New MIG welder for christmas

[2jagmike]

Hi All,
I am new to this forum and a novice at welding, although a keen DIYer. I am looking for a good quality MIG welder for my wife to buy me for Christmas!!! Her budget is up to £600. I want to use the welder for car body and chassis repairs and for light fabrication, such as angle iron up to 6mm. The welder is only likely to get occasional use, but I prefer to buy decent quality tools that will last rather than cheap stuff with all the features. I have used a MIG welder in the past to build a Motor Bike trailer which worked out well and is still in one piece after several years use, but have no idea what it was.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

 

[daleyd]

if you don't mind a hefty lump, the transformer based machines are pretty solid bits of kit.

Portamig or the gys machine from weldequip would be within your budget, don't forget you will also need to add ppe, gas regulator etc as well.

On the smaller side are the inverter based machines, with the bonus you can get ones that can also do stick welding, though they are possibly not as durable as transformer based machines.

 

[Richard.]

As above. A few questions to be asked.
What supply are you running from
Are you wanting a machine to throw in the boot of the car.
Up to 6mm your looking 180-200amp I'd say.
What size wire reels are you wanting to use.
Quite a lot of inverter machines (even high end brands) don't have a euro torch connection
Is that an issue.

 

[norlander]

What Richard says, you can get away with a decent make machine at 160, preferably 180 amps, if buying cheaper end, I would guess 200amps plus as it might then deliver 180.
You might want to consider a dual process MIG/MMA set to tackle 6mm.
I'd suggest splitting the 600 quid budget into say 300-350 for the welder and the rest for mask/gloves/gas/ etc etc if you do not already have that stuff.

 

[Richard.]

That's a Very good idea. mma could give you the flexibility to weld much thicker steel. From a smaller supply. There are lots of advantages to having a mig/mma machine. One very good one is if you run out of wire or gas it does not mean you cannot weld.

 

[2jagmike]

Thank you all for your replies, I have a 32 Amp supply and will not need to transport the welder, so size is not an issue, which brands should i be looking at?

 

[2jagmike]

I have been looking on the Weldequip site at their Mig Welders around £600. They offer one called an IFL itech 170 MIG Inverter https://www.weldequip.com/ifl-170-mig.htm This says it is a combination machine and will do MIG TIG and MMA and comes with a 2 year warranty. Does anyone have any experience of this machine and would it be suitable for my home garage needs as above?

 

[daleyd]

I don't have that particular model, but I do have an Rtech mig/tig/arc machine which is very similar. If that model was around when I bought mine I would have seriously considered it.

I find it fine for my needs, I'm not a pro welder and I like tinkering with stuff so I like the ability to have all 3 processes as and when the mood takes me. I find the ability to switch between mig and stick a great bonus, I have played with the tig but not so much so far. I had never used an inverter machine before and was amazed how much it flatters my ham fisted attempts at welding with fancy electronics like hot start, anti stick etc.

I don't have the space for separate machines, or even a big transformer mig like the portamig type, so this was ideal for me. Inverters have more to go wrong with them than transformer based machines, but mine has been perfectly reliable so far (2 years ).

You would be buying a reputable make from a reputable store (Weldequip has a good rep on here) so I wouldn't have thought there should be any worries there.

 

[norlander]

you could be in range of an Oxford http://www.migtigarc.co.uk/MIG_Weld...ig_Welder/oxford_migmaker_180_mig_welder.html, its not an inverter set but you do not need to transport it.
The IFL machine could be a good choice, its got the three processes and some handy features. So:
MIG (gas) you can do all sorts of stuff in your garage with the door open- its not too smokey
MMA you can weld 6mm no probs outside, in the wind (and rain if you are a masochist)
TIG you can do little jobs and have a nice weld bead and sit down whilst doing it, nice and quiet.

Start off doing MIG (with a decent gas set up with proper bottles and gauges-it comes with gauges so you get a good start), weld up a trolley for the machine and its bottle and bits n pieces.
Switch to MMA and weld up some angle iron trestles or whatever.
Then use its MIG and MMA to build a TIG bench.
Then when you can afford the second bottle (you will need Argon for TIG) and torch you can play with the TIG on manky weather days, tig up some 1.5mm wall thickness sq tube frames to take plywood screens to put on your outside bench, these will act as windbreaks if you do MIG gas outside and also screen the arc from nosy neighbours/curious kids/ and the blasted cat-mine is often sitting there watching me.
When you have done all that, you can move on to other projects-furniture/sculpture/storage/thingies/widgets/wotsits -with 3 processes like that it opens up loads of possibilities.
The DC TIG will weld stainless steel as well.
Weldequips showing it out of stock so give Steve a call-if you are stuck, give Gary at migtigarc a call, he stocks that model as well-tell him the man from France sent you.
http://www.migtigarc.co.uk/MIG_Welder/IFL_i-Tech_MIG170_Mig_Welder/ifl_i-tech_mig170_mig_welder.html

 

[Richard.]

