Hi Want to buy a mig welder (gas) any recomendations on model etc and where to buy,

I want to weld thin metal aswell and for general manafacturing of parts for the kit and repairs,

Any advice gratefully recieved,

Also needs to be idiot proof not welded before but got to start somwhere.

thanks

Sean

I've got a Clarke 100E and I can't fault it. 100A isn't much but it has 6 setting so gives great welds on normal thickness material. I don't want to weld RSJs anyway.

carke 151E (i think) is what i have. fantastic machine

ive got a Clarke 160T carnt fault it either.

Clarke 135E here. 6 years and never had a problem with it.

David

I've got a clark 100emk2 and it does do the job but I used my Brother In laws 150 te to do my chassis and IMHO it's a far far greater for the difference in money. I bought a tig in the group buy and if doing it again I'd tig the lot cause it's so controllable and gives a great finish.
It'll depend on your budget but I'd say any of them will do but for anything over 3mm the 100 will be struggling.

quote:

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Originally posted by blakep82
carke 151E (i think) is what i have. fantastic machine

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Clarke have the best reputation for "hobby" welders, any bigger than a 150-160 and you'll need a cooker-type socket to stop it tripping the fuse when welding on the highest settings.

Have a look HERE

I have a clarke 90 which I bought to build the chassis. It was cheap but it's starting to develop wire feed problems. 3mm and over I have to stick weld. Probably worth spending a bit more money than I did.

another vote for the clarke 151te brill and easy to use

depends what you want.

I had a 90amp cebora which was great for doing the chassis. I blew it up (possibly something to do with having two phone system 240v fans on it to extend the duty cycle. It did 3 years like this).

I've now got a clarke 151te. I was welding some 1.2mm stuff the other day, power setting 2 and it was sooooo sweeeeet. I can do full power on a 13 amp fuse. If you move up to the 160amp model i believe its a step change in quality as its a light industrial unit with a euro connector torch.

Figure out what you want to do, how often and the thickness of the steel (take what they say in the guides with a pinch of salt, if i was doing 5mm with mine i'd be doing overlap welds not a straight run) and that should give you an idea of what to get. Do a search on here, its been covered a number of times and there are some good places online.

One thing in migs favour over tig is its ability to 'cope' with poor workmanship, ie you don't have to be perfectly accurate with the cuts of steel, tig is much more exacting.

IMO don't go for a SIP Migmate they're renowned for feed probs. Take a look at http://www.mig-welding.co.uk it's a great resource.

I've been testing recently with arc welding (stick??) and it's great for the thick stuff - nice welds too

Certainly stay away from the SIP and Cosmo range of welders unless you want hours of rework. As said previously look at the mig welding forum.

I still have somewhere under the bench a Clarke 90E and still a good machine after about 10 years. Go for something with fan cooling and around the 150 amps. I think the Clarke 160TE is 150 amps so watch out for the model number it does not always mean what you think.

Looking at the Machine mart web page the first unit that comes with a Euro torch seems to be the Clarke 220TE.

Watch out for a VAT free day!

Cheers

Adrian

And yes I have a Cosmo

[Edited on 25-9-07 by AdrianH]

got a clarke 130 amp turbo mig, welds great even for a noob like me

Dont rule out the SIP stuff, some of them are good machines. SIP dont make their own stuff & dont get it all from the same manufacturer so some is much better or worse than others. We had an SIP Autoplus 180 & it was utter rubbish but two mates have SIP Ideal 210s and they're spot on but really a light industrial spec machine. The only thing they shared was the SIP sticker.
The same principle applies to much of Clarke, Draper & Sealey's kit.

i've got clarke 135te, must be 5 or 6 years of abuse now, and still no problems

Ray

I have a Seally Mighty Mig, 20 to 80 amps. Purchased it in 1984, built loads of things with it, and nothing has fallen apart, (so far). If you are looking to weld car body thickness stuff then you realy wan't a welder that goes down to at least 30, but better 20/25 amps. Most welders are fine for purpose, so make is just a personal thing, some like one make, others another. My advise buy the one that fits your pocket, cash wise. Cheers Ray

I have a cosmo 175 I think I have had problems with the handle the swiches and valve that control the wire feed and gas move about meaning that the wire feeds befor the gas = c~~p weld. I have had to take it apart several times and put them back in the right place other than that its been fine and has welded every thing I have needed to do only overheating a few times. One bit of advice its well worth splashing out on a good auto dimming visor as this improved my welding so much as it allows you to use both hands giving you much better control over the weld. Also speeds things up as you don’t have to keep picking up the mask. I have a Clarks one from machine mart not cheap but well worth the money.

I have a SIP 150, and it works well. I use a Pub Bottle of Co2 from a friendly landlord.

Dont bother with the disposable tin gas bottles, they arent worth didly squat.

Buy as big, and as good a welder as you can afford, it will pay you back in no time at all.
its the best tool I have ever bought, and has made me more money than it cost.