Need advice on new welder

[turkeytrish]

Good Morning Guys/Girls

NEWBY so forgive lack of experience

I have a Mighty mig 100 (complete nightmare) new to welding and have owned for a year, I am looking at a budget of £600 plus a tiny bit, want to step upto gas and was looking at R-tech 181 digital welder,
I only weld for a past time and made garden ornaments with mild steel, the problem I have with the one I got is no matter how I try a burn through 1mm steel everytime with this welder and can't seem to control this, is it me or the welder? and any other advice for a novice regards new welder would be invaluable, I apologise now for any stupid questions I post in respones to your replies. Thank you

 

[pedrobedro]

You could buy one of the cheaper inverter mig welders on eBay, something like the Blackline which has had a good review on here. That would leave you plenty of spare cash for gas and wire.

 

[eddie49]

Hello and welcome to the Forum !

I have a Mighty mig 100
Burn through 1mm steel everytime Is it me or the welder?

It's not you, it's the welder.
The Sealey Mightymig 100 is just about the worst welder that a novice could buy.
If you look at the the dataplate you will see an electrical symbol with two overlapping circles, which represents a transformer. That is all, nothing else, no rectifier, no inductor, just a transformer in a box. There are only two ranges, with the lowest being 55 Amps - which is double what you need to weld 1mm steel. It is a gasless ( flux-core ) welder. As you said, a complete nightmare.....

( Astonishingly, the list price of this POS is £204 !! )

 

[turkeytrish]

Hello and welcome to the Forum !

It's not you, it's the welder.
The Sealey Mightymig 100 is just about the worst welder that a novice could buy.
If you look at the the dataplate you will see an electrical symbol with two overlapping circles, which represents a transformer. That is all, nothing else, no rectifier, no inductor, just a transformer in a box. There are only two ranges, with the lowest being 55 Amps - which is double what you need to weld 1mm steel. It is a gasless ( flux-core ) welder. As you said, a complete nightmare.....

( Astonishingly, the list price of this POS is £204 !! )

Thank you very much eddie49 for your help, any thoughts or experience of the r-tech 181, don't want to make the same mistake

 

[turkeytrish]

You could buy one of the cheaper inverter mig welders on eBay, something like the Blackline which has had a good review on here. That would leave you plenty of spare cash for gas and wire.

Thanks pedrobedro, i will look into this now, really appreciate your help

 

[turkeytrish]

Thanks pedrobedro, i will look into this now, really appreciate your help

forgot to add will i be able to weld 1mm thin mild steel with this machine? Thanks

 

[500e]

Lower, low current on the 181 and has good back up according to a lot of people here

Amperage Range MIG	30A - 180A
Input voltage/amps	240v 16A
Duty cycle	35% @ 180A
Amperange range MMA	20 - 160A
Wire reel size	5KG
Wire diameter	0.6mm , 0.8mm
Roller size fitted	0.6mm , 0.8mm

Blackline.
Link to @8ob review He does not take prisoners

Review - Blackline 200 Amp MIG MAG MMA (ARC) Welder

Bought this from an ebay seller https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200-Amp-MIG-IGBT-Welder-Gas-Gasless-Best-Seller-on-eBay-240v-Blackline-Tools/332425324277?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Turned up within two days so they must hold decent UK stocks and it was very well packed...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

Link @doubleboost again a no nonsense contributor on here

 

[turkeytrish]

Lower, low current on the 181 and has good back up according to a lot of people here

Amperage Range MIG	30A - 180A
Input voltage/amps	240v 16A
Duty cycle	35% @ 180A
Amperange range MMA	20 - 160A
Wire reel size	5KG
Wire diameter	0.6mm , 0.8mm
Roller size fitted	0.6mm , 0.8mm

Blackline.
Link to @8ob review He does not take prisoners

Review - Blackline 200 Amp MIG MAG MMA (ARC) Welder

Bought this from an ebay seller https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200-Amp-MIG-IGBT-Welder-Gas-Gasless-Best-Seller-on-eBay-240v-Blackline-Tools/332425324277?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Turned up within two days so they must hold decent UK stocks and it was very well packed...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

Link @doubleboost again a no nonsense contributor on here

Thank you 500e, will read thier reviews now, really appreciate your help

 

[eddie49]

The 181 is certainly a good machine, and the R-Tech company has an excellent reputation. However, for occasional use you may not need to spend £600 plus the cost of gas to get what you need....
A modern inverter MIG welder ( as opposed to the traditional transformer-based models ) will usually also provide Arc ( MMA ) welding, so you could use welding rods for thicker ( 3mm to 8mm ) steel. Inverters are smaller, lighter, and sometimes cheaper than transformer MIGs, and offer fully-variable power control, which would make it easier to weld thin sheet. There are threads here referring to models from BlackLine, Uptime, StaticArc, and Rohr, starting at about one-third the cost of the R-Tech. If you are not put off by the name, you could even get 6 of these for that cost:

Professional 140A Gasless MIG, TIG and MMA 3-in-1 Welder Non Live Torch model 230V No Gas with Mask & Welding Wire

This model has 3 functions, working as MIG, TIG and MMA welding PRODUCT NAME; * 140 Welder 140A With Accessories. For greater welding control the wire is only live when trigger is used Cheaper models have permanent live feed wire making it difficult to set the wire in the correct starting...

dirtyprotools.co.uk

Your experience with the awful Sealey may have put you off, but there are capable transformer MIGs with low-current settings which will probably do what you want, maybe even still using gasless fluxcore wire. For a simple and reliable transformer machine, buying secondhand is quite a safe bet. If this is an option for you, you could post links to offers in your area ( such as eBay, Gumtree, Facebook ) and we could advise if suitable.

