Recommended mig welders
Turbo Mini Forums

sorry to revive an old thread, but I have decided which welder to go for.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-SIP-MIGMATE-130-...bayphotohosting

Does anyone have any particular reasons why I should/shouldn't go for this welder? Such as problems owning one. This Is the best deal I could find for it.

Thanks.

It has also come to my attention that I had spelt welder wrong for the entirety of the thread!

I wasn't impressed with the wire feed on the Sip i had, was always "notchy"

Get a Clarke 150TE instead ... I've had one for years and it works really well.

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

I have the same bottle alot cheaper than renting a bottle especially when you only use it time to time after the resto is finished!

I got mine on ebay which is very similar for much less than that one.

I bought one of these on ebay and happy with it, but im new to welding so nothing to compare to really
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=290102289398

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http://www.machinemart.co.uk/images/librar...e/010114060.jpg

That is the one I have. Change the liner for a teflon one when you get a chance, it makes a huge difference.

You might find that from new the wire feed slips a bit. So do some don't. I fit does then take it apart and clean it with a mild degreaser, put it back together and it'll be fine forever mate.

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

I got a knackered looking clarke pro 90 for £20 with half a big bottle of CO2.

Looks rusty but after fitting a new swan neck and tip/shroud its spot on!

Got given a clarke 100e to use for as long as I like! Needed a bit of work done on it, but I've found it really quite good for all the body work I've been doing on my mini, more than sufficient.

There is no sense crying over every mistake- you just keep on trying til you run out of cake.

Apologies for the excavation.

I've managed to damage the torch on my old Sureweld MIG. I'm not sure that I can get spares, the thread on the swan-neck is a non-standard size.

I could convert it to a euro-torch but with the adaptor and gas solenoid it will cost £100 ish and it will still be an old welder.

So I've been looking at a new one. I like the look of the SIP models with the lower minimum power settings of 25 amps, 6 power settings and auto wire speed. But although they were recommended by Practical Classics they seem to have a bad press in the welder forums.

The other options are Clarke or Sealey or Draper or .......

Anyone had any recent good or bad experiences with Migs?

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Hi,
My old Snap On mig is still going strong after years of abuse. Cebora are the people who make them, so one of theirs should be cheaper.
The only thing is they are really heavy and you can break the handle if you lift it too quickly.
I was told the heavier the better for a welder so I guess it's a good one!
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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well ive just bought a portamig 185 and i can say from the bits of welding ive done with it this weekend its very very good. i had previously bought a sip thing off ebay and the difference is stupid!!!!

although at £600 its a high price to pay. but i was happy to pay that as i have got a few projects lined up and i need one for at work.

at the end of the day you get what you pay for where a mig is concered but on the same hand is there much point on over spending on one that your not going to use all of the feature on.

but yeah i recommend the portamig, although i did wait for 4 weeks for it so not really what you want if your in a hurry.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

I've also got a Snap-on (cebora) 130 Turbo, its a great bit of kit, my Dad also has one that is 15years old and has built everything from multiple truck bodies to autograss cars with it. Recommended.

My last MIG was an SIP 100 which only lasted 22 years so I bought another, an SIP 170.Even SIP admitted the quality is less than it used to be, but it works just fine on pure argon.Dont quite understand the caveat on safety with pure argon as the argon/CO2 mixtures are either 5% CO2 or 20% CO2 usually which means they are predominantly argon anyway.I used to use pure CO2 at £20 for 60lbs in a full size bottle but it makes sheet metal work that much more difficult.

isnt the problem with argon that its heavy and so when welding on your back you are basically laying in argon (obviously only over a period of time) and thats not really what you want. i wouldnt have thought that any normal welding in a good area would cause too many problems with argon. after all with health and safety these days im sure it would be banned if it was that dangerous!

anyways, i think the main problem with my sip was that it was a hobby welder with the tossy little bottles and rubbish wire feed. these led to the worse welds i have ever seen!

i also had a thing about choosing a welder with a euro tourch because the liner in the tourch really is a service item and i was never sure if you could change the liners on fixed tourches?

I used to use an SIP but their quality is quite poor, espcially the "torch" which is not "Euro". Main problems apart from the torch was wire feed sticking.

2 years ago I upgraded to a 275 amp Sealey (with a proper "Euro" torch) and it's faultless, my only reservation being the lack of settings at low current (as it's a (high) 275A max output) but easily overcome by adjusting wire feed speed.

BUT, if Cebora are doing MIGs, under whatever brand name, well worth a look.... my TIG is a Cebora and has all the features and performance of a Kempi (a true professional TIG) at 1/3 the price. Can't fault it at all.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

I've got an SIP 150 which I've had for the past 6 or 7 years - I had a sealey one before which got stolen which was possibly slightly better comparing a standard machine.

However, getting pissed off with constant mantenance of the torch and the hassle getting the replacement tips and shrouds for the SIP, I had a euro torch and gas control fitted - completely changed the performance of the machine now and I can get all my spares from BOC.

I share a workshop with a guy who makes trailers for bicycles. He has the use of a shiney new BOC 185 machine (not sure what spec it is) but preferes using the SIP for the work he does as he gets a better control (god knows why as the BOC one has more variable control than mine!)

Rob

I need to get this sorted, so I took some time off this morning and went to Northants Welding Supplies at Wellingborough. They could not help with the torch but have some Cebora welders on offer. They have an Autostar 190 with euro-torch and minimum of 25A at £495.00 plus VAT.

It's a lot of money, but I still have 3 and a half Minis to fix over the next few years so would be a good investment.

Popped into Sureweld at Rushden on the way back to see what they had, told them that my old welder that I bought from them 15 years ago was bust 'cause the torch was knacked. Next thing I've got all the parts to fix it.

So I'm going to persevere with the old welder for now, but it only has to give me one bit of grief and it's going in the bin and I'll get the Cebora.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Only comment I'll make is do you really need a 190A welder? Mine is only 130A but has enough bollocks for anything I've needed to do, but with enough adjustment resolution to be able to do thin stuff and bodywork tin.

look at the butters range, there made in the UK they have a good reputation and you can get the 1800 (180amp) for arond 440 delivered inc

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Butters-180-Amp-H-DU...id=p3286.c0.m14