Looking to buy a new mma welder

[ramsay]

Iam currently using a 140 amp mma welder for fitting steel railings iam looking to buy a new one.
I have seen one on e-bay can anyone tell me if this would be ok.
Or does anyone eles recomend any for about £150 budget

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arc-Welder-250A-70-250A-Silverline-868773_W0QQitemZ140203505738QQihZ004QQcategoryZ113743QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

 

[Welderpaul]

No - silverline is crap. Give it a miss.
I would go for a second hand decent make like Murex or Esab etc that will be reliable.
I use a petrol genny for installing which lives in the van but an inverter would be great for fitting work as long as someone plugs you in!

 

[ramsay]

Whats best about invertors paul i take it they are allot lighter and easy to move around ?

 

[snowcat]

Inverters are great, once youve had one your never look back.

 

[Welderpaul]

Whats best about invertors paul i take it they are allot lighter and easy to move around ?

Yeah, Very light - Mine is about 10kg ish. Same size as a shoe box. Will weld forever.

 

[ramsay]

do you know whats the highest amp i could get for about £150

 

[Archie]

Don't think you'll get much for that I'm afraid unless you buy something Chinese. I would have thought you be looking at £250 plus VAT for 140-150 amps from a decent brand. Try one called 'Inverter Fusion' or send a PM to Weldequip

 

[gavuk]

used the invertor fusion 200phf tig/arc welder at a place i worked ,fantastic duty cycle on both modes,very nice to arc weld with ,never stick an electrode again ,very robust impact resistant case ,all the settings u need for dc tig welding used frequently for the 2 years i was there .great value for money imho..not sure if the 150 or 180 amp is within your price range ,i think the cheaper sets are scratch tig only basic sets,but good.........work also had a 300amp buzz box which i couldn't maintain an arc on ......the little oxford oil cooled are good too but weigh too much for "in the field use"......not sure about wolf,silverline invertors are any good ,quite a few people have chinese sets not sure how robust they would be in transit although they work ok workshop based,they lack the back up and spares that other makes have ,keep your eyes peeled on fleabay for 2nd hand tho,good luck

 

[ramsay]

Seen a 200 amp tig / mma invertor chinese make giant on fleebay its in my price range.
Might hold off look for a good brand second hand does anyone know if weldequip sells second hand machines ?

 

[snowcat]

Its a lottery to buy S/H inverters, unless you know the history, I have no idea on the quality of the chinese machines, TBH id imagine its pot luck some are fine others are not,
any of the branded inverters will be fine, but for 180 amps your be in the £500 mark, spares should not be an issue, My origanal Cebora did around 10years hard labour, when it died and a suspected I spiked it with a genny, I bought another repair price made it uneconomic to repair. Parweld have some around the £300 region, not sure where there made, but seem a reasonable machine, freinds just bought one and it ran cellulose rods OK.....

It really depends on how much you want to spend.