SIP industrial ?

[dannyp]

after my experiances with 2 sip turbomigs i said i would never ever ever own another sip welder. problem is just been and bought another SIP welder.

dose anyone know anything about SIP industrial ? i never knew they had an industial range or is it just badged. i don't know much about the machene yet, it was bought as in working condition but i havent fired it up yet.

what i know so far

It's RED , 3 phase , says it's 500 amps , remote 4 roll wire feed, 1mm and 1.2mm V rollers with it.

is there hope for it being a good unit ? who actualy makes them ?

any info about these ?

 

[gordon stephenson]

Even the employees are embarrassed when folks ask what SIP stands for, It's "Superior Industrial Products" But there again i think there are few people happy with theirs,Maybe after a few mods.

 

[dannyp]

i'm sceptical of it but it was cheep enough for me to take a punt

it dosent feel heavy enough to be a proper 500A power source it clains 100% duity at 285 amps. i'm skeptical. if i was useing it in work doing some barn bashing i'd relese the magic smoke from it. but i'll only be useing it on 1mm wire so i dought i'll ever see the hot side of 250 amps, and most of the work i have planned for it will be 2 - 3 mm box and tube.

atm a 250A sealy is doing the job just it's not doing it very well, the sealy just dosent seem to be abel to supply the voltage required to get the weld i want. it copes just 0.8 wire ( i'd like a bit more voltage tho ) but it's hatefull to use on 1mm wire it falls on it face ( even tho it came with 1mm rollers ) i have an older 185amp sealy that is actualy a in meany respects a much better welder ( the weld feels like it goes down smoother, it'll spray with 0.8mm wire unlike the 250, it's all in all much nicer to use) but i used to constantly find the limutes of the duity cycel to the point it got retired, the 250 is better on duity cycel but no where near good enough.

if i can burn off 1mm at 6 - 10 mtrs/min all day ( and i would really think it should be abel to ) that is all i actualy need from it

 

[Chris Stevens]

If you want a good welding set, then why not pay a bit more for a quality used machine, rather than buy something poor for little money, which will be worthless when it fails?

 

[tinman123]

If you want a good welding set, then why not pay a bit more for a quality used machine, rather than buy something poor for little money, which will be worthless when it fails?

id be a big fan of doing what you say but times id take a punt on something if it was cheap enough and the op said it was cheap enough for him to take a punt on so its worth the gamble if its any way half decent.
there are times you wont win but there are times you can strike lucky too dont forget.
and if all else fails, then thats what auctions are for and back there you might loose some money but you could be up money too, ive had it happen.

i have a 500A, pulsed, water cooled, umbilical CEA welder here, bought it at an auction for £280, it wasn't going when i got it so i had a lad look at it to see if he could work some magic but alas he has her welding but its either at full tilt or nothing, that exercise cost me £50 so im out the best end of £330 on her and its a no go.
so back she will go to some auction and ill recoup some of my cost and i could be lucky enough to make a few quid on it if the right man was there, i can put a reserve on it until it makes what i want so either way id do it again because ive been lucky more times than not.
as wayne would say, its all about the chase.

 

[PTvor]

after my experiances with 2 sip turbomigs i said i would never ever ever own another sip welder. problem is just been and bought another SIP welder.

I think that about sums up SIP for most people. They've sold those little MIG sets with the same problems for years and trashed their reputation.

I don't think SIP have made anything by way of welders at least for a long time. They have in the past rebadged DECA and Cemont, and probably others. My guess would be that yours was made in Italy.

It might be OK and it rather depends what you paid for it.

Personally, were I in the market for a three phase MIG, there seems to be plenty of stuff out there, from better rated brands than SIP, for not that much.

 

[dannyp]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIP-Weldm...SQZ6L7MKdpKOg5bZHJ5j8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

that was the AD for it, for what i'm going to be doing i really need remote wire feed so i can make a boom for it and have it overhead ( so the welder can easly be everywhere but out the way as well, i was rather hopeing SIP didn't make it and rather just badged it.

if things go well i'll get a new machene, as the not so old machenes have the dreaded " board " thats garanteed to be £500 if your lucky.

