Hi all, new to mig welding, been stick welding as a hobby for a while and fancy a mig to make things a bit easier and not having to reload electrodes constantly.
I've currently got a couple of options. One is a little above what I want to pay, but I'm conscious of the "you get what you pay for" element as well.
My two options are a telwin telmig 130 turbo for £50 from a mate as a favour.
I would need to buy a regulator and gas bottle as it doesn't come with one and doesn't appear to be able to run on fluxed wire as I can't see anywhere to change the torch polarity. Its a stock torch on the machine and will take a 15kg reel.
The data plates appears to only show 2 amp settings, even though it appears to have 4 selectable setting (1,2,min,max) on 2 separate switches.
The data plate shows 105amps and 50amps.
All in I'd probably be looking at 125 with gas and regulator. Local gas supply is around 50 to 60 inc bottle and reg is 17quid.
The second option is a much bigger unit, an ERP 210 unit with euro torch, comes with a standard hobbyweld bottle of gas with regulator for £180. The duty cycles on the bigger unit are much better, it has 5 selectable power settings from 30amps to 210.
It is also a lot bigger and much less portable.
I only do occasional welding, tinkering here and there. I rebuilt a small car trailer over Christmas and am currently building a larger trailer and have some other projects on the go.
My worry is I would also like to be able to do some car repairs with whichever unit I buy. But the min 50amps setting on the telwin is putting me off. A friend who does a lot of metal sculpture welding says 50amps will be fine as long as I spot weld and don't try and run a long weld at that power on thin sheet. But I'm after some general advice to either back this up or point me in the right direction
Any help, advice or ridicule appreciated.
I've currently got a couple of options. One is a little above what I want to pay, but I'm conscious of the "you get what you pay for" element as well.
My two options are a telwin telmig 130 turbo for £50 from a mate as a favour.
I would need to buy a regulator and gas bottle as it doesn't come with one and doesn't appear to be able to run on fluxed wire as I can't see anywhere to change the torch polarity. Its a stock torch on the machine and will take a 15kg reel.
The data plates appears to only show 2 amp settings, even though it appears to have 4 selectable setting (1,2,min,max) on 2 separate switches.
The data plate shows 105amps and 50amps.
All in I'd probably be looking at 125 with gas and regulator. Local gas supply is around 50 to 60 inc bottle and reg is 17quid.
The second option is a much bigger unit, an ERP 210 unit with euro torch, comes with a standard hobbyweld bottle of gas with regulator for £180. The duty cycles on the bigger unit are much better, it has 5 selectable power settings from 30amps to 210.
It is also a lot bigger and much less portable.
I only do occasional welding, tinkering here and there. I rebuilt a small car trailer over Christmas and am currently building a larger trailer and have some other projects on the go.
My worry is I would also like to be able to do some car repairs with whichever unit I buy. But the min 50amps setting on the telwin is putting me off. A friend who does a lot of metal sculpture welding says 50amps will be fine as long as I spot weld and don't try and run a long weld at that power on thin sheet. But I'm after some general advice to either back this up or point me in the right direction
Any help, advice or ridicule appreciated.