Clarke 230 TEC

[Tractor Dave]

Hi there,
Anyone have any thoughts/expereince with the Clarke 230 TEC mig welder? Thought i'd move on from my sip 130 that is on its last legs!
Cheers
Dave.

 

[weldequip]

Decent enough machine, although there's better stuff available for your money in my opinion. Wire feed motor/assembly let's them down at that price level, and the Duty Cycle's not brilliant What kind of work do you want the machine for?

 

[Tractor Dave]

I want the welder for fabrication of log splitters, log arches etc so needs to be able to do 6/7 mm steel and a good duty cycle (and be durable of course ) ! What would you recommend?
Thanks.

 

[weldequip]

A decent Arc welder would be the most economical route, or as big as you can afford MIG wise; you limited to single phase supply?

 

[Tractor Dave]

I've got a 190 arc welder, i'd like a Mig as i've got used to using them at where i used to work! Yea just the home supply sadly, so i'd guess 230 would be about the biggest mig i'd be able to go for...

 

[weldequip]

You can go to around 450 Amps on single phase, but you'd need a hell of a supply. The 230 (actually 210 Amps) will need a 16/25 Amp supply to run flat out.

 

[Tractor Dave]

So for a budget of £550 what machine would you recommend?

 

[Ragnarok]

I think weldequip is hinting at the portamig though the equivalent is £599 it's probably worth the extra, they have very good wire feeds and all the owners on here seem very happy with them, and they come with a regulator, dunno if the clarke does if it doesn't that makes the portamig only about £20 over your budget, you're probably much better off with the portamig and the biggest you can afford considering you want it for some pretty heavy gauge steel for those log splitters

 

[Tractor Dave]

Haha knew i was missing something.... Just had a look at the portamig, looks like a good machine and for proffessional use! Does it have a "turbo" to keep it cool? Do you have the dimensions for it as it's got to fit under my bench!
Cheers for the advice!

 

[Ragnarok]

you just want to look at duty cycles, "turbo" and all that is just something companies say that means fan, they just say it to make it sound high tech/fancy.

 

[Tractor Dave]

From looking at all the threads on here there are a lot of happy people with portamig, all seem to be doing thin steel though ie car bodies etc, what are they like on the thicker stuff (i am an ag engineer lol)?
Cheers

 

[weldequip]

So for a budget of £550 what machine would you recommend?

Spend more & get something bigger!
More or less anything will be better than your current set, and you'd notice a huge difference with something like the Clarke 230TE, but still not really up to that type of work - not for longevity anyway. The Portamigs are good (apart from the wait!) & better than most equivalent priced models, but are still only in the medium duty class (the one's on the website - there are much heavier duty versions available); I'd be looking at the £800 - £1000+ price mark to get something really up to the job that's going to last

 

[gavuk]

Steve can you elaborate on medium duty class please ,are they based on duty cycle?how does a buyer know what class they are buying ,i ask for information only because i'm a tight wad

 

[Ragnarok]

the reason you'll see alot being used for work in cars is that most people that weld in a hobbyest setting will some car work, and also the 15 amp minimum that some of the portamigs go down to, also the quality of the machines seems good, i've not seen a portamig in the flesh, but i've seen the oxfords (which are made by the same people with many of the same components but a bit of a different spec) and they seem like solidly built machines with excellent wire feed units, which i'm sure you'll know is important if you've used your sip much haha
you say you'll be welding 6-7mm, for that to work really well and not to be annoying i think you'd be best off with a biggish machine say 270+ amps with as think wire as posable and a good duty cycle, but for that you're looking at more like £850 minimum not £550

 

[Tractor Dave]

Dont get me started about the sip...... its useless! I'd like a proper big mig welder.... sadly the budget and space are a bit tight! Thanks for the advice, i'll have to make a decission soon, i want to crack on with these projects of mine!

 

[Ragnarok]

I have an sip top mig 195, pretty awful but i can do a good job with it when the wire feed is working ok haha i never use it for anything over 3-4mm though, cold starts on over 3mm are awful, so i just go for arc for most stuff over that, which personally i think is the best way to weld really thick stuff, cheap quick and a 150 will even weld 16mm, though when i did a load of that i could only do 3" of each pass before it cut out haha so i got a 300amp, but the 150 got the job done!