Low current advantages? Also, help me choose between these two

[wortgames]

Hi everyone. After much procrastination I think I've decided against the Kemppi Kempact, and narrowed it down to a Cigweld Transmig - you see them everywhere here in Aus, they are reasonable value and well supported.

It is for workshop use, general building and repair of things like trailers, light tractor implements, commercial mowing equipment etc, as well as hobby use - possibly a bit of stainless and ali in my future, but I'm not there yet. I'm on single phase (240v) but will be getting a 30A circuit wired to the workshop. The Transmig 250i allows for a 25A supply cable upgrade to get the following specs:

My questions are:

1. What sort of stuff can I do with 10A that I can't do with 20A?

2. What sort of stuff can I do with 250-300A that I can't do with 210A?

3. What sort of stuff can I do with stick that I can't do with mig on the same machine?


Bonus question: am I the only one who sees something else in this image?!

 

[Jim Davey]

1. Nothing

2. Anything much over 5mm won't be easy with a 210. Unless you prep, multi run etc.

3. Stick gives the option to weld alternative materials cheaply and easily, like cast iron or stainless for instance without the need for different gases. You might never want to but the option might help you out of a jam one day.

4. You are a dirty bugger and need a cold shower.

 

[Kent]

250 allows effective spray transfer with 1 mm wire and effective welding at a higher duty cycle. 12 mm black is within its capabilities for a very sound weld
210 is at its very max for the above ( realy a bit beyond it imo) duty will be worse at higher end

Stick allows still thicker stuff, engineering steels, stainless. Cast. Copper so much more and not requiring gas shielding giving longer effective reach

Try welding 30 Mtr from your mig plant - the torch won't stretch

Oh I am guessing the last picture shows your a long way from the real thing at present

 

[wortgames]

Think about what you actually want to do with it and for how long.

Wait, are we still talking about the image?

I'm such a child.


Right, about the welders. I realise that the duty cycles on the 250 place it at a more industrial level than the 200 - but that's probably of limited relevance to me (normally 10 minutes faffing around with grinders and clamps to 30 seconds of actual welding). Not sure I'll ever do really long welds on 5mm+ steel. I'm more thinking the extra current might be handy for heavier tractor implements - at least if I do run out of grunt I'll know that I've done everything possible with single phase 240v.

It's awfully tempting to save the $500, but it's going to be an expensive day whichever way I go so I'd rather suffer the pain once and never regret the actual machine. If I can do light stuff like car panels with it as easily as with the smaller machine there won't be much left to regret.

12 mm black is within its capabilities for a very sound weld

You mean 12mm steel plate? That's comfortably beyond anything I've got in mind right now - but now that you mention it...

 

[gordon stephenson]

A good big'n will always beat a good little'n

 

[arther dailey]

My geuss would be you will never need 10 amp, but on occasion you might need say 230 or 240 amp, so its simple really, as a man said to me a horse can do a ponies work but a pony cant do a horses work or you will kill it....enough said I think.Arther

 

[Kent]

I was thinking of a whole different " do" then

 

[arther dailey]

Cant really say anything to that other than, Arther

 

[dannyp]

if i tryed to do any work with the 200i i think it would melt TBH

when your doing faffing around work the smaller machene would be fine, but IMO youd be an idiot not to spend the extra £250 in terms of duity cycel your getting over twice the machene and your getting a higher max output. if you ever have to weld a new bed in a trailer or build up say a few flatlift legs. it's just payed for itself.

as for the MMA function personaly i would place littel to no value on that, MMA inverters are cheep enough and worth it for the convinence so much easyer to carry about.

 

[wortgames]

Thanks, I think it's clear that the 250i is the better choice. It also has pre & post flow, which is nice. I have no experience with stick, but I guess it's there if I ever need it (maybe for some hard-facing etc).

Having said all that, another option has caught my eye:
https://weldingstore.tokentools.com.au/pulse-mig-welder-mig250p.html

This seems to be a new player but not your crappy eBay scareware - they seem to get positive reviews as decent machines from a decent dealer, with 'new kid on the block' pricing and features. For a price half way between the two I get a machine with pulse, but the minimum current increases to 30A.

Any thoughts?

 

[dannyp]

i can't think of meany situations where you'd even need to run a mig as low as 30 amps. even if your doing car bodywork if you need to go that low you really should cut the crap out and find some metal to weld to.

i chould be a bother with the tig function depending on what you want to do

 

[wortgames]

Ha, thanks, I know nothing about bodywork (struggle enough with my old welder on 2mm) but it's good to know that I'm not especially limiting my future options.

I don't know much about tig either, I'm keen to head down that path one day (mainly for stainless brewing gear etc) but I suspect I'd want a 'real' (eg HF) machine for that kind of stuff anyway. I don't want to compromise my mig choice by paying too much attention to tig features that ultimately aren't going to get me where I want to go.

Still undecided about the no-name machine, especially as there are a hundred other options too if I go down that path. Really tempted by synergic/adaptive technology though.

 

[arther dailey]

So why not just get a mig rather than multi tool, then seperate stick and tig to the spec you want/need, its what I have done/doing. Arther

 

[dannyp]

Buy a MIG thats a MIG and an ARC thats an ARC. that'll come with lift tig capablity thrown in anyway.

problem with multipourpose machenes is they don't do them all well. if i had a multipurose MIG none of the other functions would ever be used, to much of a pita to strip it down load it and move it about for a breack down, for that sort of stuff i have a stik inverter that lives in it's carry box allong with its leads a pair of gloves and a box of rods , perfeect even if you got the multipourpose machene youd find yourself doing the same i bet.

 

[Jim Davey]

Pretty easy to swap processes on some sets, depends how good access to the machine is. A good twin bottle trolley helps as swapping gas over is the biggest PITA I find. That and finding the leads and consumables.
Lincolns new version of the Speedtec features a drawer section for all your gibbons that go along with the extra processes.

 

[zeppelin builder]

stick still got its uses 2 cables 1box of rods and your good to go still best tensile strength and not affected by draughts only downside it requires real skill to do it properly an old shipyard friend told me they tried training monkeys to weld with mig but had to give up as there fur kept going up in flames .any constant current dc output will run a tig torch with suitable gas supply, scratch start manual gas valve takes a bit of getting used to but it can be done
mig would be fine for your repair stuff go for the larger one, you could use solid wire for the thin metal and get a roll of 1.2 fluxofill and use as a dual shield with your argon 20 percent co2 you will find it great for thick section all position welding and its lots more forgiving on millscale etc
ps looks like you made a **** of them plates cobber