Sip inverter

[Mid Wales welder]

Does anyone have expieriance with the Sip T213HF DC TIG/MMA inverter? As I was thinking of buying one. Will it weld 10mm mild steel with arc? Also will it run on standard 240 household mains? Any info would be much apriciated!

 

[Rubber Duck]

Don't have any experience with that machine but their website http://www.sipuk.co.uk/tools/info_SIP05160.html
should answer some of your queries.

 

[Mid Wales welder]

Don't have any experience with that machine but their website http://www.sipuk.co.uk/tools/info_SIP05160.html
should answer some of your queries.

Yeh i'v been on there website & it all looks good, but i'v read a few reviews about Sip & people are saying they're not good build quality! Any advice on other inverters? also will the 4mm rods weld 10mm mild steel with 1 run? Don't have much expieriance with stick as never get a chance to use in work. Thanks.

 

[wyn]

I think to use 4mm rods off a house hold supply you would need a 16 or 30 amp supply as the sip states.
With the 4mm rods i don't think you would weld 10 mm in one pass.

I'd be tempted to use 3.2mm rods and a machine like this or this. These work ok off a 13 amp supply. Or something like this if you don't need tig.
These brands are a bit more reputable than sip and are about the same price.

 

[PTvor]

Yeh i'v been on there website & it all looks good, but i'v read a few reviews about Sip & people are saying they're not good build quality! Any advice on other inverters? also will the 4mm rods weld 10mm mild steel with 1 run? Don't have much expieriance with stick as never get a chance to use in work. Thanks.

SIP got themselves a bad reputation with their low-end MIG welders which have had the same sorts of problems for years.

I've got a SIP inverter, probably about 4 years old now. When it went wrong about a year out of guarantee, SIP weren't helpful - they didn't reply to emails. It turns out to be made by DECA a big Italian maker and the information needed was found on the WWW after some detective work.

The build quality of this inverter isn't bad, but it doesn't have things like bracing to stop the heatsinks moving and damaging things if it's dropped.

Since they buy these units from wherever and tend not to have the same models on offer for more than a year or so, the build quality of a particular model will depend on where they bought them from.

I'm inclined to be wary of SIP and of the view that you can get better value for your money and better assurance of support elsewhere.

 

[Mid Wales welder]

Thanks for all the replies it was a big help. So I would need 5mm rods to weld 10mm thick mild steel in one pass?! Are there any inverters out there that will run 5mm rods? So i would have to get a 30amp supply to use the bigger inverters, that will b costly I bet! I have just been looking at R-tech inverters, anyone have ant thoughts?

 

[PTvor]

Of course there are inverters on the market which will burn 5mm rods and thicker. For instance this found without looking very hard.

http://www.wellyweld.com/products/lorch-x350-controlpro-inverter-415v-72616.aspx

The price is bit eye watering and it needs three phase. There'll be others, almost certainly cheaper. However, the market for inverters is mainly 180A and less.

Why do you need to weld 10mm steel in a single pass and why do you need maximum strength welds with the correct leg length etc? Have you got a lot to do? Is it going to be highly stressed and in a critical application?

Another possibility is to look for a second hand oil cooled welder which can burn those big rods.

 

[gavuk]

Sure someone with more knowledge than me can add to this thread but i wouldn't go straight to a 4 or 5mm rod ,at college 2.5mm root ,2stringers 3.25mm and capped with a 4mm,in industry 2.5mm followed by 3.25 stringers was common as was 3.25 stringers throughout.....never used a 5mm rod myself....perhaps a bigger mig welder would be a better choice for single run welding of that size material....?