Good 180-200 amp MIG ?

[flanajb]

Hi,

I used a migatronic mig welder recently and found it so much easier to get a really good weld than the corresponding SIP welder. I think the old adage, "you get what you pay for" certainly stands true when it comes to welders.

My budget is ~ £550 and I was hoping someone maybe able to advise ?

The other thing I ideally want is a welder with infinite voltage that you can adjust whilst you weld. I like the idea of this as you can adjust whilst you weld and set it according to the sound of the weld ?

My local tool store sell xcalibur welders, but I have not heard of them. The chap says they are made by Cebora.

Thanks


Justin

 

[keith19]

The Parweld and the Portamig 185 in Weldequip's shop above are both worth looking at, and both have enthusiastic users on here.
I don't know if they have stepless voltage control though, which is what I think you mean by infinite voltage. The Portamig has about 12 steps marked up, and the Parweld about 10.
You could certainly adjust the 'crackle' of the weld by using the switch on either of these, but maybe not as fine as you want.

There's a guy showing how to do this with a stepless setting switch here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eB9qnktmDI
and I guess this is what you are thinking of.

Sometimes the wire switch numerals are only there for indication, and the switch is actually stepless. On other welders there is a definite 'click' as you reach each number, and they are stepped, giving less variance.

Maybe some owners can come on here and give you more details of their machines in this respect. As a start, my 151EN has stepless wire control, and I should imagine most of the bigger Clarke's are the same.

 

[cumbriasteve]

The Portamig is certainly a firm click between steps, a great machine though.

Never heard of xcalibur..my personal opinion only but I would stick to a proven brand that is well liked on this forum.

 

[Engineer]

Good idea to buy locally if you can, so well worth a look at: http://www.wellyweld.com/products/britarc-201-72539.aspx

Seems to be a re-stickered Portamig, and I would think you could arrange a demo if you give Wellington a call?

I would imagine MIG sets with remotes to control parameters while you are working are certainly available, but likely to cost a great deal more than £500.

 

[matt1978]

Stepless Voltage is more for Inverters and Thyristor machines. You can't change the voltage settings on a Transformer machine while its under load (while welding).

I think that the setting up as the OP describes is as with a Synergic machine because even if it was a Stepless voltage control then there is no point adjusting the voltage while welding because you also have to adjust the wirefeed rate correspondingly. This only happens with Semi synergic and true synergic machines

 

[flanajb]

Just looking at the portamig, I see it states

"12 Voltage settings for very fine power adjustment & wire speed automatically adjusted to the voltage setting, giving a semi-synergic control. Burn-Back is built-in and optimised for all settings."

Does this mean that adjusting the wire speed is automatically done for you. If so, can you adjust the wire speed yourself, or does having the wire speed and voltage linked make it much more accurate.

I am just trying to deduce whether you would ever want to override this and be able to set them independently of each other ?

Thanks

 

[flanajb]

Stepless Voltage is more for Inverters and Thyristor machines. You can't change the voltage settings on a Transformer machine while its under load (while welding).

I think that the setting up as the OP describes is as with a Synergic machine because even if it was a Stepless voltage control then there is no point adjusting the voltage while welding because you also have to adjust the wirefeed rate correspondingly. This only happens with Semi synergic and true synergic machines

The example I saw, was that the wire speed was kept the same and the voltage increased. This was great to demo that too high a voltage for the wire speed increased weld spatter and too low a voltage for the wire speed, meant the wire was not arcing correctly and hitting into the work piece ?



I think that is correct

 

[keith19]

I have only ever seen separate stepless voltage controls and separate wire feed controls on really expensive machines, probably in excess of £1k.
I have used factory machines with these separate controls, but that was a long time back, and they were Oerlikon or Murex or similar quality, with a very high price tag.

Most smaller machines in the lower price bracket have wire speed and voltage linked in together, controlled by the wire speed switch. It is still easy to use the wire switch to control the sound and hence the weld setting, holding the torch in one hand on some scrap, and moving the switch around with the other. It's a lot easier than doing a tack, going back to adjust the wire feed, doing another, going back to the switch, ad infinitum

 

[Wozzaaah]

Just looking at the portamig, I see it states

"12 Voltage settings for very fine power adjustment & wire speed automatically adjusted to the voltage setting, giving a semi-synergic control. Burn-Back is built-in and optimised for all settings."

Does this mean that adjusting the wire speed is automatically done for you. If so, can you adjust the wire speed yourself, or does having the wire speed and voltage linked make it much more accurate.

I am just trying to deduce whether you would ever want to override this and be able to set them independently of each other ?

Thanks

It means that as you adjust the power setting, the wire speed adjusts accordingly to a preset level and the speed control is there to allow you to fine-tune things for optimal results.

 

[flanajb]

Thanks. That seems to make sense and will do what I want.

I can adjust the wire speed which in essence will give me the same result as keeping the wire speed constant and adjusting the voltage. So an inverter type welder with infinite voltage settings is most likely not required.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Yes, the machine makes the basic adjustment and you use the control to 'trim' it if required. Handy for positional stuff like overhead where you may want less volts but more wire to avoid gert blobs of weld dropping on your chest.

 

[chunkolini]

My Butters welder works like this, the fine manual adjustment on wire speed is very useful, especially when doing fine work or deilberately building the weld up or as said when welding upside down or vertically.
As long as you dont bump it with your leg when moving around and adjust it accidentally.
Chunko'.

 

[keith19]

"As long as you don't bump it with your leg when moving around and adjust it accidentally."
Or get a so-called 'mate' giving it a quick flick while you're underneath welding...