buying new mig help

[compactor8]

looking at buying new mig around 185 amp, been looking at a new sealey 185 super mig euro torch heavy duty feed
spot weld on ebay £339 single phase i work on big bits of
plant to motorbikes is this a good welder,

 

[irondarren]

If your working on big bits of plant you need more than 180 amps. 180amps is ok for up to about 6mm, 8mm at a push if well prepared. you are really looking at a 250amp machine, one of the things with the sealey machine is it wont have a high duty cycle at top end perhaps as low as 10%, meaning if you have to run it at high power settings it will often over heat and need cooling breaks. The alternative is to either buy a bigger better quality machine, likey to cost you around 1000 quid for something sensible, or buy something like the sealey for 339 and then buy a inverter for MMA welding the thicker stuff, a 180 amp mma unit is capable of using 4mm rods, which means with multiple runs 25mm plate can be welded

 

[oddball90]

I had an old Sealey 180amp and used it for 2 hours on max with no thermal cut out but the torch did get hot. Will do 6mm plate no probelm but not for 8 hours solid. The newer Sealeys don't seem as good as the older ones though. So as irondarren said if you are doing more plant then you would be better off with a 250 amp professional machine ie migatronic, portamig, lorch, to name just a few.