dyno-tron
Member
- Messages
- 444
- Location
- Near Chester, UK
After using my Tig welder to build some frames (welding trolly, etc) and repair various kart parts I moved on to the hobby tasks I actually bought it for - welding scrap parts together to make ornamental items for sale, that has progressed OK but with one main challenge, e.g. tacking random parts/nuts/bolts together.
Unlike with a nice tight fitting joint where tacking can be done without filler, it takes far too long balancing / wedging / clamping small bits to get a tack in there, I can't just hold the piece and get the torch in because I need another hand to get a bit of filler in due to the poor fit up.
To solve this I have been deliberating for a few weeks about getting a cheap Mig so that I can "point and shoot" tack things together and then finish with the tig which allows me to blend the welds on small items without needing to grind anything.
After trawling through the forums to get as much info as possible I had a look at the cheapest Migs and landed with the Uptime 160A as being the main contender, yes - I know you get what you pay for and a decent Mig welder brand will last better but pretty much any <£700 is made in China anyway and I can't justify another big money welder just for tacking :-).
Compared to the other super cheapo Migs it has a Euro torch, mostly metal wire feed and goes down to 20A.
The deal was sealed when I looked today and saw that they have reduced them from £195 to £155! Anything halfway decent is 3 times that. I had a balance on my PayPal account after selling some stuff so I ordered one this afternoon
If you've read this far - you must be bored haha! But seriously, when It arrives I'll put up some pics for others to have a gander.
Unlike with a nice tight fitting joint where tacking can be done without filler, it takes far too long balancing / wedging / clamping small bits to get a tack in there, I can't just hold the piece and get the torch in because I need another hand to get a bit of filler in due to the poor fit up.
To solve this I have been deliberating for a few weeks about getting a cheap Mig so that I can "point and shoot" tack things together and then finish with the tig which allows me to blend the welds on small items without needing to grind anything.
After trawling through the forums to get as much info as possible I had a look at the cheapest Migs and landed with the Uptime 160A as being the main contender, yes - I know you get what you pay for and a decent Mig welder brand will last better but pretty much any <£700 is made in China anyway and I can't justify another big money welder just for tacking :-).
Compared to the other super cheapo Migs it has a Euro torch, mostly metal wire feed and goes down to 20A.
The deal was sealed when I looked today and saw that they have reduced them from £195 to £155! Anything halfway decent is 3 times that. I had a balance on my PayPal account after selling some stuff so I ordered one this afternoon
If you've read this far - you must be bored haha! But seriously, when It arrives I'll put up some pics for others to have a gander.