 

[Popcorn]

Get the R-Tech 180 a great welder and it's on sale at the minute under 500 quid talk to @doubleboost you maybe able to get a discount code as well.

 

[Dessieb2022]

I am an occasional practicing novice welder, I have the blackline mig. It hasnt had much use but has been good for me so far. But if I was doing it again I would get a machine with some kind of settings chart or synergic machine. Most of my time welding is spent trying to figure out if the settings are correct rather than just getting on with the welding/ practicing lol. The Rtech 181 seems like the ideal machine for the hobbyist.

 

[turkeytrish]

The 181 is certainly a good machine, and the R-Tech company has an excellent reputation. However, for occasional use you may not need to spend £600 plus the cost of gas to get what you need....
A modern inverter MIG welder ( as opposed to the traditional transformer-based models ) will usually also provide Arc ( MMA ) welding, so you could use welding rods for thicker ( 3mm to 8mm ) steel. Inverters are smaller, lighter, and sometimes cheaper than transformer MIGs, and offer fully-variable power control, which would make it easier to weld thin sheet. There are threads here referring to models from BlackLine, Uptime, StaticArc, and Rohr, starting at about one-third the cost of the R-Tech. If you are not put off by the name, you could even get 6 of these for that cost:

Professional 140A Gasless MIG, TIG and MMA 3-in-1 Welder Non Live Torch model 230V No Gas with Mask & Welding Wire

This model has 3 functions, working as MIG, TIG and MMA welding PRODUCT NAME; * 140 Welder 140A With Accessories. For greater welding control the wire is only live when trigger is used Cheaper models have permanent live feed wire making it difficult to set the wire in the correct starting...

dirtyprotools.co.uk

Your experience with the awful Sealey may have put you off, but there are capable transformer MIGs with low-current settings which will probably do what you want, maybe even still using gasless fluxcore wire. For a simple and reliable transformer machine, buying secondhand is quite a safe bet. If this is an option for you, you could post links to offers in your area ( such as eBay, Gumtree, Facebook ) and we could advise if suitable.

Thanks eddie49, really useful advice and appreciate your time helping me with my naivety, i will take your advice and start looking at the machines you suggested and post some links

 

[turkeytrish]

I am an occasional practicing novice welder, I have the blackline mig. It hasnt had much use but has been good for me so far. But if I was doing it again I would get a machine with some kind of settings chart or synergic machine. Most of my time welding is spent trying to figure out if the settings are correct rather than just getting on with the welding/ practicing lol. The Rtech 181 seems like the ideal machine for the hobbyist.

Really useful to know as I have been looking at these machines, thanks for your advice

Thanks eddie49, really useful advice and appreciate your time helping me with my naivety, i will take your advice and start looking at the machines you suggested and post some links

Thanks eddie49, really useful advice and appreciate your time helping me with my naivety, i will take your advice and start looking at the machines you suggested and post some links

Hi Eddie

Thank you for your previous help and advice, I have narrowed my search down to this machine, Static Arch MIG 200A INVERTER DC WELDER 3in1 MMA TIG GAS GASLESS ARC MAG WELDING MACHINE KIT,
from either Ebay or Amazon, have you got any views or further advice on this machine before I press the dreaded buy it now button Cheers Tom (turkeytrish)

 

[turkeytrish]

Get the R-Tech 180 a great welder and it's on sale at the minute under 500 quid talk to @doubleboost you maybe able to get a discount code as well.

Hi Popcorn thank you so much for your advice

 

[turkeytrish]

Hi Popcorn thank you so much for your advice

Somebody has offered me a used one, used once £400 and also looking at second hand Parwld XTM 171C but it is on the dreaded Ebay so being a complete newby not sure of the Parweld,
regards Tom

 

[turkeytrish]

Get the R-Tech 180 a great welder and it's on sale at the minute under 500 quid talk to @doubleboost you maybe able to get a discount code as well.

Somebody has offered me a used one, used once £400 and also looking at second hand Parwld XTM 171C but it is on the dreaded Ebay so being a complete newby not sure of the Parweld,
regards Tom

 

[Puglet1]

I have a R-Tech 180, as Popcorn says it’s a great bit of kit.

 

[MattF]

Somebody has offered me a used one, used once £400 and also looking at second hand Parwld XTM 171C but it is on the dreaded Ebay so being a complete newby not sure of the Parweld,
regards Tom

If you want peace of mind, always go with new.

 

[turkeytrish]

I have a R-Tech 180, as Popcorn says it’s a great bit of kit.

Brilliant Puglet1 did you buy new or second hand, been offered one for £400 used once? but I'm impressed with the 5year warranty on new, best wishes

 

[turkeytrish]

If you want peace of mind, always go with new.

Thanks MattF I am impressed by the 5yr warranty if it lives up to their claims?