Need some advice

[Ethan Leonard]

Hi.
I'm a 17 year old apprentice working on morris minors. Im based in the weldshop at the company i work for and i'm running a butters 180 amp mig with 0.6mm mild steel wire.
I've never bought my own mig this mig was supplied by the company and I enjoy using it everyday.
The problem I have is I want a decent lightweight one I can use for projects at home and something much easier to transport. Without the hassle of a heavy unit and gas bottle.
I've been looking at wolf mig sets and clarke migs but I cant decide what would be a great start up mig.. My budget is about £350 max.
Any help would be great thanks

 

[daleyd]

you cant get away from the gas bottle thing with mig, though you can try gas less wire, some people get on ok others don't.

With a Clarke or wolf you will still be looking at a "relatively" heavy unit as they are transformer based. If you want a mig and portability an inverter is the way to go but they would come in a bit over your budget.

There is a gys smartmig in the for sale section here complete with helmet etc, physically a bigger machine but comes with wheels to move it around on and could be worth considering in my opinion.

 

[Ethan Leonard]

you cant get away from the gas bottle thing with mig, though you can try gas less wire, some people get on ok others don't.

With a Clarke or wolf you will still be looking at a "relatively" heavy unit as they are transformer based. If you want a mig and portability an inverter is the way to go but they would come in a bit over your budget.

There is a gys smartmig in the for sale section here complete with helmet etc, physically a bigger machine but comes with wheels to move it around on and could be worth considering in my opinion.

are the machines that use the disposable gas any good? I dont have a lot of room to store one that big at the moment. But cheers for the advice

 

[cumbriasteve]

The small disposable bottles are expensive and last no time at all, certainly not something I would advise anyone to use.

Between Wolf and Clarke, Clarke are the outright winner by a long way and about as light as you will get for a transformer based hobby machine, the GYS is certainly worth considering also.

 

[Ethan Leonard]

Okay cool, I was offered a boc transmig 140 by my uncle a while back might just be worth getting that all it needs is a gas bottle. Cheers for the advice

 

[Ethan Leonard]

I agree that clarke trumps wolf by a bit of a margin, but...

The transmig, if it's working (well, even if it's not really) is in a different league - I would crawl over a large collection of brand new clarkes to get to a rusty and beaten up transmig

Would it make you jealous if I told you ive bartered him down to selling it to me for £150 with a torch which looks quite heavy duty (need to investigate the model and make) and a full 15kg reel of wire too.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Okay cool, I was offered a boc transmig 140 by my uncle a while back might just be worth getting that all it needs is a gas bottle. Cheers for the advice

So..considering the Uncle should be trustworthy and would not sell you a load of rubbish, also you have the chance to try it and know it's history, plus it was well under your budget, then why on earth were you bothering considering what you were in the first place?

 

[rikrobson]

my R-tech 250 is slightly lighter than my old BOC/Cebora 130. Its the Gas bottle that get in the way. I've got one of the big jobbies that sits in the corner of the workshop and run a hose round to the trolley.

 

[Ethan Leonard]

So..considering the Uncle should be trustworthy and would not sell you a load of rubbish, also you have the chance to try it and know it's history, plus it was well under your budget, then why on earth were you bothering considering what you were in the first place?

I thought that the disposable gas migs would be cheaper but from all the knowledge of you guys ive come to the conclusion to just deal with a big one instead and get a gas bottle

 

[mike 109444]

Just note that not all the gas cylinders are the full size/height that you may have in work. Some are about the size of a pub gas cylinder (Oh yer 17, well a pub is a place that people USE to go to, to partake of alcohol.....) Look up the 10lt and 20lt cylinders that some of the gas suppliers do.
And welcome BTW

 

[Ethan Leonard]

Just note that not all the gas cylinders are the full size/height that you may have in work. Some are about the size of a pub gas cylinder (Oh yer 17, well a pub is a place that people USE to go to, to partake of alcohol.....) Look up the 10lt and 20lt cylinders that some of the gas suppliers do.
And welcome BTW

Haha thanks for the welcome. I've found a couple of 9-10l ones on welduk, any other sites you guys recommend? Or should i rummage through posts on the shielding gas section?

 

[daleyd]

A company called sgs does a nationwide gas service, usually done through motor factors etc. they are the ones I use, maybe not the cheapest but I'm not a big user so it pays for me to be rental free.

If your going to be using a fair bit of gas the volkzone deal from boc is pretty good, but that comes with a rental charge for the cylinders.

Then you have other rental free options such as Albee, hobby weld etc. also worth a call to local gas suppliers in the yellow pages as though they might not be mentioned on here they can offer good deals

 

[evobilly666]

Under 18 may be an issue with BOC account but worth checking. Also look into Ryval gas, they seem competitive. Consider cylinder pressure when buying gas too. Higher pressures mean more gas in a given cylinder size

 

[mike 109444]

Who supplies the gas for your company ?
Might be worth asking if you can purchase through the company and let them doc your wage to keep it official.
Failing that then I think you will find APD in Whitehouse street do the SGS bottles. British welding on Sheen road do the Albee bottles Get prices before committing though as there is usually a deposit on bottle THEN cost of gas, then you pay for each refill and rem the VAT!!
I use CO2 only and get that from a wine cellar supplies place off Lawrence Hill.
There is a place called R J King out at Farrington Gurney That advertise they do welding gas, but yet to try them for price (any one else know ?)
BPC are down the road from your works at Whitby Road But as said by EB666 your age might stop them issuing you with gas. As some people use OTHER gases for () recreation then they may be a bit more watchful. (Waring your overalls might stop them queering it!)