first mig welder suggestions

[Howie]

i'm looking for a mig welder that is capable of taking a refillable gas bottle and using for body work. my price range is up 2 300 pounds. I have seen the sealey 150 supermig that takes the right gas bottles any suggestions as it seems alot of you here dislike sealey welders

 

[cumbriasteve]

Forums generally do identify the welding machines that prove anything but reliable, I have no experience of the Sealey but Clarke seem to be one of the best machines that drop into your price bracket, many many people have them and seem happy with them.

 

[gavuk]

I had a sealey xt 130,and it worked well and gave me trouble free service for 7years ,just yesterday i was speaking to a bodyshop owner who had a sealey 180amp ,i asked how he was getting on with it as they were not highly thought of ?."best thing i ever bought ! 11years trouble free,works great !",I think sealey are poorly represented on the forum ,where as clarke are well represented,that doesn't mean that the sealey's are bad welders,we really need a side by side "shoot out" between clarke and sealey to proove this once and for all.!...There does appear to be a difference in quality between seigen sealey and sealey (red) ,perhaps related to the red sealey being a re-badged telwin(italy)and seigen being from asia?......all said and done the clarke is still the obvious choice ,at least for now,as there are numerous happy owners on here to testify to

 

[Howie]

any welders that might be good for me ?

 

[gavuk]

Just read someones comments on a sealey 150 and it was all bad ......most people like the clarkes and do have back up ,have a look at weldquip shop ,get the biggest you can afford ,90amp only good for thin car work....or look for 2nd hand ,but that is a gamble ,the 160te from weldquip seems a popular choice ,have a chat with Steve see what kind of he deal he can work out ,he will remind you to get a mask,gloves etc etc

 

[lotus_esprit_s1]

I had a sealey xt 130,and it worked well and gave me trouble free service for 7years ,just yesterday i was speaking to a bodyshop owner who had a sealey 180amp ,i asked how he was getting on with it as they were not highly thought of ?."best thing i ever bought ! 11years trouble free,works great !",I think sealey are poorly represented on the forum ,where as clarke are well represented,that doesn't mean that the sealey's are bad welders,we really need a side by side "shoot out" between clarke and sealey to proove this once and for all.!...There does appear to be a difference in quality between seigen sealey and sealey (red) ,perhaps related to the red sealey being a re-badged telwin(italy)and seigen being from asia?......all said and done the clarke is still the obvious choice ,at least for now,as there are numerous happy owners on here to testify to

I've got a Sealey SuperMIG 180, I can't rate it high enough (although I did get it for free) It sat unused in a wooden shack ten yards from the sea for 10 years, casing had no paint left on it, just rust. I asked the guy who owned it if I could borrow it and he said he had no idea if it still worked but I might aswell have it as they'd only used it for one job all those years ago.

Judging by the state of the rusty casing and the solid reel of rust on the spool I didn't hold out much hope but it fired up straight away, stuck a new reel on it and started welding straight away. It has performed faultlessly for three years now, fitted a new liner a while ago and that's it. Compared to Clarke's I've used (admittedly the 135TE ' s) It is leaps ahead. All the parts seem available from Sealey.

I went to a local fabricators recently and they had two 185 supermigs on the go and they too rated them very highly.