Best small MIG?

[hogster]

I dabbled in some a couple of years ago when I was modding an old motorbike frame,after that the welder just sat in the corner with me lumbered with the contract for the gas...eventually I sold it but now wish I hadn't, so I'm looking to buy again but don't really want the hassle of gas bottles/conyracts etc for the amount of use it will get.
Can anyone recommend a decent little welder(I'm thinking gas/gasless type?) just to have for the odd job...like replacing some of the iron work on my old trailer?
I don't have loads of money but it is my birthday soon
Any advice/tips would be much appreciated

 

[MIG WELDER 199256]

the clarke range of mig welders are good and can be used with a disposable bottle of argon co2 mix gas which cost anything between 10 and 15 pound from places like halfords

 

[cumbriasteve]

Why not use a pub size bottle of CO2, even on contract mine is only costing me £12 a year and £11 for a refill, much cheaper than disposables and good enough for general mild steel welding.

 

[hogster]

That's a thought Steve,didn't know that was an option I used to use a special shielding gas(name escapes me...argoshield?) contract was with BOC...£114 per year plus refills! Where do you get the CO2 gas from? is it as effective?

 

[shenion]

You can get CO2 from a pub if you get friendly with the owner. They go through several bottles a month so they can easily just call up their supplier and ask for another.

You can also look at fire extinguisher service companies.

CO2 works fine. On thin metal the weld is a bit wider so blowing through is a bit more of a problem. It also has a lower wire speed range that make it spatter of the MIG feeder is not smooth.

I used it on my Clarke 130 a few times and it worke with no spatter:

Here's a sample on 1mm steel: