60 amp min too high?

[trx850]

Hi,
I'm looking at buying a mig welder locally. It's a second hand Murex tradesmig 245 and this machine has a range of 60-240amps.
Now I'm going to be welding sil patches and a chassis rail on an mazda MX5 and a boot floor on a Jeep among other things. This is the sort of welding that I see myself doing in the future too with maybe some brackets and box section chassis rail stuff.
It has a stitch weld weld function that is designed to reduce heat, as well as a spot weld timer function.

Is this welder going to be too high current for my tasks as it's minimum is double the usual 30amps min current on many other welders?

My welding is reasonable (and I'll be alot better once I've had a practice again) but I'd rather buy once and not have to be blowing holes through all the time.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Jamie

 

[Drains]

Looking at the specs for that plant I'd say the minimum OCV of 22 volts is too high. I'm not convinced it's the minimum working voltage though as you'd not be able to do an uphill weld with that.

It's a bit of a beast of a machine for thin work, and it only has six voltage settings which makes it pretty basic.

If the price is right, could be worth having but using 0.6mm wire, which will keep the amps down. Without a try-out on some thin sheet, I would probably give it a miss though.

HTH

 

[cumbriasteve]

I think the stitch weld function helps as does a decent machine with good wire feed, however you seem like you have plenty of future use for a machine, so perhaps it's a case of buy once and buy right, it's an advantage to have lower amps at times.

The other option if it is local is to mention your future use to the seller and ask if you can 'have a play' and see how you get on with some bodywork thickness steel.

 

[keith19]

I'd agree with Steve and advise you to check this machine working on thin sheet before buying.

It's the only one in its series that goes down to only 60 Amps; the rest will go down to 30 or 40 amps, which should be manageable on thin steel using the stitch function.

Remember you will be working on quite thin bodywork panels in car repair and restoration, often sub-1.0mm, perhaps as low as 0.6mm. This is the sort of thickness you need to take along for testing with the 245. I have grave doubts of its ability to handle such thin metal, but I may be proved wrong...

 

[trx850]

Thanks for the help, I decided to leave it as 60amp was probably too high and just as well!
It was a second hand machine where the owner couldn't confirm working just that it powered up ok and it went for nearly £500 on a well known auction site! It does weigh in at 80kg so quite a beast too!
Now for that sort of money I'd rather get a new parweld or portamig!