nick205
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| posted on 18/9/09 at 06:51 PM |
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MIG welder - what do I need to spend?
Hopefully I will be ina position to buy myself a MIG welder in the near future.
I used to weld as part of my job many (15) years ago on good quality kit, but never really paid much attention to what I was using.
I have since used cheapy budget units on ocaision and struggled to get a good weld.
What is a realistic budget for a good quality home user MIG welder?
Also what do I need to budget for gas and consumables?
...I know I could search on here and read up on people's thoughts, but I'm after the most up to date info on makes/models etc.
(I'm also slightly lazy with it)
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Dangle_kt
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| posted on 18/9/09 at 06:59 PM |
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www.mig-welding.co.uk
sign for forum and message weldequip he'll dp you a good price on the higher end of the market
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JoelP
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| posted on 18/9/09 at 07:27 PM |
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2 years ago i bought a clark 165te, which i believe is the bottom of the industrial units they do, but noticably better than the hobby ones. Got it on
a vat free day for about £200. It uses the small bottles if you need, so ive got £10 in a bottle and £10ish in a big roll of wire. Fired it up for the
first time last week, the delay caused by being skint and selling all projects. It works a treat, and thats after a 2 or 3 year gap with no welding at
all. Can blow holes in 3mm, and runs on a plug without a fuse.
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Gav
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| posted on 18/9/09 at 08:46 PM |
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I've had a Clarke 160T for the last 4 years, superb bit of kit for the money. iirc it was about £220 from machine mart.
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loggyboy
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| posted on 18/9/09 at 08:59 PM |
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I have a clarke 90e gas/gasless. I paid £50 second hand a few years ago.
Its more than adequate for basic repairs and fabrication, but can be frustrating sometimes when metal is thin as it holy has a few settings.
I use disposable bottles that cost about £10, they seem to last ages and mean i dont have to mess around with renting and refilliing as halfords is
open 90% of the time i need them to be.
[Edited on 18/9/09 by loggyboy]
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marcjagman
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| posted on 18/9/09 at 09:37 PM |
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Mine is a Giant 195 amp, cost 139 quid BRAND NEW from a guy in Liecester, he sells them on ebay, delivery only an extra 15. Mine has only got 4 power
settings but 6 power settings is 20 quid more. 6 settings will be better, absolutely brilliant even with Co2, good clean weld. Would recommend a
search on ebay for him, the welder is bright yellow so not going to be hard to miss.
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40inches
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| posted on 19/9/09 at 11:33 AM |
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As above, Clarke good value for money. Do NOT buy Wolfe, they look good for the money, but are Sh*te. Don't ask me how I know 
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 19/9/09 at 09:31 PM |
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I would rather spend £200 on a second hand Esab or Lincoln, serious quality machines.
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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nick205
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| posted on 21/9/09 at 10:31 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
I would rather spend £200 on a second hand Esab or Lincoln, serious quality machines.
I'll take look - presumably this kind of thing is going to be a bit more serviceable than the cheaper ones?
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phelpsa
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| posted on 21/9/09 at 01:02 PM |
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I've got a clarke 151TE, its a brilliant all round welder and i've been singing it's praises for years.
HOWEVER
If it breaks there are very few places that will touch it because the clarke parts department is absolutely terrible and discontinue parts for welders
that have barely been out of production for a year, and they hardly ever stock parts for welders that are still in production. When I rang about a new
torch i was told it that they weren't sure about when they'd get one in stock but it would be at least a month. My local welding supplies
place stopped touching clarke welders because they couldnt get parts.
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arrow-engineering
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| posted on 21/9/09 at 08:44 PM |
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welder
ive got a 150 clarke, ive had it about 6 years, it played up once and i took it back to machine mart and they send it back, overhauled it fuly with
all new parts, tested and sent it me back for about 45 quid, absolutely top!
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tendoshingan
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| posted on 21/9/09 at 11:25 PM |
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I have a SIP Migmate 130 turbo.
Took a gamble and bought it as faulty off ebay.
Took 20 mins to fix, the problem was corroded contacts. Once cleaned up it worked fine and has done ever since.
Now the best bit, it cost £10!!!
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 22/9/09 at 07:50 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
As above, Clarke good value for money. Do NOT buy Wolfe, they look good for the money, but are Sh*te. Don't ask me how I know
How much metal did you f'kup?
There was a thread about Lidl ones I'm sure of it, what price were those?
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speedystew
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| posted on 2/10/09 at 03:29 PM |
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kemppi miniarc adaptive 180 get's my vote
http://rapidwelding.com/dynamic/DisplayItem.aspx?c=6108180
best set i have used in a long time and i have access to set's at work that cost a lot more
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