Bye, bye Clarke...hello??

[L90OOK]

Got rid of my crappy Clarke 110 but what now?
I know of a Butters 170 going for £250. I know they have the plastic wire feed rollers...can they be upgraded? Are these any good?
Is there any other machine worth getting around £300 mark?
Used mainly to weld Land Rovers & 2-5mm steel.
Many thanks

 

[cumbriasteve]

Clarke are fairly well accepted on this site, although I have a Portamig I did once borrow a Clarke 160 and it was a really good machine, why was yours crappy?..... although I am no expert I doubt you will find anything much better than a Clarke within your price range unles you buy a used one.

 

[L90OOK]

Ok not a fair statement. It really wasn't up to welding 3mm plate, or maybe it is me?. Although I must admit it never gave me a days problem.
What is the opinion on Butter Migs?
Thanks

 

[cumbriasteve]

Don't know anything about Butter Migs Im afraid, had a SIP and never again, decided to buy the Portamig because I wanted quality that would last, was expensive but is a fantastic machine and a pleasure to use
Have you done a thread search for Butters, I can remember reading a few posts on them.

 

[cumbriasteve]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/search.php?searchid=1314326

 

[L90OOK]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/search.php?searchid=1314326

hi, this thread doesn't work
I think I may save up my pennies for a portamig 215 or the SWP220

 

[malcolm]

I started with a Clarke 155T (obsolete now). A friend with a Land Rover had one of these awful little gasless things and used to come over to use my welder when he needed to replace major chassis bits. He would always bring beer so I assume he was happy with it.

I wasn't completely happy with it. It was a fiddle to set up and you needed to get the wire speed close to right for it to weld properly, especially out of position. Upgraded (to Portamig 185) and hardly bother setting the wire speed and amps any more It's that side of things you'll really notice with a decent welder not the extra few amps, though you'll want to be over 150 amps if you are going anywhere near a Landy.

The Butters is a lot nicer in that respect than your machine but not so nice as a Portamig, which in turn can be bettered by bigger budget welders.

 

[L90OOK]

Hi Malcolm

Many thanks for the reply.
Yeah, I am now thinking that 220AMP welder is the way to go, especially if I want to fabricate some 5mm bits.