Recommend me a small portable inverter tig/stick welder

[Richard.]

They are good machines, I occasionally work at a place in Leeds where they make undersea valves and manifolds for oil and gas. That place is full of Fronius kit.

Lot of money for occasional use though, but no doubting their quality.

That's the thing, if it's not going to be put through the paces or run on low voltage supply's and it's just for rutiles and 7018's then the benefits of such a unit might not be justified. In this case any 150-200 amp inverter will perform fine.

 

[NickyEng]

They are good machines, I occasionally work at a place in Leeds where they make undersea valves and themanifolds for oil and gas. That place is full of Fronius kit.

Lot of money for occasional use though, but no doubting their quality.

The boatyard I served my time in was all Fronius, the synergic mig welders were 15 grand each at the time, there were 4 of those for starters. It is world class kit but sadly models like the TPS pulse brand new are financially beyond many of us, and many non pro-users simply wouldn't have any need for all those synergic programmable features and wouldnt have a bloody clue how to use it all.

 

[daleyd]

A lot of stuff there is for robotic welding, I dread to think how much money's worth...

as its oil and gas I don't think cash is (or at least was...) much of an issue for them.

 

[premmington]

A lot of stuff there is for robotic welding, I dread to think how much money's worth...

as its oil and gas I don't think cash is (or at least was...) much of an issue for them.

Good point, if oil drops form €29 a barrel down to €20.

They may not bother even to drill for it!

 

[NickyEng]

A lot of stuff there is for robotic welding, I dread to think how much money's worth...

as its oil and gas I don't think cash is (or at least was...) much of an issue for them.

Yep sure the Fronius rep once had a field day with that oil and gas company Dale....not sure about now tho...

 

[daleyd]

Yep sure the Fronius rep once had a field day with that oil and gas company Dale....not sure about now tho...

Your right there.
We had a few jobs on various rigs that had the plug pulled on them when the oil price dropped. They're still making money, just not rolling in it like before is my understanding.

 

[blenkie1]

I would agree with the above!

I have used a Transpocket 1500 that my mate owns and it is very good (plus the housing it is in just feels right).

But I really like the Kemppi Miniarc EVO180 I bought at £560 inc VAT

I think the current price for a Transpocket 1500 is £692 inc VAT


I have been buying Kemppi of late for our workshops when we need new welders. I used to always buy Miller (but got fed up with the repairs).

I think I choose the little Kemppi inverter on the basis of:

30 more amps, same duty cycle @120 amps, it has a digital display, it was £130 cheaper (4x good reasons).

Got to say I like the little set up you have there with the carry system. Nice job.

 

[NickyEng]

I had a boat customer who was a self employed electrician on oil rigs. He told me he earned 180 thousand per year.
I gave him a bill for work on his boat and he phoned me up to argue and went on some boaters forum and said I charged like The Argyll & Sutherland highlanders. I was not happy at all and joined the forum and embarressed him on the forum.
Anyway I got the money off him. 6 months later He appeared in the Marina with a brand new 200 thousand pound boat.
He says to me I could of charged him double on the bill and it was no problem but he basically just likes to flex his muscles. As the self employed guys were the first to get cut in the oil crash here's hoping....lol
There are alot of very comfortable oil guys with boats and alot were making ridiculous salaries but many I have had dealings with wouldn't give you a second hand piece of toilet paper they are so mean.
I took another oil worker to court for non payment too. He was overall in charge of an oil rig. God knows what his salary was.
I think alot who have had it far too good are in for a shell shock.

 

[PTvor]

The O/P could always buy a Parweld/R-Tech/Thermal Arc etc and use it for the several years it takes to ponder these more serious bits of kit and save up for one.

 

[Richard.]

I had one of the 1st gen fronius magicwaves.
Actually I had 2 at one point. (Long story). It was a fantastic tool. On AC it was dreamy to use.

 

[HMB]

Well after this I'm quite liking the idea of what wendlespanwick said off the Gys gysmi 200. Light portable, lift tig and ideal I think. Now to get a good price....

 

[Richard.]

Nice choice. You'll do just fine with one of those.

 

[Kent]

you know if the 600 is to cover the TIG torch and a portable bottle regulator etc its got to be parweld and the Esab buddy all the way I think they can both come HF start the esab can anyhow

I have a buddy myself with tig torch etc. to be fair I cant kill it and have had it a few years now. the plant will basically pay for itself on its first proper job, so its no heartache to replace it. I haven't even blown it out inside, its been dropped and rained on bashed about in the truck.

trying to think what I have invoiced using that little plant, got to be knocking 20k. keep expecting it to go pop but its a stubborn beasty that wont quit

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Well after this I'm quite liking the idea of what wendlespanwick said off the Gys gysmi 200. Light portable, lift tig and ideal I think. Now to get a good price....

