Took the plunge

[ian price]

And ordered one of these, I had more or less settled on a Clarke 151 but after speaking to a guy I sold some modle kits to in order to pay for a MIG he bought a Parweld and recons it is great, it was recommended to him by the chap running a apprenticeship course he was on, got to save up for gas and wire but no rush, any of you guys have a Parweld? thoughts? cheer's, ian
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PARWELD-...var=651368015359&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

[Popcorn]

Think if I was gonna buy one I'd be looking at this
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/took-the-plunge.89223/

rather than buying one from someone with there user name.

 

[ian price]

Looking at what? I just get this page back when I click your link, I'm going on a recommendation, they bought from him and he has good feedback! I know the name is a bit offputting unless you know summat I don't,

 

[MoreWellie]

I have a feeling that was intended as a humorous comment as you have already ordered and will soon be in a position to answer the question yourself

I don't have a parweld but believe they are a decent enough make, the weldequip shop on here sells them for a similar amount of money and the write up sounds ok https://www.weldequip.com/parweld-xte181c-201c.htm

 

[ian price]

AhAh don't I feel like a PLONKRNPLONKER Nearly $hit myself after paying 480, anyway the welder itself looks a tad better that a Clark (I hope) haven't seen a bad report on them tho so!, it'll be here next Wednesday

 

[Matthew92]

I’ve got the next one up from that, the 200a model. It lays a nice bead, even with my very limited experience. Do get and use it though, there is a known problem with the circuit boards where one of the resistors packs up and the wire feed doesn’t work properly. They may well have sorted the problem now though, so yours might not be affected.

Mine only seems to play up when I’ve got both the wire speed and voltage maxed out, I did send it back to them for repair, but they said there was nothing wrong with it and sent it back. It’s still the same now, but I just haven’t done anything about it, I’m sort of hoping it’ll die completely before the two year warranty ends. Don’t ask for my opinion on their customer service either, I’d be banned for the sort of language required to describe it properly.

 

[ian price]

Thanks Matthew, nice to have a heads up, I doubt i'll need full power as I have my old stick welder for owt thicker than 4-5mm, that's been worth it's weight over the years, yeah customer service is usually $hit what ever you buy, big flash adds and promises but once they got your money they couldn't give a toss, it does sound like some components are failing under full power on yours, wonder if they actually tested it on full, anyway we'll see. cheer's Ian

 

[Matthew92]

It all stated fine, I rang and was promised a call from the guy in the service department and he called back within 30 mins, he told me about the known problem and I was really pleased, but after that it went to pot. Wasn’t collected 4 of the times I was promised and I know that wasn’t the couriers fault. Then numerous phone calls being told they’d ring back and never did. Then failed to call me and tell me when it was ready for return even though they had “fully tested” it and found nothing wrong. Funny that it came back to me on the exact settings I’d sent it out on.

In all I was without my welder for about 5 weeks and by the end I was so peed off I just couldn’t deal with them any more. But that’s my rant over for now. I’ve hopefully got some work coming in and I will give it some stick for a while.

Good luck and have fun with your new toy when it arrives.

 

[aguycalledsteve]

I've got the one below the 171 and I found it nice and easy to use and setup.

 

[ian price]

Thanks guys, Their customer services seem to have a lot to be desired, sounds like they didn't do diddly to it,