another which welder?

[oscar13]

hiyaaa, another newbie post so apologies in advance

im after a cheapish second hand mig welder. thats all i know... ill be using it on steel for cars like sills or reworking/manufacturing parts and possibly fitting roll cage(s)

ive probs got a budget of 150? so not big by any means...
i dont know whether i want/need a gas one or non gas or both...
the ones we have at college are mighty mig ones....

whats a good option for starting out pleaseeeee??

 

[cumbriasteve]

Welcome to the forum.

You are going to struggle with your budget, especially if you need to purchase gas, mask, gloves etc.

For car work any of the small Clarkes would be ok, some are able to use gas and gasless, for roll cages you really need 130 to 150 amp machines I should think.

Gasless is a little more difficult to use on thin material and is not as tidy to weld with, although many peope manage after practice.

I have seen 2nd hand Clarkes with masks going for the budget you have but you really do need to see them working.

Ebay can provide some good machines, it can also be a dumping ground for rubbish, think I would trust the 'for sale' section here a lot more, MIG's do come up for sale but like I mention you are limited with the budget.

Good luck

 

[slimjim]

For £150 your likely to be buying trouble

 

[oscar13]

Whats a more realistic budget for a second hand decent ish welder then please folks?

 

[oscar13]

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-CLARKE-13AMP...897?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d315a6b99

any good?

 

[cumbriasteve]

I don't know enough about Clarkes to comment on that model, I can remember reading some of the cheaper models were rebadged Wolfs I think, which is not good.

Check Machine Mart out, I have a VAT free voucher that has to be used by close of day Monday, if you wanted to use it I can email it to you, just drop me a PM with your email address

I think this is the popular one..

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/151te-turbo-mig-welder?da=1&TC=SRC-mig

There are others and I suspect the back up will be better than Ebay

 

[slimjim]

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-CLARKE-13AMP...897?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d315a6b99

any good?

They are ok, not great, but better than the cheap chinese carp, you will need to spend £40 more on a regulator conversion though, and buy a decent mask, they look like they are old stock, as I thought they were replaced long ago.

Someday though you will want a quality one, with an eurotorch,

 

[keith19]

If you are limited in budget, like many of us, the Clarke 151EN is as good a choice as any, and cheaper than some of the newer Clarkes. It doesn't do anything brilliantly, but it does everything, within its limitations, very well.

Like all the hobby Clarkes, even those which pretend to be 160 models, it has a top output of 150 Amps, and that is for short runs only, as it soon runs out of breath at that end of the scale. But at that output, they all do.

At the bottom end it goes down to 30 Amps, so okay for thinnish body panels, with some practice. It will weld thin stuff all day.

It's about the cheapest new decent Clarke you can get, will use gas and gasless wire, so is more versatile than some of the more expensive hobby Clarke models. I wouldn't buy one from ebay, though. This company sell for not much more than the ebay price, and give good backup. I got mine from them a year ago, and am well satisfied:

http://www.wilstar.co.uk/products/2/118/clarke_151en_mig/

Or, if you have a MachineMart no vat voucher:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/mig151en-turbo-no-gas-mig-welder

 

[oscar13]

didnt check in on here recently sorry for the no replies.... sorry..

whats a eurotorch??
cheers for the offer on the vat free voucher. sorry i missed the opportunity

 

[cumbriasteve]

didnt check in on here recently sorry for the no replies.... sorry..

whats a eurotorch??
cheers for the offer on the vat free voucher. sorry i missed the opportunity

A eurotorch is just a better quality, industrial standard torch, for the average user who is doing car repairs etc, it's not in my opinion that much of an advantage, a nice to have rather than an essential to have.