Do I need a bigger MIG machine?

[grim_d]

I've been asked to make some railings amongst other stuff that was originally specced as mostly 40x5mm flat bar, no problem.

Spec has now changed to 40x10mm. (Or possibly 8mm)

Pretty much entirely fillet welds.

I currently have a 200amp inverter machine (thermal arc 211) which I feel is quite a bit on the small side, even with 1mm wire and heavy gas, even though the charts Inside say it's capable.

I'm thinking of picking up a 250/300 amp machine and selling it once I'm done, Is that overkill for one job? Should I just bevel everything and stick with what I have?

 

[TEO]

Depends whether the pull of a new toy outweighs time available to prep/chamfer the material & budgetary constraints.
I reckon that with the right prep & enough passes you can get a good result with the machine you have on 10mm

 

[arther dailey]

are the railings drilled with round bar dropped in then welded?

 

[grim_d]

are the railings drilled with round bar dropped in then welded?

Nah it's loads of flat bar all welded together with a glazed Infill and oak handrail.

Had it been round bar dropped through flat It would have been fine for my current machine.


Look like I can pick up a 3 phase 300amp transformer machine for about £500, that's not terrible.

 

[tom2207]

id say that if your power supply is good to where your working , and you do the required prep your old machine will be grand
you wont be laying down meters of weld at a time so duty cycle wont be an issue ..

then again , if you just '' want'' a new machine , what a great excuse ,,, the worlds your lobster , go for it.

 

[Barking Mat]

Nah it's loads of flat bar all welded together with a glazed Infill and oak handrail.

Had it been round bar dropped through flat It would have been fine for my current machine.

View attachment 414724
Look like I can pick up a 3 phase 300amp transformer machine for about £500, that's not terrible.

I picked up a second-hand one, fifteen years ago admittedly, it was £150.

Do some destructive testing on test bits and see what you think.

I'd be surprised if even at 0.8 wire, you can't put down some nice welds to hold that solidly together.

It's a handrail barrier, looks over engineered, unless they have bulls or rhinos in the vicinity.

As it's a handrail, I'd be hard pushed to make multiple passes look tidy.

One good deep pass, slowly, try it, see what happens

 

[arther dailey]

Nah it's loads of flat bar all welded together with a glazed Infill and oak handrail.

Had it been round bar dropped through flat It would have been fine for my current machine.

View attachment 414724
Look like I can pick up a 3 phase 300amp transformer machine for about £500, that's not terrible.

hence my question

 

[steve t]

Can you get spray transfer on 0.8 wire with your current machine. Give you a nice strong clean weld for all them corners.

 

[grim_d]

Can you get spray transfer on 0.8 wire with your current machine. Give you a nice strong clean weld for all them corners.

Not really sadly.

Should be able to get into spray with this though.

 

[Ed.]

If your wiring can handle it, then I would say go for it, you do know it's all about the size....right!

Seriously though, if you have a bigger machine then it will give you a lot more choices on the size of materials or jobs that you can weld without worrying about if your machine can handle it or not.

I had a look at the specs on it and the load voltage is 17-29V so should be spray transfer capable and at 500 pounds it should pay for itself quite quickly.