Should run you just shy of £400 all inc vat and delivery mate.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Well after this I'm quite liking the idea of what wendlespanwick said off the Gys gysmi 200. Light portable, lift tig and ideal I think. Now to get a good price....

Have a word with Jim as he said he could do one with longer leads which was the only downside with my Gys.

 

[Kent]

Have a word with Jim as he said he could do one with longer leads which was the only downside with my Gys.

oh yeah I remember that unbelievably short as std

 

[Richard.]

you know if the 600 is to cover the TIG torch and a portable bottle regulator etc its got to be parweld and the Esab buddy all the way I think they can both come HF start the esab can anyhow

I have a buddy myself with tig torch etc. to be fair I cant kill it and have had it a few years now. the plant will basically pay for itself on its first proper job, so its no heartache to replace it. I haven't even blown it out inside, its been dropped and rained on bashed about in the truck.

trying to think what I have invoiced using that little plant, got to be knocking 20k. keep expecting it to go pop but its a stubborn beasty that wont quit

Is that the buddy tig 160 you have Kent. I think your right that one is Hf.

 

[matt1978]

I have a Lorch Micor160 unit, shop soiled. Basically it was our display unit from within the show area. It Will burn a 4.0mm Lo-Hy rod and a 3.2 CEL without issue, Can run on extension leads of up to 200 meters, crash proof from 60cm and is Accu-Ready, which means it can be used on our MobilePower1 lithium ion rechargeable battery at any point in the future.

Would still have a full 3yr warranty.

PM me if of interest.

 

[addjunkie]

Your right there.
We had a few jobs on various rigs that had the plug pulled on them when the oil price dropped. They're still making money, just not rolling in it like before is my understanding.

Some are not actually making money, depending where the oil is being produced, for example lifting costs in the north sea average around 50 dollars a barrel, saudi down as low as 9. So at these prices really only land based stuff or really shallow water where costs are low will be making money.

As for drilling new or re rilling older stuff......there will be huge cuts here. It costs about 45 million dollars to complete a new deep water oil well. Thats without the infastructure to get the stuff to surface. Anything deep water is not viable at less than about 85 bucks per barrel. And most of the big finds left are all deep water. Total cost to develop a new deep water field with all its associated issues, topsides kit, subsea infastructure etc would be in the 20 billion bracket these days.

I had a boat customer who was a self employed electrician on oil rigs. He told he earned 180 thousand per year.
I gave him a bill for work on his boat and he phoned me up to argue and went on some boaters forum and said I charged like The Argyll & Sutherland highlanders. I was not happy at all and joined the forum and embarressed him on the forum.
Anyway I got the money off him. 6 months later He appeared in the Marina with a brand new 200 thousand pound boat.
He says to me I could of charged him double on the bill and it was no problem but he basically just likes to flex his muscles. As the self employed guys were the first to get cut in the oil crash here's hoping....lol
There are alot of very comfortable oil guys with boats and alot were making ridiculous salaries but many I have had dealings with wouldn't give you a second hand piece of toilet paper they are so mean.
I took another oil worker to court for non payment too. He was overall in charge of an oil rig. God knows what his salary was.
I think alot who have had it far too good are in for a shell shock.

There was money to be made like this contracting, but what they dont tell you is to make it they are not working your normal equal time.....theyll be doing 6 or 8 weeks on maybe 2 off. Or office based working 5 days but paying their own costs.

In reality there are tossers in every industry just the contract oil game seems to attract more than usual.

As for boat owners there are plenty well off tossers in that world too. The man in charge of a rig is called the OIM, salaries are high but they have a lot of responsibility, place i used to work for had 160 folks on board, and produced 225000 barrels a day. I know exactly how much he was on too, as i saw his promotion letter, in one of our closed door, help how do i motivate these beep beep people with no fathers.

Note, i have 25 years offshore experiece in oil and gas, and 45 years sailing experience. On the boating front i should add based on experience " if it flys, floats, or has sex, it should be rented"

 

[Tom Orrow L]

I have a Lorch Micor160 unit, shop soiled. Basically it was our display unit from within the show area. It Will burn a 4.0mm Lo-Hy rod and a 3.2 CEL without issue, Can run on extension leads of up to 200 meters, crash proof from 60cm and is Accu-Ready, which means it can be used on our MobilePower1 lithium ion rechargeable battery at any point in the future.

Would still have a full 3yr warranty.

PM me if of interest.

Sounds like a perfect option for OP. :]