Mig Welder Choice - But which Make and Model?

[DragonSpark]

Hi.
I have just subscribed to this forum following many visits to the forum as a 'visitor'. Want to be on the 'other side of the wall'!!
I am a diy welder and can arc weld reasonably well. I want to buy a gassless MiG welder and my budget is about £200. Problem is there are so many on the market and forum members give less than favourable views for MiGs in this price brand. Thing is, I will only use it occasionally - but on lighter metal guage projects. For example I need to repair cutting deck on my lawnmower. Arc welder far too powerfull even on lowest current setting. And, I will need to carry out bodywork (non structural) repairs on my vans.

Can anybody advise a suitable supplier / Model that will be suitable for me?


Also, reading forum posts / tutorials suggest you cant 'see' gassless MiG weld because of the smoke from flux obscuring weld as it progresses. Will I be welding 'blind' when using gassless welding technique?

Many thanks in anticipatio

 

[shenion]

I's suggest upping your budget a bit for the Clarke 130EN. That was my first MIG and it is a good machine. It is the least expensive machine people here will recommend. Most of the cheaper ones are near useless.

It will do both gas and gasless. You can try gasless; it is still a bit too hot to do bodywork but some get along with it. It allows you to switch to gas although disposable gas cylinders are expensive.

Gasless is harder to see and hear. With practice and using the thin metal technique described in the tutorials you should be able to get along with it.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I would agree with Shenion totally, adding that as you are only looking for occasional welding, consider a pub size bottle of Co2, even hired, they only cost about £14 a yer and £12 to refill, much nicer than gasless welding and a bottle will probably last you over a year easily....unless you get the welding bug.

 

[keith19]

Agree as above, if you are only doing lightweight stuff, up to 3+ mm, a 130 EN is ideal. If you want something capable of tackling 4 - 5 mm, get a 151EN. I see MachineMart actually have the bigger machine (151EN) cheaper than the 130EN at the moment, £234 inc VAT.

If you can arc weld reasonably well, you are more than halfway to learning how to use a gasless welder, as some techniques are similar, and certainly feel familiar. But get a machine, like the two above, which does both. Then you will rarely get stuck if you run out of gas on the one hand, or run out of gasless wire on the other.

As for welding blind using gasless, I thought that way when I started a few months back. But by changing your head position so you are watching the weld moving away from you - If you are right-handed you are 'pulling' the torch from your left to your right, so if you keep your head to the left, you can watch the arc, to some degree. Not so nice as with gas, though. Most of the time using gasless wire, like arc, you'll be moving from your left to your right, 'pulling' the torch.

As said above, gasless welding is more fierce than gas, so keep it for metal around 1.2 or 1.6 mm upwards, until you feel more confident with it. I can get down to 1.0 mm with 0.9 mm wire now, and a bit lower with 0.8, the lowest gasless wire size. So will you with plenty of practice.

If you use gasless wire a fair bit you can listen to the arc, and tell right away if the wire speed or power settings are too high or two low. I often change settings that way, as the Clarke manual settings are way out, especially for the 151EN doing gasless. It just takes being familiar with it.

By the way, your mower deck is metal, not ally? So many are ally.

 

[mike 109444]

Welcome to the forum Dragon spark. Thinking I might have to replace my faulty mig, I was window (ebay) shopping and noticed that a company I had previously bought a new mig tourch asy from also do no gas/gas and gas mig welders. They are in (on outskirts) of Newport and are called A1plant. No I don't work for them ect.. But found there mig tourch was a good price and as I am often in south Wales I called by to collect, But as I did not order/purchase on ebay they (at the time) did not take debit cards, doh. So off to cashpoint ect..There not very geared up for "collect in person" but I prefer that than waiting for royal mall to lose item in there system.
Also there is a member on here that's only up the vallyeys from you that does argon mix cylinders buy out right. Can't rember his name off hand but some one will...?

 

[DragonSpark]

Hi
Thanks for all your posts - all really vey helpfull and informative - glad I joined. £260 'squids' is more than I bargained for but the 'extra' will be worth it i'm sure - just have to take wife out for a meal!! Incidentally A1 Plant is not too far away (http://www.a1plantsales.com/c/welding/welder). They have a Sealey gassless for c£190.00 see web address. But on basis of forum posts do you still feel the 130EN is the 'bottom line'. Not far from the point of no return!!! Many thanks

 

[keith19]

Just in case you didn't notice my amendment to my original post, the 151EN at MachineMart is £234!
But of course you would still need a gas kit, about £40 here.