 

[Chris Stevens]

id be a big fan of doing what you say but times id take a punt on something if it was cheap enough and the op said it was cheap enough for him to take a punt on so its worth the gamble if its any way half decent.
there are times you wont win but there are times you can strike lucky too dont forget.
and if all else fails, then thats what auctions are for and back there you might loose some money but you could be up money too, ive had it happen.

i have a 500A, pulsed, water cooled, umbilical CEA welder here, bought it at an auction for £280, it wasn't going when i got it so i had a lad look at it to see if he could work some magic but alas he has her welding but its either at full tilt or nothing, that exercise cost me £50 so im out the best end of £330 on her and its a no go.
so back she will go to some auction and ill recoup some of my cost and i could be lucky enough to make a few quid on it if the right man was there, i can put a reserve on it until it makes what i want so either way id do it again because ive been lucky more times than not.
as wayne would say, its all about the chase.

I can understand that, but if a working welding set is what you are after then surely buying a good quality used set which is fully working is a better bet than taking a chance with a bargain buy?

 

[dannyp]

main carrot was relitavly it was just up the road, and it's not needed imediatly. guess we will know after i've plugged it in

 

[PTvor]

Almost certainly SIP didn't make it, but do they make the MIGmates which have had the same problems for years?

It could be that SIP industrial gear is/was totally different to the DIY stuff they sold, with totally different people with a totally different attitude involved - however, I wouldn't like to think I'd parted with three ton for that. Maybe it's just prejudice?

 

[blenkie1]

Last place I worked at used sip industrial. We had one red 500, one silver 500, and 4x350s. They were OK never had real problems. A couple developed circuit board problems. Repairable I think but they were coming to there end of life so they got skipped. One got pulled into the pit once by accident a bit panel beating and it was ok. I used the silver 500 and the only fault was its weight was a pain to pull about.

 

[tinman123]

I can understand that, but if a working welding set is what you are after then surely buying a good quality used set which is fully working is a better bet than taking a chance with a bargain buy?

im taking it that the set the op had bought is working but even so, in my case i have a workshop full of bargain buys that ive picked up, or at least they are in my head anyways.
if i was after a welder than id do my research and choose wisely, id still look for something out of an auction but when id be spending 2-3k id have my homework done on it and would know if it was working or not, id like to buy something not too old either but not new as it would never pay for itself here and could be the best part of 4-6k new so in that case its my best option.

the cea here was a spontaneous buy and turns out to be a dud, ill get 2-300 for it in an auction so im not out much and i dont mind.
in 20 odd years of going to auctions and picking up stuff ive had everything from duds to lucky strikes but luckily enough so far ive had only a few of the latter but what i can say is the few strikes ive had have has paid for everything else and some more.

altho i do get your point, and its valid in its own right, best to buy the right thing and do it once.
the day you buy is the day you sell is my motto but when you've got the auction bug its hard to pass it at times.

 

[skotl]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIP-Weldmate-500-MIG-Welder-with-Wire-Feeder-/291649928975?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&nma=true&si=LvxxI0SQZ6L7MKdpKOg5bZHJ5j8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

that was the AD for it, for what i'm going to be doing i really need remote wire feed so i can make a boom for it and have it overhead ( so the welder can easly be everywhere but out the way as well, i was rather hopeing SIP didn't make it and rather just badged it.

if things go well i'll get a new machene, as the not so old machenes have the dreaded " board " thats garanteed to be £500 if your lucky.

This one, maybe?
http://www.sipuk.co.uk/sip-industrial-weldmate-is500w-3ph.html

 

[blenkie1]

This one, maybe?
http://www.sipuk.co.uk/sip-industrial-weldmate-is500w-3ph.html

No ours was a lot older squarer, heavier so assuming it was one of them models instead of that one.

 

[Richard.]

SIP way back then and SIP now are totally different. It was never amazing stuff but it used to do ok and be built pretty well. Nowadays it's a disaster overtaken by Lime green covers filled with elastic bands. The one you linked could be a hit as it looks old tried and tested. It's quite industrial looking and cheap enough for a punt. It's also transformer based so not full of tiny boards to go pop and a lot of it could be repaired for sensible cost if a fault develops.

 

[dannyp]

well i put a plug on it, plugged it in turned it on. seems to run fine, it's problay best described as mediocere the voltage selections will do, would be nice if there were more / finer controll . but its also far fro the worse unit ive used