First mig welder?

[Thom.Milburn]

Hi guys, apologies for the mundane post - sure you get asked this a lot!

I'm Thom ( as my username suggests) and having come from a world of Volkswagens, and looking to buy a Defender, i have a feeling a welder would be most useful and fun.

Now, obviously I want bang for my buck but reliability and usability are a must as I have never welded before and intend to buy one machine that will last through my learning curve as well as years into the future!

I think budget would be about £250, i could possibly stretch to 300quid but I'd like that to be a full set up.

Gas and gasless is a must and I'm keen to buy an industrial unit if possible (used would be fine!)

So, have we any recommendations to help a new guy out? And advice would be great! Cheers!

 

[cumbriasteve]

Welcome to the forum

Budget is the crucial thing and new you are limited to hobby machines....very limited, second hand is anyone's guess what you can get, especially this time of the year when money is tight for many.

Have a festive read of the forum and you will soon identify what people like and dislike.

 

[norlander]

cheapest decent machine from weldequip is 369 and no kit for gas-he was doing a decent regulator kit for 37,95 but thats showing sold out.
cheapest from R Tech is 442 - it says regulator supplied but I think that is for disposable bottles
migtigarc has the sealey 150 kit with a disposable gas bottle and regulator (not much cop for serious gas use) at 239 plus VAT.

I have the welder weldequip sells, (and its excellent) , with a full decent gas set up you are probably looking at 450-500 quid I'd guess-I have not looked at regs and gas deals.

 

[Thom.Milburn]

Cheers for that lads. I was wondering if there is an easy way of telling the difference between a hobby style machine and am industrial? I'm wanting a mig with a rating of 150 at least, but 200 would obviously be better. Is the line in that rating or am I overlooking something?

 

[daleyd]

For what you are doing and the budget you have a hobby machine will be fine, industrial units will obviously have better duty cycle, have some fancier features and be built to last, however you are unlikely to run into duty cycle issues at home.

Second hand you may find a used industrial unit, the names to look for would be cebora, murex, esab, miller etc though you are unlikely (Thats not to say you wont) to get some of these for the money you are talking about unless they are heavily used.

Realistically you would need to up your budget a bit to get a full kit, esp new, though as norlander says the GYS that weldequip sells seems to be one of the better new machines for the money asked. If you really cant stretch above 300 noes then I'd have a look on ebay for a decent secondhand machine (Make sure you can see it working and don't be afraid to ask advice on here), after xmas people may have had a new welder and may be looking to offload their older kit perhaps? You quite often see some machines that look to have had very little use.

Don't forget to add some money for gas bottles to your budget as well, avoid the disposable cylinders as they work out rather expensive.

 

[Spark plug]

Cheers for that lads. I was wondering if there is an easy way of telling the difference between a hobby style machine and am industrial? I'm wanting a mig with a rating of 150 at least, but 200 would obviously be better. Is the line in that rating or am I overlooking something?

The biggest differences between hobby and industrial machines is the torch, a hobby machine will usually have a smaller hobby torch hard wired to the welder. Ware as an industrial machine will have a euro torch connection, enabling any type of euro torch to be fitted. An industrial machine will also have capacity for bigger spools of wire. There is a lot more to it but the torch is the main difference IMO.

 

[daleyd]

Have a look at this post http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/...d-any-news-on-this-machine.50712/#post-577129

For the money this seems a decent machine, with the added benefit of being able to stick weld as well. (Handy for thicker material, and outside etc. You also don't need gas, just a pack of rods and your away, though stick is not great for thinner material)

Its an inverter, so they are a bit more complex than a traditional transformer machine, but they are also lighter and much more portable.

 

[Thom.Milburn]

Hi guys, cheers for the posts - its all great

It's nice to find a really supportive forum environment where advise is reasonably unbiased too - thank you!

I am reasonably flexible on budget, and i can probably justify spending it all on a welder set up, and adding consumables/gear after wards.

If i was to say £350, this would be my absolute max butget for just a welder set up - the euro torch does seem a very good idea. The reason i was thinking industrial is i really would like a 'built to last' machine that i can throw anything at it without ruining it... i like tools that last a long time and can take a good battering in terms of use.

I love the look of the portamig stuff but it is beyond my price range so perhaps will scour ebay, how do the sealey mig's fare? i know theyre more hobby focussed but i have used their other tools to great effect?

Also, is it worth considering a mig/tig type machine as this seems a great idea for the future - although i am aware tig is a pain to get to grips with, particularly seing as ive never welded even with mig before!

Thanks guys, oh and merry christmas!

 

[Thom.Milburn]

cheapest decent machine from weldequip is 369 and no kit for gas-he was doing a decent regulator kit for 37,95 but thats showing sold out.
I have the welder weldequip sells, (and its excellent) , with a full decent gas set up you are probably looking at 450-500 quid I'd guess-I have not looked at regs and gas deals.

IS this the GYS SmartMIG 162 mate? it looks very tempting I admit!

 

[norlander]

Yes, thats the one. I am well chuffed with mine, but have no recent experience of other MIGs, I did have a Clarke MIG some years back but did not get on with it, but things have advanced and lots of lads on here like their their Clarkes.
The thing about buying one from Weldequip is you will get good advice and support.
You mentioned TIG. There are MMA sets which have lift TIG function. I have one. However, I find that the GYS will do the jobs I did with the MMA, and nearly all the jobs I did with TIG.
I do do some real nadgery jobs and TIG is great for those. I would suggest getting to grips with MIG first as its very flexible. My new GYS TIG has MMA as a second function, so later on you can look at TIGs with MMA.
Heres the GYS on a 3mm to 3mm job-I would normally have got the MMA out for-it breezed it.
But, to be honest, I would not drag my TIG out into places I do MMA. I keep a dedicated MMA set for that.
Get a decent MIG and get used to it, it will cover most jobs.