what mig do i need?

[BrokenBiker]

did a bit of welding today my horrendous mightymig100 and although the welder is crap, the wire was crap and i am generally crap i did manage 2-3 good welds out of the 9-10 i did.

i have been looking at migs for a while but have mainly been looking at new inverters as they allow stick welding too, but the last time i needed a stick welder was god knows how long ago to weld some 13mm flat bar that had to be strong.

i am thinking that for my general maintenance work on cars (mostly exhausts and panel work) and the odd bit of fabrication on 3mm or lower then 150 amps should suffice, something like a clarke or similar.

are the clarke 151's a fair unit for this sort of work?

 

[optima21]

yeah the clarkes should be fine for that, one issue that you might find is the torch lead is only 1.6m long, so it'll need to be very close to where you're working ( I ended up making a new lead for mine that was 1m longer)

 

[BrokenBiker]

yeah the clarkes should be fine for that, one issue that you might find is the torch lead is only 1.6m long, so it'll need to be very close to where you're working ( I ended up making a new lead for mine that was 1m longer)

about the same as my mightymig for the torch length. noever really bothered me but i may end up putting a longer torch on. cant see me needing more than 3M

 

[Chris Stevens]

If you are doing car work, the best possible choice in my view is a used industrial type machine (Murex Tradesmig approx £250 Ebay is worth a look), which will outlast hobby equipment 10 times over, and in many cases will have a wire feed pulse feature, which is something I found invaluable when I was doing car resto/repair work for a living. Another advantage of not using hobby equipment, is that it retains its value, and you would be able to sell for purchase price several years down the line.

 

[BrokenBiker]

What power do the trades migs have?

 

[gaz1]

with my clarke ive had it doing 5mm steel plate but it does trip out if you keep welding 5mm then its standby waiting for it to cool down i class that as tea break

ive had it welding between 3mm and 5mm to join them up and ive just welded a 5mm firebox up the gas one is fine but i also like the gasless systems as well so i have 2 systems one for gas and one for gasless something to think about because i didnt want to be pulling the wire back out to insert the gasless wire on a dual system

theres one in my area but 3 phase

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=murex+mig+welder&rt=nc&_dmd=2

 

[BrokenBiker]

with my clarke ive had it doing 5mm steel plate but it does trip out if you keep welding 5mm then its standby waiting for it to cool down i class that as tea break

ive had it welding between 3mm and 5mm to join them up and ive just welded a 5mm firebox up the gas one is fine but i also like the gasless systems as well so i have 2 systems one for gas and one for gasless something to think about because i didnt want to be pulling the wire back out to insert the gasless wire on a dual system

theres one in my area but 3 phase

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=murex+mig+welder&rt=nc&_dmd=2

I won't be using gasless wire again, if I have to weld outside I will either get a stick welder or make a wind break.

5mm sounds a bit heavy for a 150 amp machine, I would likely never weld more than 3mm with a mig, would again swap to a stick welder as I have far more confidence in my ability with a stick welder than a mig on thicker stuff

 

[Chris Stevens]

What power do the trades migs have?

I used to have a 160, which was perfect for car stuff, and quite capable of welding heavier up to 3-4mm.

 

[gaz1]

im using it for the wood burners that im building with the 5mm plate 16" long by 4" wide ive vee'ed them and welded in between
the firebox im welding the corners up and there much bigger
the steel top plate is 5mm and the sides is 3mm but has to be welded between them
i also weld box section as well

ive only tripped it out twice other day didnt trip it out at all but still welding 5mm but breaks between the welding times

 

[daleyd]

Also what power supply will you be using, the heavier industrial machines "may" push the limits on a 13a plug, if that's all you have available.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I'm a spark so supply isn't an issue as long as it's single phase, currently got a load of 16 amp sockets but have cabled ten to take 32 amp so it's just a case of swapping the sockets over if needs be

 

[Chris Stevens]

I'm a spark so supply isn't an issue as long as it's single phase, currently got a load of 16 amp sockets but have cabled ten to take 32 amp so it's just a case of swapping the sockets over if needs be

If you can afford £750 theres a single phase Fronious MIG on Ebay at the moment, which is probably just about the best single phase set you can get, for not much more than higher end hobby money.

