Welder Choice Help

[GrumpyOne]

I have just about finished my welding night class ;-) and am thinking about which welder to buy. I will be mostly using it to weld car bodies and motorbike frames, and I have promised my wife a new set of gates for the driveway.

I’m purely a hobby welder and the machine won’t be hard worked, may be two cars and a motorbike per year. I would normally have a car and a motorbike going at the same time.

I fancy an inverter rather than the more conventional transformer type welder, because it would give me stick welding as well as MIG and with the odd exception the amps seem to go down further with an inverter. Not too bothered about TIG as I don’t think I will every need it, but you never know.

I have done a bit of research and narrowed my choice, for now, down to the following, a IFL i-TECH 170 MIG INVERTER, Jasic PRO MIG 160, R-Tech MTS255S Digital Inverter or the Thermal Arc Fabricator 181i.

Can anyone offer any advice as to which machine might be the most suitable for my needs, or am I going down completely the wrong path and should I look at something else?

I don’t mind spending the money to buy a machine, but I only want to do it once.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Not up to speed with inverters but the Thermal arc always seems to get good feedback and anything R-Tech gets good reviews, many members here have their products and after sales service which is probably as important as the machine always appears to be spot on.

 

[Shedendman]

Bare in mind the input fuse rating you need,the MTS255S needs a 32amp,wheres the other 3 state 16amps,ok yer you could run on a 13 amp fuse on the lower settings but start cranking it up the higher end and your popping fuses.
R-Tech are brilliant all round,but as stated to me by them if using one of their units without the proper fuse rating and you get a problem you may wave bye bye to the warranty

 

[Richard.]

Car bodies and bike frames are welded in very different manners with different levels of skill. Car bodie welding is very hard due to the condition and thickness of the metal. But if it does not go so well it's no biggy it will just rott some more. Bike frames whole new kettle of fish. Most modern ones are aluminium and Tig would be the nicer process for those ones. The thing about welding or repairing the bike frames is unlike the car the welds need to be bang on and you need to be really careful with heat input and distortion. To have real success in both these fields I'd say you need a nice little low powered mig and an acdc Tig. Is what I'd go for. Probably a bit expensive for the hobbyist but bike frame welding is critical stuff.

 

[Kent]

You actually need three different welders to do those three jobs. Bike frames i shouldn't MIG as you want pretty and strong over short runs, car panel work low power capable MIG (i hear the jassic inverters are good for this from local guys who use them) . Gates? well depends on material but a 160 amp MIG wont have the grunt to get hold of heavy stuff (like hinges) and TIG? forget it too much prep, weld time to even think of it.

I think you might want to get the MIG as big as you can get onto the supply as an inverter with step less control (this will only compromise the bike work ) or lash the cash on a 3-in -1 plant

 

[kelvinjouhar]

I have had a Thermal Arc 181 machine for about a year or so, and I have been very pleased with it. I had never done welding before but I have found it very easy to use. I am planning to get the accessories to have a go at TIG welding soon. I use it on a 13amp plug and have only ever blown the fuse once, when I really cranked it up .Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[GrumpyOne]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I have narrowed it to the IFL or the Thermal Arc 181.

Power is not an issue, I already have 30 amp circuit in the garage. I tend to only restore classic bikes with non alluminium frames and if the wife doesn't get new gates made by me then she will buy them from someone else ;-)