Advice for first welder

[Oliver Crispin]

Hi there, Newbie alert!

I have never owned a welder before but I have done a bit in the past - Arc and Mig.
I have had a new garage built and had a 16amp outlet installed in anticipation of purchasing a welder.
I am looking for something for occasional use - hobby work probably up to max of 3 - 5 mm steel.
I find it all over confusing as to what to go for but here's my thinking:
Budget up to £500 (ish)
I will be using it in a garage so gasless should be OK (but disposable gas cylinders could also be OK if they are large enough for more than a couple of minutes - and what blend should I use?)
I don't feel up to taking the risk of second-hand - unless from a specialist shop

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Many thanks

 

[cumbriasteve]

Welcome to the forum:

Portamig, R-tech and GYS are the three I would suggest browsing, they all have happy owners on the forum.

If you are doing a lot of 5mm then a 180amp machine would be the best buy, if it's only occasional than the GYS 160 would manage fine.

The Clarke 150 range are good enough machines but you would be pushing it a bit on the 5mm stuff

In my opinion gasless is horrible and totally removes the pleasure of mig welding, I would never use it personally.

 

[rikrobson]

If it were my money it would be the r-tech

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Welcome aboard the forum chap , plenty of help available on here, all you have to do is ask - read the tutorials as you'll find a lot of answers there.

If it were my money it would be the r-tech

That was the decision I reached. Just getting organised with wire and gas so should be able to play soon. I've tried a few beads with arc, but as it was my first ever attempt it wasn't really up to scratch - practice will improve that and I'm impressed with the machine.

If you're welding in a garage, gas would be the preferred option - do a forum search for the BOC Volkszone offer. I'm organised on that and am picking up the Argoshield Y bottle tomorrow. The disposable bottles are rubbish, lasting around 10 minutes and are expensive to buy [relatively].

Let the fun begin.......

 

[Wallace]

I'll echo Cumbriasteve with the gasless setup, spending that much money on a first welder go straight in with an Argon mix gas as you will not regret it and certainly not the disposables. The BOC Volkzone deal or whatever it's called this week is good value.

 

[rikrobson]

The r-tech has polarity reversal for gasless and mma. So there are two reasons to get it and gas later. Again it's my personal choice for the r-tech.

 

[Oliver Crispin]

Wow! that's quick!
So I'm getting a clear steer here. Am I right in thinking consensus is:
Mig Welder R-Tech IMIG180 which can be had for - £442.80 inc VAT
I'm inclined to take your advice on the gas thing too. I took your advice on the Volkszone / Hobbyist Welder thing and I'm thinking that rent free is likely to be a better deal for me.
I'm going to have a cat with the R-Tech people over the next few days.
I will let you know how I get on.
Thanks all.

 

[Oliver Crispin]

OK all ordered.
FWIW to get started with rent-free gas and with add-ons for arc welding the welding machine is only about 53% of the total cost.
Hope to get a chance to play this weekend!