Attention, men in sheds: Got £700 to spend

[Fazed]

So, Fella's...
I've been given written permission, in triplicate, signed and countersigned in blood by the Mrs, that I can spend around £700 on some new weld plant.
I need a new mig of around 200-plus-amps and have narrowed it down to either the much lauded Portamig 235, the SWP MIG220, and the Oxford Migmaker 240.
I've pestered Steve Weldequip about the Portamig, and am very grateful for his advice, but I'd like some opinions from real-world users of the above plant.
Personally, I'm leaning toward the SWP. I like the sound of only needing a 16 amp 240v supply... but then the Portamig has the better duty cycle of all three.
Other useful trinkets for me are torch trigger latching (of which I don't think any of them have ) and a spot weld timer.

Any advice from owners of the above machines would be gratefully received. Cheers.

Yours,

Confused and indecisive, of Shropshire.

 

[Premiershipman]

Hi Fazed

I recently acquired a Portamig 235 and found it great for all my welding needs especially thin stuff, the power requirements really depend on what thickness you are welding.

I personally set up a spare way in the consumer unit with a 32 amp d type mcb, rcd unit, rotary isolator and finally a 32amp blue round socket which would cater for all my needs and is also used for my arc welder and my hypertherm plasma.

If you can stretch to it to get the 32a supply then it is the better way to go in my opinion but you should be able to weld up to a decent thickness with the portamig using the 16a circuit.

Depends on your plans really.

Shady

 

[Fazed]

Thanks for that, fella.
TBH, the welding of thin stuff is not really a priority. Something that won't murder my consumer unit / leccy bills is.
I get away with gluing 0.9mm zintec together at work with a 385 amp Migatronic, which I believe is 30 amps minimum, and don't have much of a problem.
I would like something that is capable of welding 8mm, maybe up to 10mm with a vee-prepped joint, without gasping like 40 a day asthmatic.
I have a friendly tame electrician who will, at some point, fit a blue socket somewhere in my garage, but in the meantime I seem to get away with running a mig from the cooker socket in my kitchen .

 

[Ducky]

The duty cycle on the Portamig is measured at 30%, on the Oxford it's 35%. At 60% the Oxford is higher so I would guess the Oxford has the best DC of all three albeit there's only a few amps in it.

Either way they are both very nice machines.

Trigger latching is only available on the Oxford 270-1, but then you lose the 20a start current.

 

[Drains]

Assuming they're all transformer-based machines, they'll probably all use much the same input current for a given output. It's only when you crank them up that you'll need the extra supply. In other words, they'll all work on a 13A plug, up to a point.

Better people than me will tell you that some transformers are inefficient and will need more juice to run, but I'll bet all three sets you mentioned will be about the same efficiency-wise.

 

[weldequip]

The duty cycle on the Portamig is measured at 30%, on the Oxford it's 35%

.
We quote a 30% figure and you can also see the 35% figure on Tec-Arc's website.

At 60% the Oxford is higher so I would guess the Oxford has the best DC of all three albeit there's only a few amps in it.

It ain't. Oxford Migmaker 200: 60% @ 100Amps, Portamig 215:60% @ 120Amps, with a better amps range.
There's also a Portamig 255, which we don't have listed, that would be the direct equivalent of your Oxford 240; 35% @ 180Amps, Portamig 255 35% @ 190Amps

 

[StickNtig]

These are very good sets


http://www.hisltd.co.uk/ESAB-OrigoMag-Power-Source.html

http://www.weldingsuppliesdirect.co.uk/welding/Miller_Migmatic_171.html

 

[Ducky]

.
We quote a 30% figure and you can also see the 35% figure on Tec-Arc's website.

It ain't. Oxford Migmaker 200: 60% @ 100Amps, Portamig 215:60% @ 120Amps, with a better amps range.
There's also a Portamig 255, which we don't have listed, that would be the direct equivalent of your Oxford 240; 35% @ 180Amps, Portamig 255 35% @ 190Amps

That is correct, however the OP was looking at the PM235 and the OM240, and between those two the OM240 comes in with the better duty.

 

[Fazed]

The duty cycle on the Portamig is measured at 30%, on the Oxford it's 35%. At 60% the Oxford is higher so I would guess the Oxford has the best DC of all three albeit there's only a few amps in it.

Either way they are both very nice machines.

Trigger latching is only available on the Oxford 270-1, but then you lose the 20a start current.

The Oxford 270-1 would be ideal, but the price with VAT would be over £900. Too salty for me, I'm afraid.

Thanks for the replies so far though - any more thoughts chaps?

 

[rocketron]

Have a Portamig 285, the bigger duty version (ask Steve weldequip, he'll remember it) at work. Ok, it's bigger than your needs, but it's a superb machine, got worked to death last week and not missed a beat (didn't expect it to!) Straight forward, old school m/c, no fancy stuff, weighs a ton, and a damn sight cheaper than local dealers' offerings.