I regret buying a Migmate

[Budeweld]

Its going on ebay tomorrow, along with the Parkside Gasless mig someone gave me, now that is a pile of rubbish- I can see why they are so cheap.

 

[charlysays]

I had a SIP migmate 130. It wasn't good. It got better with a eurotorch but the wire feed was still crap and inconsistent. Really difficult to consistently weld with it.
I was looking at an R tech to replace it when it eventually died but a sealey supermig 185 came up locally for £100.
Even on first inspection i could tell that the wire feed was a major upgrade from the migmate and it's a pretty acceptable welder tbh. Once again the wire feed could be better and more torquey but it's alright. Probably the cheapest welder out there which actually welds acceptably.

 

[tom2207]

I had a SIP migmate 130. It wasn't good. It got better with a eurotorch but the wire feed was still crap and inconsistent. Really difficult to consistently weld with it.
I was looking at an R tech to replace it when it eventually died but a sealey supermig 185 came up locally for £100.
Even on first inspection i could tell that the wire feed was a major upgrade from the migmate and it's a pretty acceptable welder tbh. Once again the wire feed could be better and more torquey but it's alright. Probably the cheapest welder out there which actually welds acceptably.

they are mighty , the one I use packed in last week , again , a sticky wire feed but intermittent sometimes it didnt work sometimes it wouldnt turn off , and it asnt the trigger ,,, one phone call and the new board was with me two days later and it was a hundred quid , the machine must be ten years old and has done more stop start welding than I care to remember , thats it third main board , but a blow out with the airline and off it goes again ,,, outstanding value for money and a great spares back up .

 

[coyotl55]

I am a very basic skilled welder, and currently restoring an old Jaguar which requires a lot of welding. I bought a Sips Migmate 130, as I was told it was a good beginners welding machine, but here are my issues;

It is push button so having trouble setting it up to the right temp- it either burns through 1mm steel or does not penetrate enough.

The wire feed is jerky- kind of stop start regardless of what wire speed or tension you have it set on.

The weld is poor, kind of like snot, I think the term is pop corn, I can not get an even regular bead and if I do it just blows through regardless of the temp setting

On top of this it appears to have stopped working; it turns on but nothing happens when you press the trigger, you can pull the wire through the nib if you use plyers but there is nothing when you press the trigger, so either the gun has gone or the wire feed- I have no idea

If anyone can give me advice on any of the above I would be grateful

I have a 150 Turbo. After converting to gasless I can at least weld but it is not pretty. The torch set is in rather bad condition, repaired with tape, the gasless welding is hard on the brass tip. Can forget about using copper tips with gasless. But it works, strong welder for jobs were looks dont matter. I replaced the poor (and broken) original plastic lining of the torch with the steel liner from an inexpensive universal torch set from temu.

 

[skotl]

I have a 150 Turbo. After converting to gasless I can at least weld but it is not pretty. The torch set is in rather bad condition, repaired with tape, the gasless welding is hard on the brass tip. Can forget about using copper tips with gasless. But it works, strong welder for jobs were looks dont matter. I replaced the poor (and broken) original plastic lining of the torch with the steel liner from an inexpensive universal torch set from temu.

Welcome to the forum

Hopefully you'll be able to hang around longer than the guy you replied to he disappeared 4 days after that post and hasn't been back!

 

[coyotl55]

I plan to stick around, bit of a green welder though

 

[minimutly]

I bought a 100A (or less, don't remember) three button live torch mig on eBay, it needed a couple of rectifiers, and I used it for bodywork, it welded up the back doors on my Bedford CF a treat. Biggest issue was the live torch - you had to be careful where you put it down. The only thing I could identify it by (as well as the three switch voltage selection) was the colour - it was yellow..