As per the title, are they any good. What's the lowest anyone has paid for one as they seem to have a very low starting price?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110278399877&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=001

£100 mark seems to be the norm looking at feedback.
Cheers,
Bob

I have been considering one of those for a while.....would it cope with mild and stainless steel up to about 3mm?

However, if your staff looked like the motley crew would you really put them all on ebay!!! Seriously...check some of those guys out!

[Edited on 11/8/08 by tegwin]

sara greco from customer support

remember you need argon for TIG welding, even for steel and stainless - which is very expensive compared to cheap pub co2.

Just something to bear in mind.

I bought one for £110 (£140 delivered) and it turned up 2 days later. Its a really nice machine, light, compact, easy to use and makes stunning welds (in a nerdy kinda way). I reckon with the right size tips and tungstens it would weld 3mm no problem. As a practice, i welded a 3" steel pipe coupler (5mm) to an 8G stainless plate without the filler wire, and it held no problems, with a factory looking weld. For a first go, i was well impressed.

As mentioned above, you do need pure Argon (for best results) though, which im struggling to get hold of (short of opening a BOC account) in any reasonable quantity. I tried the unit with a hobby cylinder, which works fine, but at £10 a pop and it only lasting a days practicing, its not exactly a 'Locost' option.

Not sure where you are based Richard, but if in the North West I have found a great Air Liquide distributor with no rental charge, just a £10 deposit on the bottle and £50 to fill it with pure argon. Considering how much I will be using it, not having to pay rental is great and more than makes up for how flipping expensive argon is!!

PM me for details if you want.

I have the 200amp version of that.
I am not experienced, but my welding quality has rocketed since I changed to Tig.
Must be something to do with 40 years of using a soldering iron (ie iron in one hand and solder in the other).
I just could not get on with my Mig, which I have now sold.

Downside is the Argon is not cheap.
I use Air Liquide.

I am looking for someone to find me a spare Air Liquide bottle, or even a BOC one would do.
Then get another local user and split the costs.

Its just an idea.

Back to the Chase... No problem with my Rehman, seems to work very well.
Certainly impressed so far with mine.

See http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=90643 for my positive experience.

HTH

Neil

I really like the look of these machines and am seriously looking to get a 200 amp ac/dc machine. however the only thing that puts me off is the blatant pushing upi of bids by "bidder1" "bidder2" etc. why not just start it at a higher price?

Maybe if anyone on here was going for it put the item number and said they were bidding the rest of us could steer clear would be good.
Or even a group buy might be an idea.
Cheers,
Bob

[Edited on 11/8/08 by splitrivet]

Bidder 1 and 2 ect is ebays, bid assist not the same person pushing the price .

Ie stick the bid assist onto twenty welders with a max price of say £90 and it will bid away on all 20 untill you get one for a bargain or they all sell over your max price..

I have its bigger brother, I havnt been able to aford pure argon yet as I already have one botle on contract with Boc. Just had the anual rental charge at about £55 owch

On the plus side I have just found an empty Boc bottle in good nick. Just need to find the cash to get the other refilled and change the contract to Argon with the empty. Hope that works.

The bits I have done with it, I have been v-pleased with it for the money.

quote:

---

Originally posted by big_wasa
Ie stick the bid assist onto twenty welders with a max price of say £90 and it will bid away on all 20 untill you get one for a bargain or they all sell over your max price..

---

hi there,

what do people recommend you start out on TIG or MIG?? and I assume if it can go up to 3mm its more than good enufgh for a chasy ?


Blake

I started on MIG, and rebuilt a Mini with it. To be honest, they both have advantages, but if your welding new metal, use TIG. If your repairing old, use MIG. They should both weld 3mm with ease, but i havent tried with TIG yet...

Tell a lie, yes i did. I practice welded a peice of 5mm thick pipe to a peice of stainless sheet. Perfick. Works really well, but you need a fair amount of filler wire.