I too are unable to comment on that particular brand but the spec should be just fine.
25 amps low down so suitable for thin sheet and car panels
170 amps top end so 5-6mm with mig is achievable.
Mma it should be very happy with a 3.2 @110-120 amps for that thicker section you may need to do.
It's out of stock on the weldequip site so you may need to get from else where. If you can ask for a demo before sealing the deal. And as delayed says it's not your only option as RTech do a 180 amp inverter compact and double boost does a blinding vid about it.

 

[Arcoftheearth]

you could be in range of an Oxford http://www.migtigarc.co.uk/MIG_Weld...ig_Welder/oxford_migmaker_180_mig_welder.html, its not an inverter set but you do not need to transport it.
The IFL machine could be a good choice, its got the three processes and some handy features. So:
MIG (gas) you can do all sorts of stuff in your garage with the door open- its not too smokey
MMA you can weld 6mm no probs outside, in the wind (and rain if you are a masochist)
TIG you can do little jobs and have a nice weld bead and sit down whilst doing it, nice and quiet.

Start off doing MIG (with a decent gas set up with proper bottles and gauges-it comes with gauges so you get a good start), weld up a trolley for the machine and its bottle and bits n pieces.
Switch to MMA and weld up some angle iron trestles or whatever.
Then use its MIG and MMA to build a TIG bench.
Then when you can afford the second bottle (you will need Argon for TIG) and torch you can play with the TIG on manky weather days, tig up some 1.5mm wall thickness sq tube frames to take plywood screens to put on your outside bench, these will act as windbreaks if you do MIG gas outside and also screen the arc from nosy neighbours/curious kids/ and the blasted cat-mine is often sitting there watching me.
When you have done all that, you can move on to other projects-furniture/sculpture/storage/thingies/widgets/wotsits -with 3 processes like that it opens up loads of possibilities.
The DC TIG will weld stainless steel as well.
Weldequips showing it out of stock so give Steve a call-if you are stuck, give Gary at migtigarc a call, he stocks that model as well-tell him the man from France sent you.
http://www.migtigarc.co.uk/MIG_Welder/IFL_i-Tech_MIG170_Mig_Welder/ifl_i-tech_mig170_mig_welder.html

id second the oxford recommendation, what torches do migtigarc send with em?

 

[norlander]

id second the oxford recommendation, what torches do migtigarc send with em?

Binzel MB15 3m, but Gary would probably do the 4m-there is not much price difference from memory.

 

[Arcoftheearth]

Binzel MB15 3m, but Gary would probably do the 4m-there is not much price difference from memory.

are they real binzel or chinese copies?

 

[norlander]

are they real binzel or chinese copies?

How do you tell a real Binzel from a counterfeit Binzel?- by that I assume you meant that there are torches being sold with the Binzel name on them that are not made by, or for Binzel.
I don't know if real Binzels are assembled or part manufactured in China but a lot of kit is now and the time for getting precious about it has long gone because in most cases the kit produced in China for Euro companies is up to scratch.
If you check this link out and scroll down to Asia, it would seem some Binzels could be made in India as its listed as a production unit.

http://binzel-abicor.com/ZA/eng/world-wide/ but a lot of companies have their kit assembled in India for the Indian market because of import tax on the fully assembled kit AFAIK.

 

[Arcoftheearth]

How do you tell a real Binzel from a counterfeit Binzel?- by that I assume you meant that there are torches being sold with the Binzel name on them that are not made by, or for Binzel.
I don't know if real Binzels are assembled or part manufactured in China but a lot of kit is now and the time for getting precious about it has long gone because in most cases the kit produced in China for Euro companies is up to scratch.
If you check this link out and scroll down to Asia, it would seem some Binzels could be made in India as its listed as a production unit.

http://binzel-abicor.com/ZA/eng/world-wide/ but a lot of companies have their kit assembled in India for the Indian market because of import tax on the fully assembled kit AFAIK.

ahh i thought they were made in germany.. just wanted to know really, not particularly bothered by it.

 

[norlander]

ahh i thought they were made in germany.. just wanted to know really, not particularly bothered by it.

As it happens I was welding today, and the Binzel supplied by migtigarc says Made In Germany on it, so I suppose euroland torches come from Germany, and for other continents they are made or assembled closer to the market.

 

[Arcoftheearth]

As it happens I was welding today, and the Binzel supplied by migtigarc says Made In Germany on it, so I suppose euroland torches come from Germany, and for other continents they are made or assembled closer to the market.

yeah i thought they were, germany make some of the best stuff eh