Murex Tradesmig 260/245 or Portamig 235

[Boris113]

Hi Guys, first post here after a recommendation from a Land Rover Forum.

I'm looking at buying a fairly hefty single phase mig welder with a budget of £700 max for the welder itself (ideally including torch/regulator).

It's first job will be welding a roll cage and other bits of tubework for a defender. After that I plan on using it for general fabrication ranging from a bit of bodywork up to winch trays which would be 10/12mm mild steel so it needs to be fairly versatile. I have done a bit of mig before and can use one on thick stuff but am by no means professional so one that is easy to use/set up would be a bonus.

I've only got a single phase power supply, 13amp at the moment but my electrician mate is going to install a blue plug connection into the main fusebox so that should not be a problem.

I'm currently looking at 3 different welders and wouldn't mind some advice.

The first is a Murex Tradesmig 245, its had a lot of use but all works, it just needs a new earth cable and gas pipe. It's going for about £200.

The next is a secondhand but never used Murex Tradesmig 260-1. This is going for about £600

The final one is a new Portamig 235, brand new from Weldequip for £689 inc vat.

Any advice/comments appreciated Harry

 

[rtbcomp]

Welcome to the Forum.

I'd also take into consideration what warranty you'll get with the welder.

 

[Boris113]

Good point, I would only get a warranty on the portamig because the others are secondhand. The problem being is that is the very top of my budget so mask and other bits will have to be borrowed or bought cheap.

Harry

 

[Ducky]

All the Tradesmig specs I can find have a very high minimum current, so I think you would struggle to do bodywork with them.

I would go for the Portamig and save a few more pennies for a mask (circa £30) etc.

 

[slimjim]

I would be happy with the 260-1 tradesmig, if it's new, then it should be the best choice!

it will do bodywork ok, using the thin metal tecnique , and will do everything else extremely well!

portamigs are excellent machines, I know I have one, as well as an old mid 80's 130s tradesmig , but the tradesmig will be a great machine to,

It's difficult to compare minimum specs when dealing with proffessional kit and some amature kit, as it may be marketing being optimistic on the specs

 

[Boris113]

Thanks for all of the advice guys

I have ruled out the Murex 245, it was in pretty tatty condition and needed work.

Currently I'm very keen on the Murex 260. It is almost brand new and comes with gas, regulator and full roll of wire. The bodywork I would be doing isn't particularly thin, being a discovery boot floor and a defender bulkhead. This is the thinnest stuff I will be doing at 1.2mm thick and it will only be a one time job. Worst case scenario I can borrow a welder from a mate to do this.

This would leave me with £100 for a mask, then just some gloves and a couple of magnetic angles and I'm good to go. Whilst I have read very good things about the Portamig, it would go over my budget and thats before gas and other bits.

So one last question, can anyone recommend a good quality mask? In the meantime I shall get searching...

Many thanks, Harry

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Well as good as they come is something like a speedglass circa £300

anything mid range like the swp weldequip sels is extremely comfortable and has lots of fine controls for about £60 delivered
get some decent gloves and a few spare tips and shrouds and your in good stead