Welders?
Turbo Mini Forums

My trusty Mig welder has just given up the ghost on me after 17years of welding rust! I have been looking online at new ones and just wandered what people recommend?

Also has anyone used the gasless wire? If so how good/bad is it? I like the idea of being able to weld outside with it and not worry about the wind stealing the gas.

My old welder was a Sealy Turbomig 150.

Thanks in advance

Just as something to go by i use a clarke 151en its a gassless mig that can be converted to gass, it was more than up to the job of repairing the floorpan on mine and didn't need to stop once for it to cool once. hope this helps

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/...sin-mig-welders

i got a sip p171 a year or 2 back after seeing a couple of members on here had them, and its been great, so far, not a single niggle doing both thin and thick stuff

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

I've got a Murex Tradesmig 165. It is really fantastic, I only wish I was capable of using it to its potential. I got it second hand and it must be about 15 years old but it's still on it's first reel of wire. I had a cheap live torch one before and the difference is incredible.

I haven't used a Clarke one but I've never heard a bad thing said about them and I know a lot of people use them.

I have a fairlu old Clark 120E. It's OK, but I'm tempted by something a bit bigger and newer.

I invested in one of these:

http://www.welduk.com/Details.asp?ProductID=403

Not cheap, but the min 25A current and Euro torch make it worthwhile.

Plus it's on wheels so it will move around easy.

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 have a clarke welder turbo variaty not sure what the amp rating is but it was good enough for what I do personaly the auto tinting mask was a reverlation and was what made the difference.

But I now use one of those two story Jobs with the umbilicle so you can drag the gun all over the shop but leave the bottle and base behind what a piece of kit never turning back.

Edited by Mr Joshua on 7th Sep, 2010.

Own the day

When my "hobby" MIG became too unreliable (wire feed forever jamming, cheap and nasty torch falling apart etc.) I also decided to invest in a "semi-pro".

Proper Eurotorch, decent wire feed, higher maximum current and a much more stable arc at very low currents.

Mine's a Sealy 235.

Yes, they are a lot more expensive than the "hobby" machines but I doubt if I'll ever need to replace it and I certainly won't be forever repairing it (haven't had to touch anything inside in nearly 4 years, the only thing I've had apart is the torch to swap liners to weld aluminium, and swapping liners on a Eurotorch is a two minute job).

And, as Paul says, the better ones are on wheels so if you use a full size (not throwaway) gas cylinder they strap to a platform on the back so get wheeled around with the welder.

Re. gasless, I personally think it is crap - one of the guys at work bought one a few years ago and the test welds he showed us were very poor - but part of it may have been down to him.

However, IIRC the polarity is reversed on a gasless machine which means inherantly the weld can never be as good.

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

Personally i would not touch a sip there shocking i gave mine away!

Clarke are actually good for the money there made in italy in the telwin factory and are about the best for a light hobby mig, another cracker of a hobby welder is the ex butters 170c being sold by the likes of swp and parweld £380 buys a 30-170 amp welder with proper wire feed copper transformer and euro torch.

semi pro personally i would go for a technical arc machine there about £500 but woth every penny euro torch and go down to 20 amps for the thin stuff big cooper transformer not alumiium that you find is some semi pros

when threw away my sip i grabbed my old chaps its branded as a boc but is actually a murex (murex and esab same company) its prestine considering its twenty years old but its a quaility unit with a big copper transformer euro torch ect ect

I dont think you can go wrong with a good brand ie clarke in hobby and esab, murex, lincoln, technical arc

What do people class as thin? 1mm?

There seems to be a world of difference between the hobby SIP welders and the professional range.

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."

Edited by stevieturbo on 7th Sep, 2010.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

I was planning on getting the Portamig, but I needed one quick when my old welder failed and could not afford to wait.

http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=133116

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."

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

portamig is technical arc

Another vote for Clarke here in the hobby market. I've had two now which have taken some hammer over the years, the first one only went when I managed to buy a more powerful one as a shop second from Machine Mart.

Personally I found gasless wire a ball ache and the welds were never as good as traditional MIG welds

Edited by Midas on 7th Sep, 2010.

I bought a cheap Clarke welder from machine mart and while I have only done relatively small amounts of welding with it, it has produced good welds when used with CO2/Argon and spending a little time to get it set up.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/...diy-mig-welders

I've a decamig 150 e (same as clarck 150e), owned since ten years.
the only expense I've considered over this is a big bottle, and a precise manometer.Though I've had some opportunitys to buy semipro migs for cheaps.

Apprentice to work with a tool is just making the result, you need a bit of knowledge first, what's needed to weld, why gas, how to tune wire diam/speed/intensity/ gas flow. Keep the generic tune on a paper in the mig (mine inside the mig door, found at the welder website),(you'll need a good manometer with both pressure and flow and an as big bottle as you can afford).

Then with your machine over your average you'll end up some time with very nice welds, just keep the metal thickness on a paper and look at you intensity/wire speed, keep these result together with a note on your torch approximate distance/° and on coming/ on going welding.

With a little experience, you'll just make the difference between hours of grinding back, and a presto result, Then you'll play with additional technics . A little tipper gaven by an old man was to start to weld with an inox wire, it's just three time easier to weld with it.

Then if you haven't time/patience/curiosity to learn, I've used a semiauto pro mig many times, I think anyone can use it, just put on the gachette and go. I can still make a better weld with my old machine, just because I know it and that I don't know to benefit from the autopro one very well.

Thanks Fab. That is roughly where I am at with my old welder. I can pic it up and weld with it without any problems, that is what I learned on. That is the main reason I am reluctant to go out and buy a new welder and have to learn to weld again. I have had mine in bits last night and found out that it is the relay contacts that have gone. I am going to have a go at desoldering it and see if I can get a replacement for it. The guy in my local tool shop said that my old welder is better than any of the new equivelants he could sell me. It seemingly has a copper transformer and not the new type. I think I will give it a go fixing it before I delv in and buy a new one. Thanks everyone for their comments. If I do end up buying a new one I am going to go for a bigger/better one

What are peoples thoughts/experiences on the Sealey Siegen range?

I'm considering this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

But I'm unsure about reliability. Had a look on www.mig-welding.co.uk and people have reported problems with the smaller ones but there isn't much info on this one.

for that money you can get a clarke 160 prob the best welder in that price bracket

I've got the Clarke 160TM I think it is, very nice bit of kit even if I have only used it a couple of times!!

This one?

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/...ial-mig-welders

EDIT: This one seems a descent deal

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/shop/clarke-160tm.htm

Edited by apbellamy on 28th Oct, 2010.

thats the one

Yup that's the one, is it me or have they gone up in price?

What I did was wait till Machine Mart had a vat free offer I'm sure they should have one for winter coming up? You usually get an invitation through the letterbox if you've bought from them before.