it except for a metal frabricator in Botany who quoted me $7000 for the job. The cost of materials at Bunnings was less than $500. I have never welded before but I through racing rally cars I have been around people who do lots of welding so I got the basic concepts. I bought a Bossweld 100 MIG welder for $250 and did a bit of practice. I had to buy a cheap small welding table and one of the challenges without a commercial welding table (which can cost several thousand for a big accurate one) is that it is difficult to set up your right angles for a panel that is about 1.8 m x 0.66 m of which there are 4 which must must all be flush once hung on the hinges. I got diagonals spot on but you get a banana effect from heat and I had to correct that in the final steps but cutting some cross bracing and then using a screw jack to bend the sides into place, clamp and re weld. The original gate weighed about 100kg and I reduced the weight to about 40 kg.
Here is a video of the gate in operation: https://www.thebeastofbondi.com/gate.mp4
Hi @Noyade,
I know he has been using the MIG on material he was blowing through with the stick, including 1mm sheet steel. Recently he was mounting a garage door tilt mechanism which had some very thin brackets. He was remarking about the lack of slag and the ability to control the bead. For making rough and ready to grind solid welds on thicker material, ARC is more than capable, but MIG seems to come into its own for fine work. One downside to MIG is that your surface needs to be rust and corrosion free before starting the weld.
Mitchell
