Mig welder advice please.

[hendrebc]

I'm fairly competent at arc welding but have never used a mig or know anything about them.
Are these cheap sub £100 ones any good? I don't see me doing much with it but I do need to fix a hole in the exhaust of an old tractor here so I've taken it in my head to do it myself because I can't do a worse job than whoever patched it before. It would be quite handy for fixing sheep hurdles that are made with tin foil as well. Or am I better buying a better one for a bit more?

 

[davidroberts30]

Personally the cheap 1s wont be great on thin stuff
They generally wont be great on thicker either...

 

[TechWise]

Sorry but you'll struggle to get a decent MIG torch for £100, never mind the machine. I think you'd need to budget around £1k for something that will get you by, more for something that will do serious work. Lots of past threads on here about decent machines. Oxford seem to get a good rep. Mine is a Fronius but I think they're scary money nowadays. Seen a few Oerlikons in fabricators.

 

[startinghandle]

Don't buy draper because they are rubbish, I think there's a 5 year warranty with warrior

 

[hendrebc]

Personally the cheap 1s wont be great on thin stuff
They generally wont be great on thicker either...

That's pretty much what I thought as well but you never know if you don't ask someone who knows more than you.
Won't be spending £1000 on one though!

 

[hendrebc]

SIP 05710 Weldmate T126 Gasless Mig Welder

SIP T126 Weldmate Weldmate T126 welder offers portability, ease of use and convenience all at fantastic value for money, this welder is suitable for domestic or trade use. With 2 output power settings and a 60-125amp (peak) current range this Mig welder has a 1.2 - 4mm approx weld thickness...

www.sipuk.co.uk

What about something like that?

 

[startinghandle]

Whatever you buy if it's not used regularly remove wire and keep dry you will probably be asking which is best gas rent or rent free

 

[startinghandle]

I could never do much with gasless

 

[betternextyear]

I bought a used Hobart 200 amp 3 ph,a few years ago. Great welder ,been no trouble, but bl**dy hell is it heavy, over 100 kgs. so i can see the point of a modern one .

 

[Pistonbroke]

I have just ordered an rtech mig 180. A lot better price when you phone up compared to the website price,three yr warranty but can increase by two years anytime until the three years are up

 

[startinghandle]

I have just looked at warrior website and I am very interested in their
Arc/mig/tig all in one unit @£495 +vat

 

[colhonk]

rtech mig 180. A lot better price when you phone up

Interesting. Have been toying with buying one for a long while for tin work as they go down to 25 amps, my 27 year old one is something like 40 amps and not good for bodywork. think a 4 meter length torch would be a must though for me.

 

[Ukjay]

Sorry but you'll struggle to get a decent MIG torch for £100, never mind the machine. I think you'd need to budget around £1k for something that will get you by, more for something that will do serious work. Lots of past threads on here about decent machines. Oxford seem to get a good rep. Mine is a Fronius but I think they're scary money nowadays. Seen a few Oerlikons in fabricators.

Sorry, but that is rediculous for a non heavy user requirement - as he is not after a proffessional unit that will be used every day, doing serious steel fabrication..

I personally use a 180amp mig that can do more than enough for what he wishes to do, and I spent around £400 about 10 years ago - and it is still going. All I will be needing in the not too distant future is a spool feed motor as it is struggling now with the heavy reels of wire.

 

[Ukjay]

SIP 05710 Weldmate T126 Gasless Mig Welder

SIP T126 Weldmate Weldmate T126 welder offers portability, ease of use and convenience all at fantastic value for money, this welder is suitable for domestic or trade use. With 2 output power settings and a 60-125amp (peak) current range this Mig welder has a 1.2 - 4mm approx weld thickness...

www.sipuk.co.uk

What about something like that?

I wouldn't go gasless imho. Stick to gas and use someone like hobby weld for your bottles as there is no rental. Yu just pay the bottle deposit on initial purchase and then it is only an exchange for a new bottle where you pay the gas. No need to go contract hire for the bottles

 

[Pistonbroke]

Interesting. Have been toying with buying one for a long while for tin work as they go down to 25 amps, my 27 year old one is something like 40 amps and not good for bodywork. think a 4 meter length torch would be a must though for me.

Comes with 3m as standard but will take any euro fitting torch I think. Getting an aluminium spool gun aswell

 

[hendrebc]

I wouldn't go gasless imho. Stick to gas and use someone like hobby weld for your bottles as there is no rental. Yu just pay the bottle deposit on initial purchase and then it is only an exchange for a new bottle where you pay the gas. No need to go contract hire for the bottles

Thanks just looked there is a hobbyweld agent 10 miles away from here so it's looking a lot simpler now I didn't know it was a thing.
Next simple beginner question just makes you all think wtf is this one on wanting a mig welder...
why gas and not gasless?

 

[JWL]

I bought a 200amp Polish jobbie last year for around £400. It's an inverter type and came with everything needed including a fairly tidy head mask, so much so I hardly ever use the one I allready have. It's one of those combi jobbies that can be used as a gasless or gas, arc welder and tig with an extra handtorch. It uses a small bottle of gas but through a proper regulator so when that runs out I'll look at a bettet bottle setup but for now it'll do, it can take 0.8 or 1mm wire 5kg spools. I've used it on car bodywork and wound it up to join 10mm steel together with a couple of runs all off a 13A household supply. Does everything I need it to do around home, if I have something serious to weld I pop up to a mate and use his commercial welder but this one has cut down on those trips big time. It's also light enough to put in the back of the motor and use wherever you can get an extension lead to reach.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Thanks just looked there is a hobbyweld agent 10 miles away from here so it's looking a lot simpler now I didn't know it was a thing.
Next simple beginner question just makes you all think wtf is this one on wanting a mig welder...
why gas and not gasless?

There are plenty of professional welders that use gasless.If you have nothing better to do,trawl through YouTube. There are some brilliant blokes showing how to weld in all ways. Trouble is there are some d!ckheads aswell !

 

[Fraserb]

I've just bought a new 240amp oxford, was a lot more than £100 but im pretty sure it'll still be welding long after some of the newer inverter machines have went pop.

 

[Ukjay]

There are plenty of professional welders that use gasless.If you have nothing better to do,trawl through YouTube. There are some brilliant blokes showing how to weld in all ways. Trouble is there are some d!ckheads aswell !

I know, but like you say - they're professional not simply intermittent users.
They understand metalogy / penetration etc, plus fully aware of the potential negative impacts of using incorrect methods etc - which no disrespect to @hendrebc -he will not be so aligned to that std.

A simple gassed mig will be more forgiving for inside and low breeze outside welding to suit his needs and reduce stress if other complications.