Budget Mig Welder

[Parm]

Right folks this has probably been done to death, but I'm looking for a an absolute budget gas less mig set up. I'm a hobby welder mostly making stuff from scrap and other freely acquired materials. I'd say I probably weld about once a month. None of my work is structural or highly demanding therefore I'm looking for something very cheap as a step up from an arc welder that was given to me by a friend.

Metal will vary from 1 to 3mm max and very occasionally some 4 or 5 mm

Help and suggestions muchly appreciated

 

[Robotstar5]

Cheapest will be Aldi or Lidl.

 

[PTvor]

You've got to wait for the Aldi migs to come up. I don't think they've sold them for ages.

There's always Giant

http://www.localtoolsales.com/welding-plasma-cutters/mig-welders/mig-welder-130

for £79. You did say an absolute budget gas less mig set up. That one's got a 60 to 120A range.

Then there are those Italian 130A no gas MIGs where the bidding starts off at a quid but they always end up at over £95 all told. Current 55 to 130A.

There are a whole string of new 130A to 150A gasless MIGs on ebay for about £150 which look a bit more likely.

You'd get better value second hand. You could use the arc for 3mm and thicker.

Have you seen this?

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/buying.htm

 

[Parm]

You've got to wait for the Aldi migs to come up. I don't think they've sold them for ages.

There's always Giant

http://www.localtoolsales.com/welding-plasma-cutters/mig-welders/mig-welder-130

for £79. You did say an absolute budget gas less mig set up. That one's got a 60 to 120A range.

Then there are those Italian 130A no gas MIGs where the bidding starts off at a quid but they always end up at over £95 all told. Current 55 to 130A.

There are a whole string of new 130A to 150A gasless MIGs on ebay for about £150 which look a bit more likely.

You'd get better value second hand. You could use the arc for 3mm and thicker.

Have you seen this?

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/buying.htm

Ok thanks very much, I've had a bit of a read and been blasting around on the internet. The Wolf 140 seems to be comming up a fair bit and seems to offer gas/no gas and a good range of power settings all for around the £150 mark.

Is this a better option?

 

[Rig Pig]

I would go for a quality second hand machine any day over a super cheap budget one, the duty cycle will be poor and the machine will not be well built. There is a BOC transmig 140 on EBay for £125 at the moment, for gas less you would just need to swap polarity.

 

[PTvor]

As Rig Pig said.

If you do your homework and aren't in too much of a rush, you'll get much more for your £150 second hand than with new bargain basement stuff. Also if you came to sell it, you'd probably get about what you paid for it.