 

[BrokenBiker]

if i could afford that i would probably get an r-tech 250...

not really looking to spend more than £200, if i can keep the mrs away from my bank account long enough that is...

 

[Chris Stevens]

Lol........................R-Tech advertising has got to be effective, if people think their gear is better than Fronious! Looks like you stuck with a pretty nasty hobby machine, or tatty looking used industrial then.

 

[BrokenBiker]

r-tech advertising has nothing to do with my choice in them to be honest, i hadnt realised they made hobby machines as the first encounters i had with them were at the morgan factory, so i assumed their gear was industrial kit...it wasnt until a while later that i saw someone on here boasting about them an then saw johns videos about them.

if i was going to be spending that sort of money i would want a warranty, im not blowing that much on a second hand gamble regardless of how 'good; they are considered to be, there is always the chance that it will go wrong, and the older it gets, the more likely it is to go wrong.

if i spend £200 on a unit that only lasts 6 months it wont hurt nearly as much as £750 on a unit that lasts the same time.

i seem to notice a lot of posts from you knocking r-tech chris, personal reason for that or do you work for fronius?

 

[Chris Stevens]

Clever advertising and promotion, seems to me today very effective in clouding peoples judgement over a prospective purchase. Not got any problem at all with inexpensive budget welding gear, but to suggest its something its not and never can be, seems to me more like a party political broadcast than responsible advertising.

I get the feeling that some people tend to feel that the frequent failures and problems that seem part and parcel of the more popular budget equipment, also affect top end gear such as Fronious, Kemmpi, Miller, Esab, Murex etc etc, and possibly leads to the idea that a warranty is essential, which means used top end equipment is often overlooked in favour of new budget?

I have never owned a new welding set, and over a 25 year period with regularly used s/h quality gear have only experienced one major failure (HF generator replaced for £175), but looking at the tales of woe on various forums concerning budget gear, not entirely sure if that would have been the case had I opted for new budget equipment complete with warranty?

For some end users though, I think the lower priced equipment has a lot going for it, but feel that misleading advertising and promotion often leads to purchase of higher priced lower spec units from men in suits, rather than better value higher spec equipment from other suppliers such as Parweld, Thermal Arc, GYS, or for a little more money a Chinese inverter set which has been reworked and improved in the UK by Technical Arc in Yorkshire.

 

[weldequip]

Reworked in the UK, reworked in the US, reworked in Germany, reworked in Finland, reworked in Denmark...which would you prefer?!

 

[BrokenBiker]

so you are telling me that more expensive units are better than cheaper ones? consider this then? which would you say is better, an austin mini or a rolls royce?

both do the same job, but for completely different people...i am more interested in a unit that i can throw in the boot of the car when someone wants me to fix a gate, or do a patch for an mot, not a unit that has to sit in the corner of the shed becasue it is too heavy to be moved any great distance. if it gets kicked around and looks tatty, i dont care, as long as it works when i want it too. i couldnt care less who makes it providing i can find a good amount of decent reviews that show it as a good unit, like the clarke units, the r-tech untis, parweld units, GYS units, even CWS best migs are starting to show good reviews although as they are cheaper than more hobby transformer machines i expect you may have a problem with those too...

i have had parweld kit and it was made from chinese parts, where it was made i dont know, but i doubt it was in the uk, more likely to be shipped in, have some quality tests done and then put on the shelf...sound familiar? thats becasue a lot of the suppliers you listed are doing the same thing to their units...

weldequip, thanks for the PM, i get paid friday, i will come back to you then to see whats what

 

[weldequip]

[QUOTEconsider this then? which would you say is better, an austin mini or a rolls royce?[/QUOTE]

Ermm... the Rolls. The mini will do 70mph, but not for long...the Rolls will keep doing it all day long. SIP v Fronius

 

[weldequip]

Not wanting to be left out of the mass recall of German vehicles they also called their own yesterday...One in California. Potential air bag problem apparently. The owner thought it was a sick bag for copious champagne consumption so no harm done.