Recommended Mig?

[ATinOfSpam]

Hi all - newbie looking for tips on a good welder.
Needed for welding chassis and body to finish off a 55 chevy pickup resto-mod
I need lots of practice before I let myself loose on her though
Been looking at the Sealey SuperMig180, anyone know good bad views on this one?
or alternatives I should be considering?
If its up to the job?
I will be going down the gas route I reckon, I have someone who can source the bottle for me - it will only cost the refill rates and a few beers!

Thanks

 

[Mr Fro]

Hallo mate,

I bought one of these around a month or so ago: http://www.weldingdirect.co.uk/cws-best-mig-160i-9211-p.asp. I'm really pleased with it's performance and build quality so far - the company are really great to deal with too. I've MIG welded very thin SS up to 4mm mild with it no problems whatsoever. MMA is an absolute breeze - I laid around 8 metres of 2.5 rods continually last night with ease, not a single thermal cut out and the slag peeled off of it's own accord*. :-)

I honestly can't recommend it enough for a new comer like me.

*note: running in to the house to show your other half a full length of self-peeling slag will not, repeat, not garner any interest from them whatsoever.

 

[jackjosh]

I got a Clarke 150TE with a mask and bottle for £80 of Gumtree and still have it as a back up, just in case my Portamig goes belly up as it is still a competant machine but not as good as the Portamig which is top class in both welding ability and build quality. Don't be fooled by the name though, even though it is on wheels it is a heavy unit and not that portable!
The GWS machines also have a good following as do Rtech (interest free credit). As you can see from previous post there are other machines that come recommended as well.
A lot of course depends on your budget and how often you are going to use it.

 

[500e]

Fro.
Mine would say nice dear Undercut as usual ! They know how to hurt

 

[Mr Fro]

Fro.
Mine would say nice dear Undercut as usual ! They know how to hurt

Mine wouldn't even know what that meant! She came in to the garage yester-eve for something or other - I told her to stick on my spare mask and I'd show her what I was up to. She did that hand on hip, blank stare thing then turned and ******** off. It cut me deep.

 

[ATinOfSpam]

As for budget, Ive got a grand to spend top line if I need to, but the less of that I do spend - the more Ive got to spend on the resto-mod, but I want a decent one Im not going to regret later!
Its not going to get a whole lot of use - its only a small part of my spare time hobby tinkering on the old motors, its not like a do one every couple of months or so, far from it
Having said that - once I get into it, I will be making all sorts of useful things I probably dont really need lol

Been looking at the recommendations here guys, and I kinda like the idea of a combined mig/mma unit, and its worth noting I only have 25A available in my garage as it stands!
I dont want something too big physically, garage space is gettin to be a premium, and it needs to be able to be dragged around the yard - so inverter technology might be the way I swing...
Whatever I select needs to be able to handle up to 5mm /6 mm plate - the chassis on the truck is not like they build them nowadays!

 

[J.F]

Buy the most powerful machine you can afford, with the widest power range and lots of voltage settings (the last setting only really applies to conventional transformer migs as opposed inverters which will have stepless control), you may not need the top end of the power settings but the duty cycle will be far better. So if you buy a 250A machine but only need to use 150A then you could probably do all your welding without the welder cutting out, But if you buy a 150A machine then it will end up cutting out. Also buy a machine that uses a euro torch not a built in one as they are never long enough. If our looking at 6mm plate then I would be looking at a 250A machine. The smaller Clarke machines the 135 etc have low duty cycles and the wire feed becomes erratic close to thermal cut out. I personally have the R-tec 180 they are reasonable machines with excellent customer service, maybe look at the R-tech 250A or similar.

 

[Badger1bear]

I cant recomend Rapid Welding enough, Andy Doe is always ready to offer help and advice and his prices are keen and he will move on the price if you twist his arm abit
One of my welders is the kemppi minarc mig 200, it is a cracking machine to use. Take a look at the video in the fleabay listing below

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kemppi-Mi...294?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35bfb7c83e

 

[ATinOfSpam]

Thanks for all your input guys
I did like the look of the GYS Pearl 200-2 which gives you the ease of full synergic control and MMA ability, but it seems its a new model and no ones got one (and they're not cheap!)

Anyway I've just ordered an R-Tech, ended up going with the 180 rather than the 250 due to my garage supply limitation

And if anyone needs it the discount code KIT7 will give you a 5% discount at RTech, worked for me today.
I'll let you know how I get on with it