Welder recommendation

Colin

Member
Location
Perthshire
Need advice on a mig welder. Just something for general repairs odd bit of fabrication work. Workshop only has single phase ATM do I need a 3 phase machine? Any sources of recon machines?
TIA
 

Ley253

Member
Location
Bath
mmm,can you use a stick welder? If you can I would go for one of those, or even learn how to use one. Mig is easy to make a good looking weld, which has no strength at all! It will not function well outside, so if the job wont go in the workshop, which also needs to be draught free, you will be in trouble (bit of draught=no gas shield!) also, a mig plant does not like rusty, painted or dirty metal! Is your workshop damp free, mig wire will rust on the reel in a damp atmosphere, and next time you come to use the plant, the rust destroys the torch liner/contact tip! On a cost basis, a good used Oxford oil cooled stick welder can be found for less than £150.
I gained my welding codes on pipe many years ago, and have seen the hidden horrors that can be in a mig weld. Many good looking welds, pulled away from the side of the joint when tested, being "cold shoulders" which had no penetration, these welds had been submitted for test by trainees close to gaining their codes!
 
Last edited:
Location
Shropshire
mmm,can you use a stick welder? If you can I would go for one of those, or even learn how to use one. Mig is easy to make a good looking weld, which has no strength at all! It will not function well outside, so if the job wont go in the workshop, which also needs to be draught free, you will be in trouble (bit of draught=no gas shield!) also, a mig plant does not like rusty, painted or dirty metal! Is your workshop damp free, mig wire will rust on the reel in a damp atmosphere, and next time you come to use the plant, the rust destroys the torch liner/contact tip! On a cost basis, a good used Oxford oil cooled stick welder can be found for less than £150.
I gained my welding codes on pipe many years ago, and have seen the hidden horrors that can be in a mig weld. Many good looking welds, pulled away from the side of the joint when tested, being "cold shoulders" which had no penetration, these welds had been submitted for test by trainees close to gaining their codes!


All quite true about the Mig Ley253, although there are plenty of older A/C output "Oxford" stick welders on the market I think that a D/C output would have more stable ARC for the inexperienced welder .......... all single phase inverters have this ( the parweld 160 will run a 3.2mm electrode all day long). A good welding electrode (rod) is also a must, "dont just buy on price", one 6013 mild steel electrode is not the same as another despite their classification.
 

Ley253

Member
Location
Bath
And with a dc plant, you can move the heat from rod to job and back again by changing the polarity, handy on thin stuff
 
Location
Shropshire
Another good point Ley253

To confirm.

2/3's of your heat come from the positive connection (+)
1/3 from your negative (-)

so .......... by changing over your leads you can control this with your DC (output) Inverter.
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Need advice on a mig welder. Just something for general repairs odd bit of fabrication work. Workshop only has single phase ATM do I need a 3 phase machine? Any sources of recon machines?
TIA

can't recommend my sip ideal 303 welder highly enough for a farm workshop.

single phase, inverter tech, lovely and smooth welding

dual MIG and MMA- it has one earth lead and one MMA and one MIG lead, flick switch to swap between the two, separate controls for the two different processes.

will handle upto 1.2mm mig wire and (i think) a 5mm mma rod (defo at least a 4mm)

two sets of rollers inside for the mig wire

will take a 15kg roll of wire

off the top of my head, something like £800-900

does need a 32amp supply for full capacity

i did look at buying a separate big mig and little inverter ark welders but would have cost alot more.
done loads of welding with the sip and never over heated it yet unlike my old sealey that was sh!te
 
Location
Shropshire
can't recommend my sip ideal 303 welder highly enough for a farm workshop.

single phase, inverter tech, lovely and smooth welding

dual MIG and MMA- it has one earth lead and one MMA and one MIG lead, flick switch to swap between the two, separate controls for the two different processes.

will handle upto 1.2mm mig wire and (i think) a 5mm mma rod (defo at least a 4mm)

two sets of rollers inside for the mig wire

will take a 15kg roll of wire

off the top of my head, something like £800-900

does need a 32amp supply for full capacity

i did look at buying a separate big mig and little inverter ark welders but would have cost alot more.
done loads of welding with the sip and never over heated it yet unlike my old sealey that was sh!te
can't recommend my sip ideal 303 welder highly enough for a farm workshop.

single phase, inverter tech, lovely and smooth welding

dual MIG and MMA- it has one earth lead and one MMA and one MIG lead, flick switch to swap between the two, separate controls for the two different processes.

will handle upto 1.2mm mig wire and (i think) a 5mm mma rod (defo at least a 4mm)

two sets of rollers inside for the mig wire

will take a 15kg roll of wire

off the top of my head, something like £800-900

does need a 32amp supply for full capacity

i did look at buying a separate big mig and little inverter ark welders but would have cost alot more.
done loads of welding with the sip and never over heated it yet unlike my old sealey that was sh!te



We can supply any machine that you have a preference for ....... including SIP !!! :):):)
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
I didn't know you could get a dual MIG/ ARC welder - handy to know. What do you use most; MIG or ARC welding?

mig now i've got used to it and also i'm using alot more new steel.
never used mig before i bought the machine, but doing more and more welding each year, i was getting feed up with the constant start stop of arc.

if i have a big important weld to do i still tend to use arc because thats what i'm confident with.

also use arc for most repairs as its old metal.
 

AJR75

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
If you have 3ph then look out for a s/h industrial spec m/c of about 400 amps, makes like migatronic, Miller, kempii are all good. and not complicated if they do go wrong.

