IFL i-Tech MIG170 opinions please

[Laurie Price]

I'm looking for a welder for my dad, I've done a bit of welding myself but not enough to have a good idea of what machine to get.

He would be welding together 10mm rod, to make garden trestles and things but he wouldn't be using it very often.

I liked the look of the IFL i-Tech MIG170 but wanted some opinions on this machine. I ideally wanted something around £500 plus or minus £100 and hoped to get a transformer based machine so it would be slightly more reliable (the IFL i-Tech is inverter based but if its a good machine I don't mind).

Anyone had any experience with this machine or can recommend a better one?

 

[Laurie Price]

Or would an SWP MIG 220 be more suitable for what I need? The higher current will deal with the thickness of the material a bit better but it doesn't have multiple functions for MMA or TIG. Or would the MMA on the IFL i-Tech be ok for this as well?

 

[daleyd]

What is your space like - the transformer based machines can be quite big, not an issue if they are only going to live in a workshop but they are not easily portable. You are correct though in that there is less to go wrong with a transformer type welder so you would have to weigh that up as well. (That's not saying that inverters are unreliable, just they are a bit more complex)

Ifl are a reputable company, I think there was a guy from Ireland on here who bought one and seemed to like it but not had any more updates recently.

I've got an rtech 3 in 1 and I quite like it, it's good to be able to do a bit of stick welding if the mood takes me. It's also handy for thicker material and if you are outside (less affected by wind than mig).

Maybe have a word with your dad and see what he would prefer, though if your spending 600 big ones on him I don't think he would complain either way !

 

[norlander]

I have no knowledge of IFL stuff but think its rated fairly well, and I think its built in the UK. I would hazard a guess that the IFL 170 will do the job on 10 mm rod because I have a reasonable quality 160 amp machine and it certainly packs a punch, if buying a more mass produced machine, I would aim for 200 amps, it should then deliver enough oomph to do the 10mm rod.
The R-tech machines look to be well capable from seeing the doubleboost videos, one point about the R-Techs is that they are available on easy payments, so you could set your dad up with the welder, plus gas and decent helmet, PPE and gloves etc and any grinders and flap disks etc if needed, thus you can spread the pain out but start off with a decent equipment base.
A proper gas set up makes a world of difference, as does a wire cup brush on a small angle grinder for clean up if he has to use fluxcore.

 

[daleyd]

^^ norlander raises a good point there, take into account the price of gas as well if buying a plain mig set. Don't bother with the tiny disposable bottles, you'll just get frustrated.

if you get a machine that can do mma as well then you can just buy a pack of rods and be away welding leaving the gas for a later date.

 

[CRB]

I have an earlier IFL 170.

I am still crap some of the time, but the machine is super.

 

[norlander]

thing is tho d, stick is a bit tricky to get to grips with for a beginner-I still cock it up when I go back to using it again, MIG is much more forgiving, specially (I find anyway) if you are welding at higher settings. I think I would steer the gentleman towards fluxcore rather than MMA if no gas to start with??.
Having MMA capability is good though-but I'm using mine less and less now.

 

[keeny]

ive had a gys, they good, untill father in law fall in love with it , now ive bought a r-tech inverter, brilliant machine
not much different than a i-tech..

 

[Laurie Price]

What is your space like - the transformer based machines can be quite big, not an issue if they are only going to live in a workshop but they are not easily portable. You are correct though in that there is less to go wrong with a transformer type welder so you would have to weigh that up as well. (That's not saying that inverters are unreliable, just they are a bit more complex)

Ifl are a reputable company, I think there was a guy from Ireland on here who bought one and seemed to like it but not had any more updates recently.

I've got an rtech 3 in 1 and I quite like it, it's good to be able to do a bit of stick welding if the mood takes me. It's also handy for thicker material and if you are outside (less affected by wind than mig).

Maybe have a word with your dad and see what he would prefer, though if your spending 600 big ones on him I don't think he would complain either way !

Space isn't a problem but I think having the TIG option would be preferential. Think the inverter will be alright, my dad is an electronic engineer so I'm sure he'll understand what he needs to do if something goes wrong.

 

[Laurie Price]

I have no knowledge of IFL stuff but think its rated fairly well, and I think its built in the UK. I would hazard a guess that the IFL 170 will do the job on 10 mm rod because I have a reasonable quality 160 amp machine and it certainly packs a punch, if buying a more mass produced machine, I would aim for 200 amps, it should then deliver enough oomph to do the 10mm rod.
The R-tech machines look to be well capable from seeing the doubleboost videos, one point about the R-Techs is that they are available on easy payments, so you could set your dad up with the welder, plus gas and decent helmet, PPE and gloves etc and any grinders and flap disks etc if needed, thus you can spread the pain out but start off with a decent equipment base.
A proper gas set up makes a world of difference, as does a wire cup brush on a small angle grinder for clean up if he has to use fluxcore.

What kind of gas would you suggest, I've seen CO2 and Argon suggested. What is a good way of getting a gas set up because I've always been told not to bother as gas bottles are expensive to hire. Is there a smaller gas bottle that you can buy outright or something? I've never used fluxcore so am more comfortable having a gas set up.

 

[Bill Edwards]

You can get gas where you pay a deposit on the cylinder or take out the 'Volkzone' offer from BOC where you rent the cylinder.
There are pros and cons to each. How close you are to a supply may be a factor to consider too.

The rent free cylinders are small and they don't have a high fill pressure so don't last all that long, and the refills are expensive. Renting gives a lot more gas and cheap refills but it does depend on how much you go through. Rough calculations suggest that if you go through a bottle a year it's best to rent.

As to the gas, you can use CO2 for MIG welding, but a mixture of argon and CO2 is far superior.
For TIG you need pure argon, so bear in mind that if you want the TIG option it'll cost to have a second type of gas - you cannot use the same for both types of welding.