SWP Mig welders or other suggestion

[mitchel.]

Trying to decide what welder to upgrade to i've currently got a clarke hobby mig wanting to upgrade to something more professional. been looking an swp 220 amp and swp 280 what drew me to it was the 4 way roller but cant decide wether i really need that? i weld mostly small box section for fabrication and welding on 4x4's nothing to heavy duty or thick. Can't be three phased i do have a 32 amp ring to run it off and can have a 16 amp plug installed if that helps.

Budgets £600

 

[skotl]

Definitely look at R-Tech - good kit and excellent service.

http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/welding-equipment/mig-welder/

 

[cumbriasteve]

If I was upgrading from my Clarke with £600 in my pocket the SWP would not be my choice, I would probably go for an Oxford or similar, also prefer the transformer sets to a box full of fancy electrickery. .. it's an age thing

I do own an R-Tech MMA inverter though and very happy with it, so I may slowly be getting converted from the dark ages, still the Oxfords / Portamigs and Tec Arcs are great sets though.

 

[Tom Orrow L]

You'll find it hard to find any stock of the SWP machines.. not many keep them in stock at their warehouses and SWP haven't currently got stock of many machines, including most of their Stealth range and a lot of their redline/proline mig's. A couple of the Stealth range have even been discontinued.

Could you consider a Oxford 200-1 migmaker or a GYS smartmig 182? Both lovely transformer machines that'll do the job you need it to and stays within your budget.

 

[mitchel.]

You'll find it hard to find any stock of the SWP machines.. not many keep them in stock at their warehouses and SWP haven't currently got stock of many machines, including most of their Stealth range and a lot of their redline/proline mig's. A couple of the Stealth range have even been discontinued.

Could you consider a Oxford 200-1 migmaker or a GYS smartmig 182? Both lovely transformer machines that'll do the job you need it to and stays within your budget.

My local place has some swp migs in

In relation to your suggestion are these big form factor migs

 

[mitchel.]

I've looked at the above suggestions but there all £600 plus vat? I've only got £600 and I'm not vat registered.

Are the digital displays on welders useful?

 

[mitchel.]

Maybe worth dropping down to a 180 210 machine? Using money else where

 

[Tom Orrow L]

The Oxford 200-1 can be had for £600 inc vat and delivery, so can the GYS 182.
The digital displays can be useful but not massively in your situation.

 

[mitchel.]

The Oxford 200-1 can be had for £600 inc vat and delivery, so can the GYS 182.
The digital displays can be useful but not massively in your situation.

Do you think it's worth dropping down welder as didn't realise I'd have to install a 16amp circuit for it rather use a 13 amp plug its on a 32amp circuit

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Could go with a GYS Smartmig 162 which will run a 13A plug, lovely set too.. So simple. You'll struggle to get more than 160A off a 13A plug, theoretically you should only be able to get 130A but it depends on your supply quality.

 

[mitchel.]

Could go with a GYS Smartmig 162 which will run a 13A plug, lovely set too.. So simple. You'll struggle to get more than 160A off a 13A plug, theoretically you should only be able to get 130A but it depends on your supply quality.

Supplies good to be fair it's only 10 meters from board at most. It's all freshly wired to.

Anything else you would suggest except for GYS? With the smaller migs will I need a trolley to fit a big bottle of mig gas?

 

[Chris Stevens]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sNEW-SCRE...639687?hash=item5683377ec7:g:9KgAAOSwxp9W3ACp

Might well come for well under £600, and likely to be a better choice than a new machine which is lower quality. If you are flat out a lot you probably would need 16A circuit, but if not you will be fine on 13A.

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Supplies good to be fair it's only 10 meters from board at most. It's all freshly wired to.

Anything else you would suggest except for GYS? With the smaller migs will I need a trolley to fit a big bottle of mig gas?

Around £600 budget that'd be my first recommendation other than a Parweld XTM 181C.. Take a look at those.

Your other option is as Chris said, a decent second hand set.