Depending on your budget, the same spec new models are around the £12-1600 mark and given that these could easily last you 15+ years, it's not really a very big outlay in the scheme of things.

Be wary of the smaller automotive MIG sets, generally they are not capable of delivering the current and voltage required to make a good joint.

As with everything though, time spent in joint prep is never wasted, if you spend time with the grinder hitting off grease, oil, rust, millscale and shite, prep out your butt welds then you will find everything weld much easier. This applies equally to stick as well as mig, contrary to popular belief, it does not "burn through and away" rust and other contaminants- it all becomes part of the weld bead you lay down.
 

Ley253

Member
Location
Bath
Rust, paint etc actualy add carbon to your weld, which makes it brittle and harder to machine/grind. If you have doubts about the metal you have to join, a stainless steel electrode will join most ferrous metals.Something I was glad of when welding bits onto my KV plough, welds done wiyh rutile rods fell off when cooled!
 

Cowcalf

Member
A die grinder is an essential for cleaning awkward corners, all welding must be onto clean/prepared metal. The old Lincoln pre circuit board are good reliable welder. Kempi ( circuit board type) not too keen if any damp in workshop. 4 roll feed unit is best if going for remote.
Good guide to how to weld either mig/stick is You tube a lot of tips to help you improve
 

Hesston4860s

Member
Location
Nr Lincoln
If you have 3ph then look out for a s/h industrial spec m/c of about 400 amps, makes like migatronic, Miller, kempii are all good. and not complicated if they do go wrong.

Depending on your budget, the same spec new models are around the £12-1600 mark and given that these could easily last you 15+ years, it's not really a very big outlay in the scheme of things.

Be wary of the smaller automotive MIG sets, generally they are not capable of delivering the current and voltage required to make a good joint.

As with everything though, time spent in joint prep is never wasted, if you spend time with the grinder hitting off grease, oil, rust, millscale and shite, prep out your butt welds then you will find everything weld much easier. This applies equally to stick as well as mig, contrary to popular belief, it does not "burn through and away" rust and other contaminants- it all becomes part of the weld bead you lay down.

I've just bought a 380amp second hand mig for less than half the price of a new 300amp migatronic. The murex I bought came with a lot more features than a new migatronic aswell.
 

Blackleg

Member
Location
Hereford
Need advice on a mig welder. Just something for general repairs odd bit of fabrication work. Workshop only has single phase ATM do I need a 3 phase machine? Any sources of recon machines?
TIA

Hello Colin,

You say that the workshop only has single phase at the moment, does that mean there might be an option for 3 phase? If there is then don't buy a welder yet. There's loads of cheap second hand 3 phase welding plant because nobody can run it.

Get a MIG welder- because it's fast and if you haven't done much before you'll get better results.

Don't try to weld anything that's safety critical- because as others have said it's easy to produce a good looking joint that has no structural integrity.


You get what you pay for, an old transformer based 3 phase MIG set would be ideal. If you're stuck with single phase I'd look at a "Portamig" (I've heard good things about them) or an inverter based machine like the Esab Caddy rather than Clarke/SIP stuff.



Just for info I'm a welder by trade, when I do farm work and I either use my Inverter Fusion stick welder or a Mosa diesel welder, stick welding's perfect for repairing heavily painted 50 year old covered in cowshit steel but it does take a bit of practice.
 

phil t

Member
Location
york
We run a murex tradesmig 251 its been an excellent welder we also have a stick welder but no one uses it as u are forever changing rods.as for people saying mig weld has no hold we've welded plenty of towing eyes to trailers with no problems
 

mushroom

Member
Location
wilts
can't recommend my sip ideal 303 welder highly enough for a farm workshop.

single phase, inverter tech, lovely and smooth welding

dual MIG and MMA- it has one earth lead and one MMA and one MIG lead, flick switch to swap between the two, separate controls for the two different processes.

will handle upto 1.2mm mig wire and (i think) a 5mm mma rod (defo at least a 4mm)

two sets of rollers inside for the mig wire

will take a 15kg roll of wire

off the top of my head, something like £800-900

does need a 32amp supply for full capacity

i did look at buying a separate big mig and little inverter ark welders but would have cost alot more.
done loads of welding with the sip and never over heated it yet unlike my old sealey that was sh!te
how reliable is it?
looking at getting one vs a Oxford.
what would you recommend?
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
how reliable is it?
looking at getting one vs a Oxford.
what would you recommend?

i went up from a sealey 210 arc so the sip is like the bee's knee's compared to that piece of :poop:

i'm not a professional welder or know anything about oxford welders, but i do like my sip, had it two years now, not had any problems with it, does every thing i want, I've never managed to over heat it yet. needs a 32amp supply for the single phase version.

i reckon it was excellent value for money.

it wouldn't have all the fancy extra buttons and knobs a dedicated professional mig would, off the top of my head, its got, wire speed, volts and inducence (which i have know idea what that does??), then the separate arc controls.

its 4 roller (which i understand is good), comes with rollers for 0.6, 0.8, 1 &1.2mm wire.

my only gripes would be, it comes with a MB24 torch, which appears to be abit rare, basically the consumables look like MB36, but are all m6 threaded like MB25 torches. @Welding Supplies Direct probably knows more about that than me.

&its set up for a 15kg reel of wire (which is good) but i tend to use 5kg ones which fit fine, but being narrower i needed to docker up a spacer to hold the reel in the right place on the spindle.

but all in all, its my first mig machine and i'm well chuffed with it and the arc function is also brilliant! (y)(y)
 

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