cant decide

[chibitaka]

Im after buying a welder between 170-220A was thinking of maybe a hobart/miller,portamig or esab, from what i here these all seem a good bit of kit. The last time i welded was about 17 years ago so im a bit out of touch, just wondered if anyone had there own opinion on any of these machines to give me a better idea.
Many thanks, jon.....

 

[irondarren]

First thing to ask is what do you want it for, if its for car panel type work, the portamig is good because it goes down to 20amps, if its for heavier work and heavy ish use at top end then you need a good duty cycle. What do you want to do with your machine?

 

[chibitaka]

A bit of everything really, its just as a bit of a hobby for now, was thinking of knocking some gates and railings up but also would'nt mind doing some light duty too_maybe down to 2 or 3mm, also reliability would be a good factor. Thanks......

 

[shenion]

I would add Lincoln Electric to the list; something like the SP-175 or 180

Miller's are good, but don't know what support you get over there.

A Clarke 180EN would do the job for low-end. Best value for DIY use.

A PortaMIG would be better for support and has a higher duty cycle and beefy wire feeder.

How much are you willing to spend?

 

[irondarren]

If you are knocking up some gates and railings for yourself, then a 180-200amp machine would be fine, if you are thinking of doing it to earn money then look at a 250amp machine with 30% duty cycle at top end.
portamig 261 35-260amps 235a @60% duty cycle
Murex 260 40-260amps 250amps@ 20% duty cycle not good if you run at top end for long
Kemmpi 2501 ?-250amps 250amps@30% duty cycle not sure what lowest setting on kemmpi is possible 30-40 amps
esab origo mag c250 ?-250 250amps@20% duty cycle, dont know bottom end settings

that give a choice of a few lol, there are others

 

[Wozzaaah]

Thermal arc fabricator 250 is worth a look as well with a duty cycle of 250 amps@50% it's comparable power-wise to the portamig 261 but I'm not sure about price-wise. Do you have a budget or do you just want a good machine and are happy to pay whatever it costs?

 

[irondarren]

Wozzaaah i was going to suggest the fabricator 250, but if i remember correctly weldequip said the current versions are not put together not as well as the older ones, think the price is around £800+vat. My fabricator 250 has been great its about 12yrs old (australian built current versions are made in far east somewhere)and is now dying very fast. So i am going to need a replacement very soon. I fancy myself a portamig 350 amps with swfu, with a few extra's fitted but funds wont go that far yet. So it is possible that i might have to replace my current machine with one of the machines ive listed

 

[Wozzaaah]

Darren, I can now remember a post way back when weldequip said that, still may be a viable option though. I checked the price and it is pretty similar to the portamig 261 but looking at your list the portamig is definitely the pick of the bunch. I may be slightly biased being a member of the 'portamig owner's club' though . The Sureweld monomig 253 might be worth a look as well, seems to be a fairly decent spec for the price but again, not sure about the quality. As for yourself Darren, get the 361 with swfu, you know you want to!

 

[chibitaka]

Thanks to everyone for there sound advice, the portamig sounds promising, my budget is £500 so hopefully i can get one around the 200A range for that kind of coin. does anyone have a contact where i could get hold of one?

 

[cobminor]

Weldequip on here is your man for a Portamig.

 

[chibitaka]

Thanks cobminor,much appreciated.

 

[weldequip]

I'm in your neck of the woods aswell! Call in n pick me brains... full range on display
weldequip

 

[chibitaka]

Cheers weldequip i will do, where abouts are you located_do you have an address you can send me? thanks, jon.....

 

[weldequip]

Whereabouts are you Jon?
weldequip

 

[chibitaka]

Sorry i didnt reply last night had a little one to feed and change and then it got a bit late, i live near lancaster, Jon