Someone decide for me!

[banjoal]

Hi Folks - just signed up. After weeks reading all the excellent advice here I still can't make up my mind. I'm looking for something that will replace my 25-year-old Clarke Supermig (something I should have done 25 years ago) and help get my various piles of rust out of the garage and back on to the road, so I need to be able to deal with bodywork and chassis sections.
I've only got a 13 amp socket available, I don't want to use disposable gas and my budget is limited.
A Portamig is looking favourite but on the other hand something cheaper would let my buy some other useful workshop toys......
If weldequip is out there I'd be interested in more info on the Portamig range.

 

[irondarren]

cheaper normally means exactly what it is cheaper, cheaper parts and lower quality. I guess the 25 yr old clarke was quite well built, in someways it might be difficult to find that build quality in modern machines as they are all built at a price. The normal thing that seems to suffer is the wire feed unit, using a cheaper unit saves pennies, often the lower end makers don't give enough thought to how much of an important part of a mig unit it really is. Most machines are great to start, SIP stuff gets a slating for poor wire feed units, but one of the welders won an auto magazine award, guess it was good from new, but as it ages it will become poor. The portamig has a good wire feed, what it does substitute to save costs is unnessary things, no spot timer or stich weld modes, and is built using the simplest way, nothing flash that is likely to break. In effect any repairs required over its lifetime should be at an economical cost, because of the way its designed.
It really does depend how much time you spend welding, if its for the odd bit here and there once a month for an hour, a cheaper unit would be perhaps better. If its going to get reasonable use then the 181 or 211 is a far better option

 

[ozzman]

can second that. just took reciept of my portamig 181 today, and im very impressed for the money.

well worth the £500 over the chine crap thats about.

plus it goes down to 20amps so is ideal for car bodywork.

 

[banjoal]

Thanks Irondarren and Ozzman - I've just realised I said it was a Supermig I'd been using. That's what comes of looking at so many different machines recently. It is actually a Clarke Minimig, one of the very first, I should think, and while it has done well to last this long I reckon the time has come to move on to something that will do more than a few inches of weld before giving up on me.
You certainly haven't discouraged me from the Portamig option - I don't want anything flash or complicated but I've got a lot of metal to join and reliability and ease of use are the priorities.

 

[shenion]

The PortaMIG would be a good step up from the old Clarke.

Having said that, a newer Clarke would do fine for DIY use. I have a 130EN and have run it flat out and never have hit the thermal cutout. The air coming out is barely warm. Something in the 150-180 range would do well (probably the 151 or 161). I have used the Clarke over a year and it has worked almost flawlessly. I do wish I had gone for the 180EN though.

the 151 and 161 will run on a 13A socket, will probably trip fuse running at full power, but fine for most DIYuses.

It really depends on your budget. PM weldequip, he sells both lines.

First question is how thick steel you need to weld. That will set the amount of amps you need. Then pick a model above that.

Note: most smaller MIGs are a bit over rated and the rating is for gasless wire. Going with gas will reduce the heat by about half.