Picomig 180pulse or Miller Mpi220p?

[hotponyshoes]

So,
Still looking for a single phase pulse mig.
Was hoping to find a used machine but nothing has come up locally over the last few months so looks like it might have to be a new one.

Main job for it will be nice looking welds on 2mm - 4mm alloy.

Also likely to get the odd 'stick this back together jobs on 6mm+ although I think I will be pushing it on single phase.

2 main contenders so far are the ewm picomig 180 pulse or the miller mpi220p.

Both are available locally,
So far I am leaning towards the miller as it has 20a extra over the ewm, an optional feeder for 300mm wire rolls and is a few hundred cheaper.

Are there any features on the picomig that make it worth the extra?

Any other machines I should be considering (new or used) ?

 

[Hood]

I trialled out a Cebora Pocket Pulse and I liked it, the downside to it was that it only had a 2 roll wire feeder and with a 4m torch it was too easy to birdsnest, a 3m torch was not a problem.

I think I did an etch on 6mm with the Cebora, will have a look and see.

 

[Hood]

Here is the post I did about the Cebora, as I said it is a nice wee welder but just too small for me and with no option for a push-pull it was not for me.

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/cebora-pocket-pulse.82108/

I presume you only have single phase, could maybe be persuaded to sell my Phoenix 330 if you had 3 phase.

 

[Hood]

BTW the PicoMig 185 can take full size reels I think.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I did read your review on the pocket pulse,
Only reasons for me discounting it were, not available locally (although I have not checked all the suppliers) and the earth lead looked like it was permently attached (not that it would be much work to add a dinse to it)

Seemed to be about the same price as the ewm and that has the 4 roll feeder which was swinging it for me!

 

[Hood]

Yes if the EWM was the same price it would probably be a better option with the 4 roll feed.

I thought the Cebora was a good bit cheaper though but maybe I was just looking in the wrong places

 

[Hood]

Wow just looked at the price of the Cebora, it seems to have shot up in price, either that or I was confused over the price I thought it was when I was testing it out.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Maybe I am looking in the wrong places for the cebora!

I discounted the picomig 185 as although it takes the 300mm rolls it's quite a bit bigger and 7kg extra (plus the extra wire)

Portability is not my main concern but thought it might be useful as I do only have single phase so thought might as well have something that I can stick in the back seat of the car.

I think the 200mm rolls may actually work better for me, although it will cost more per kg for the wire it will be cheaper initially to buy the various grades as needed (I presume all grades are available on the smaller spools?)

 

[Hood]

Yes they should be, I only ever use 5356 or occasionally 5183 but you should be able to get the others on 200 reels.

It does seem like the Cebora has leapt up in price, either that or there was a mistake made in the quote I got as the prices I am seeing now are at least £500 more than I was expecting.

 

[Jim Davey]

I have a used Picomig or two on the rental fleet I can spare so that is an option for people in need of used kit.
Maybe give me a shout if you are interested?

 

[Jlg]

I have a used Picomig or two on the rental fleet I can spare so that is an option for people in need of used kit.
Maybe give me a shout if you are interested?

How much are they going for if you don't mind me asking

 

[Jim Davey]

How much are they going for if you don't mind me asking

Depends on what type and amount of accessories they are leaving with. I buy them in as bare machines and add things like torches, earth leads, gas hoses, regs drive roller kits for steel, flux core and aluminium. Then there is options on mains plugs, extension leads, threaded or quick release gas connections, gas bottles. Can snowball quite quickly so it’s best to have a discussion really to find out what is needed right from the off.

PM me if you are interested.

 

[Jlg]

Depends on what type and amount of accessories they are leaving with. I buy them in as bare machines and add things like torches, earth leads, gas hoses, regs drive roller kits for steel, flux core and aluminium. Then there is options on mains plugs, extension leads, threaded or quick release gas connections, gas bottles. Can snowball quite quickly so it’s best to have a discussion really to find out what is needed right from the off.

PM me if you are interested.

I'll get a message over to you later I'm looking at upgradeing my mig after Christmas as I use it a lot more and it's a bit under powerd

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Yes they should be, I only ever use 5356 or occasionally 5183 but you should be able to get the others on 200 reels.

It does seem like the Cebora has leapt up in price, either that or there was a mistake made in the quote I got as the prices I am seeing now are at least £500 more than I was expecting.

Advertised price has gone up, as requested by a few distributors. Most suppliers sell way below the MAP.

 

[6 milli billi]

You can buy a little trolley that the 180 sits on, which has a carrier on it for 300mm spools (or tbh you could make something quite easily!) (shouldn't have said that ) Definitely the 4 roll drive is worth the extra investment. New feature is JOB for 1.2mm Puls welding on 4043 and 5356. When you compare the actual output,duty cycle and what you can actually weld, there is nothing between the Miller and EWM in terms of max power really.

 

[hotponyshoes]

New feature is JOB for 1.2mm Puls welding on 4043 and 5356

Is this something on all versions of the 1.81-a panel?

Can new JOBS be added at a later date (by the end user or dealer) or is it a case of buying a new panel if newer features are released?

 

[6 milli billi]

Happy New Year all! If the panel is the very latest version, then it should already have the 1.2mm puls JOB's installed. If not, then yes it is possible to upload, if the dealer has our PC 300 parameter software. If not then it could be returned to EWM UK to have this added for a small labour charge.

 

[hotponyshoes]

It has got the 1.2 JOBS on there (I have ended up with the M1.83-A panel.

Mine does not seem to have the JOBS for the forceArc or rootArc though?

They are listed as features on the ewm website but not on my JOB sticker .
The machine will only let me select from the JOBS on the sticker.

Also, I can't turn the pulse on when in manual mig mode (JOB 188) ?

 

[Jim Davey]

I think you’ll find that forcearc and rootarc are only options on the bigger 3 phase Picomig machine, not the smaller single phase 180/185 units.

 

[Jlg]

I think you’ll find that forcearc and rootarc are only options on the bigger 3 phase Picomig machine, not the smaller single phase 180/185 units.

Did you ever get the price for the mig