Need advice

[mad hatter]

Want to buy a MIG welder but don't know what to go for, have been looking at a Sealey SuperMIG 195 or 220 but never welded before so would appreciate guidance ... Are the Sealey superMIG range any good?

 

[weldequip]

What type of work do you want it for?
weldequip

 

[mad hatter]

was looking for something that could weld car bodies to fabricating bike frames .. also need it to be able to do alu as well as steel. The lower end Sealeys seem to have a bad rep in this forum but nothing about the superMIGs

 

[weldequip]

The SuperMigs are in a bigger case but will do want you want. What kind of money is the 220 these days?
weldequip

 

[Wozzaaah]

The SuperMigs are in a bigger case but will do want you want. What kind of money is the 220 these days?
weldequip

About the same as a Portamig 211!

The sealey's lowest setting is a fairly high 40 amps, not particularly good for bodywork, the portamig goes down to 20 amps, VERY good for bodywork.
The duty cycle @ 60% on the sealey is 85 amps, on the Portamig it's 120 amps.
AFAIK the sealey only has a 1 year warranty on the transformer, I think the Portamig's has 2, maybe more. (Weldequip?)
The Sealey has a spot weld timer, the portamig doesn't.
The sealey wants a 26 amp input supply, the portamig wants 20 amps.

 

[irondarren]

Not sure what the wire feed unit is like on the 195, but if its similar to the 180, i would say its not really good enough for aluminium, need a good feed unit for ally

 

[mad hatter]

Can get the 220 for under £500 from the Sealey website. Has anyone had experience of this SuperMIG welder ? Just don't want to waste money on something that will fry itself after the first year

 

[mad hatter]

From what I've seen on other posted forums the Portamig looks pretty good, what does the equivalent portamig retail for ?

 

[mad hatter]

would be looking at something like the portamig 181 if possible

 

[Wozzaaah]

Portamig 181 is somewhere around the £485 mark I believe, not sure though, you'd have to ask weldequip. I may be slightly biased steering you towards a portamig but I own one (361 compact) and they're very nice solid machines with no-quibble backup. The duty cycle on the 181 is 60%@90A so still better than the supermig 220 in that respect but without the grunt at the top end.

 

[mad hatter]

Cheers for the feedback .. pretty much decided on a portamig, it's just whether to go with the 181 or the next one up but that depends on the cost as I don't really want to go above £500 if I can help it. (Weldequip) ... Can you give me quotes for the 181 and the next one up.

Cheers for the advice

 

[weldequip]

PM'd you earlier, return your email address
weldequip

 

[mad hatter]

Done