A bit of background to begin with.. I spend most of the time working on old Land Rovers, sticking them back together for fun
I've got a 180A SIP Arc welder which I've been using for years to do the more 'agricultural' jobs, and I currently have a Sealey SuperMIG 150/5 running on CO2 for the finer work.
The last chassis I was working on needed some fairly extensive repair and once again I found the MIG wasn't really up to the job... frequently overheating and leaving a fairly poor quality finish. (Must be the welder and not me.. you understand )
To compound my pain, I had some welding to do on a roll cage a while ago, so borrowed one of the welders from work.. a 250 or 300A Cebora job running on Argoshield... the difference was incredible ! The welds were much easier to control, the finish was neater, and undoubtedly they are stronger.
So... to the point of my question... Let's say I give myself a budget of £350.00, am I going to be able to find a MIG welder that will be up to the job of welding lumps of steel together with nice results and be reliable ? Obviously the welder at work is considerably more expensive, so I have to be realistic... I guess I am hoping for some middle ground.
Would a second-hand expensive MIG be a better bet than a new cheap one ? What about the budget brands like Silverline ? I've got a couple of Silverline grinders which I use for finishing, etc. and I have to say they seem to last OK despite their obvious cheapness....
I'll keep the Sealey for doing panel work, as it works well enough on thin metals (despite a lot of wire feed problems).
Any comments appreciated !
I've got a 180A SIP Arc welder which I've been using for years to do the more 'agricultural' jobs, and I currently have a Sealey SuperMIG 150/5 running on CO2 for the finer work.
The last chassis I was working on needed some fairly extensive repair and once again I found the MIG wasn't really up to the job... frequently overheating and leaving a fairly poor quality finish. (Must be the welder and not me.. you understand )
To compound my pain, I had some welding to do on a roll cage a while ago, so borrowed one of the welders from work.. a 250 or 300A Cebora job running on Argoshield... the difference was incredible ! The welds were much easier to control, the finish was neater, and undoubtedly they are stronger.
So... to the point of my question... Let's say I give myself a budget of £350.00, am I going to be able to find a MIG welder that will be up to the job of welding lumps of steel together with nice results and be reliable ? Obviously the welder at work is considerably more expensive, so I have to be realistic... I guess I am hoping for some middle ground.
Would a second-hand expensive MIG be a better bet than a new cheap one ? What about the budget brands like Silverline ? I've got a couple of Silverline grinders which I use for finishing, etc. and I have to say they seem to last OK despite their obvious cheapness....
I'll keep the Sealey for doing panel work, as it works well enough on thin metals (despite a lot of wire feed problems).
Any comments appreciated !