Fantasy MIG Welder

[snowcat]

New welder would clearly be silly as Portamig would function perfectly well for what I need when I spend the hour cleaning the connection that would fix it. Ought to do that at the weekend really as it's handy to have a welder that works predictably.

But big success on this thread so far - hope it's broken the taboo we seem to have with complaining about Portamigs. Maybe it's only me that's broken the thing through underuse. Be keen for others not to hold back - once we're all out of warranty it would be useful if we can help eachother out.

Not bought a bit of kit yet that I have been 100% happy with, all have there niggles and the odd problem. Even the kemppi's have given me some nasty bills, Tho sometimes you just get bored with something and want some more flashy bits

 

[irondarren]

Funny you say every machine no bigger than an inverter, inverters have been easy to obtain at sensible money for about 7yrs. I would imagine now inverters are the highest % of sales on MMA machines and TIG units. not much available now in terms of old transformer technology, cheap and cheerful arc units, The Big Esab rectifiers 400amps + and the portamig transformer TIG unit, and pic arc still produce the oxford range, i guess there others, but i would think its an inverter dominated market. Im sure one of the distrubutors thats post to the forum would confirm or deny that.
The MIG market has been a lot slower going over to inverters, ok the pulse units seem to be inverter based, i guess because its easier with the current software controlled units to make them sing dance and do other neat tricks, someone on here this afternoon posted about cheap chinese mig units and from the pic it looked inverter based, give it 5 years and maybe another generation of inverter units and most will be inverter based, tiny little electronic box with wire feed unit stuck on a ruddy great trolley so you can stick the bottle on the back. of course if its a SWFU the wire feeder will be bigger than the power source. ultra light 7kg 250amp single phase inverter, with a great big 15kg reel shoved on the back.

 

[irondarren]

Not bought a bit of kit yet that I have been 100% happy with, all have there niggles and the odd problem. Even the kemppi's have given me some nasty bills, Tho sometimes you just get bored with something and want some more flashy bits

funny you say about the flashy bits, im just about to order tommorrow a 300amp swfu, single phase portamig from weldequip, and yes as the optional extra i when for the flashing light, digital volt/amp meter

 

[Hitch]

Selco make some sensibly priced inverter Migs

 

[irondarren]

forgot about selco, the local weld distributor imports them. Dont know what quality is like but they been selling them for a few years now

 

[Hitch]

We have a selco plant, not bad, although there is a slight design flaw with the wire feeder..... the side doesnt hinge back far enough to stay open on its own

 

[shenion]

Im with you on the multi process plant Hitch I cant stand swaping the dinzies round from A/C to D/C.Oh every machine no bigger or heavier than an inverter that would be nice.

Switching from AC to DCEN or DCEP is just a matter of moving the slider on the unit for a lot of machines.

Miller has a nice setup for MIG with torch + spool gun. Just press trigger on torch or spool gun and it switches control to the appropriate output and loads the previous settings for volt/speed.

Would be ideal if it could be expanded to TIG. Press trigger, it changes modes, polarity etc and load last used setting on that torch.

My setup changes quickly between MIG/TIG/ARC. Usually just a few seconds to set switches and dial in gas mix. The MIG feeder and TIG torch are always connected. It is in no way portable. In the corner of garage must be close to 1000lbs of equipment

 

[rusty69bus]

i like the idea of welder plus cutter, but would like the mig welder to do ally

 

[snowcat]

but would like the mig welder to do ally

Ahh your back to the Fronius there then.

 

[Haze]

id be happy with a mig that doesnt leave an inch of wire sticking out from my torch when i lift off the trigger

 

[rusty69bus]

turn the wire speed down (hee hee)

 

[zardoz]

My fantasy/lottery winning machine would be a state of the art, plasma welder that could weld tinfoil one day and girders the next.

This website here is like welding porn http://www.directindustry.com/cat/tools-welding-surface-treatment/welding-stations-N-334.html
lots of 'fantasy' welding machines there, and plenty of detail on many of them.

Oh, and if were talking fantasy here, then id keep the old laser cutter for the rough/portable jobs and go for a fully plumbed in water/abrasive jet cutting machine. Like those spoiled brats on American chopper have.

 

[zbic]

What would be the dream machine from the point of minimum/maximum current required?

Hi,
I was looking for a welder on eBay and after reading the well presented discussion New Vs Used in the forum I have decided to go on a new one mainly because I do not have experience in mig welding so I will not know if the welder needs any work done to it or I am just bad at welding. My welder is going to be used for car restoration so I need to be able to weald thin metal.
I saw welders that go down to 25 Amp and I was looking for ones that will be able to do better then that 20 or even 15 Amp.
Since I did not found one I though that I might build one... however since I do not have the experience welding I have a question.
Is it actually going to be useful to have such low currents? What would be the current required to weld, lets say 0.4 mm comfortably? Am I going in totally wrong direction?
At the same time there is the question of max current required I would think 150 Amp (allowing 4 mm welding) should be enough, what do you think?

Thanks
Amir