Hi I have been offered a MIG welder from a neighbour who is having a garage clear out. It's MIGMATE Turbo 130 with new big coil of wire and a full CO2 bottle, 2nd hand, little used, includes a mask. Price is £40.

Is this a good price??? A quick look on ebay seems to suggest it is.

I am a total novice having never welded, bur I was thinking about doing a welding course in the evenings anyway. So would this be the type of machine I would need to practice with. I just want it to fabricate the odd bracket and light stuff, nothing too heavy.

Cheers
Keith

I'd bite his / her hand off....

Why are you thinking about it - no brainer - get your wallet out

Quit your jibba jabba and do it!

buy it
buy it
buy it
buy it

sell it to me

Sounds a bit on the pricey side to me

I'll have it if you don't want it. I paid £25 for my arc but will still buy a mig when find one at right price.

It's a run-of-the-mill hobby MIG - nothing special, and you might come across odd problems with wire-feed, etc. However, many Locost chassis have been built with just such a machine, so it's a bargain!

Just to be sure (e.g. looking a gift horse in the dentures), ask him if he could show you how it works - you will then find out if the wire feeds out of the gun OK, and that the electrics are sound. Even a couple of inches on a piece of sheet steel would be enough.

buy it now,

good welder, blown 2 of them up!
can suffer with wire feed problems,
but easy to sort out !

buy it
paul

i always say, theres a limit to how bad you can be lashed for £40, and thats £40! Its a bargain if it works.

Wire feed problems can mostly be sorted by fitting a proper PTFE liner.

So £40 for the welder, £8 for a liner from welderman on Ebay.

Bloody cheap reliable welder.

Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on

PTFE liner is a temporary fix, they are designed for aluminium, and with MS wire, a groove is cut in the liner which pinches. Replace with a new steel liner or just blow it out with an airline.

I got a 110 migmate for £9 off ebay. I gave it away for free.
they aint great...

You could pay that just for the mask & CO2 bottle alone

^ he's right!

SIP welders have bit of a bad reputation... but for £40 you can't go far wrong. what you may find (i did at least!) is that if you can learn to weld half decently with it, if you decide to upgrade later, your welds will be a lot better lol

as said though, £40 will get you the gas and wire alone, so def worth it, even if just to learn

Other than slightly iffy wire feed, we built 2 chassis and welded axle brackets on with a 105 turbo SIP. Still going strong too

Other than slightly iffy wire feed, we built 2 chassis and welded axle brackets on with a 105 turbo SIP. Still going strong too

Buy it, if it's not very good you'll get more than that back on ebay even with an honest description of the faults.