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recommend a starter MIG please


islandgun
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3 hours ago, Rewulf said:

Lidls Parkside 90 amps max, fluxed wire, I was only welding thin sheet, but its a lot more powerful than I expected, I reckon 1/4 inch wouldnt be a problem, maybe more ?

Had it about 3 months now, I would highly recommend .
Just checked , it was 79.99 , 3 year warranty, I cant find any stock though..

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hello, thanks for that, i checked to and all sold, cheers

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Thanks for the replies gents..looking at these at the minute.. does anyone have experience ? French  GYS  152 140 A seem to get good reviews and perhaps slightly better than the chinese clones?...... £350 , a bit over budget [so what else is new]

GYS-SMARTMIG-110-230-V-Professional-No-Gas.jpg.3aff37306475d3c9aae1fcc5605556f9.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by islandgun
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On 07/06/2019 at 10:27, islandgun said:

Thanks again.. My nearest stockist is in Stornoway and he has the Mighty Mig professional 150 amp no gas. The car welding is the chassis case has a crack. other will be box section trailer parts and general diy stuff. my late mates son has just finished a couple of years welding at college so we should be able to work something out. will certainly get the best mask i can [auto type] as i once had arc eye and that was deeply unpleasant..😩

cheers IG  

what is the stockist company name in Stornoway

43 minutes ago, islandgun said:

Thanks for the replies gents..looking at these at the minute.. does anyone have experience ? French  GYS  152 140 A seem to get good reviews and perhaps slightly better than the chinese clones?...... £350 , a bit over budget [so what else is new]

GYS-SMARTMIG-110-230-V-Professional-No-Gas.jpg.3aff37306475d3c9aae1fcc5605556f9.jpg

 

 

 

hello, would not be my choice, earth lead clamp looks cheap, 

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11 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

what is the stockist company name in Stornoway

hello, would not be my choice, earth lead clamp looks cheap, 

Cheers fella,, stockist is autoparts.

also seriously thinking about a good quality arc welder instead, such as this portable Rtec over £100 cheaper with a 3yr guarantee !

https://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/arc-welder-r-tech-pro-arc175/

32 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, i thought you were getting a mighty mig ?

Aye,, then started an in depth study on the wonderful world wide web. now i am properly confused

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1 minute ago, islandgun said:

Cheers fella,, stockist is autoparts.

also seriously thinking about a good quality arc welder instead, such as this portable Rtec over £100 cheaper with a 3yr guarantee !

https://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/arc-welder-r-tech-pro-arc175/

hello, i bought a R tec arc welder on behalf on my friends farm account and it been very good, why now a arc welder ? they are more versatile but for thin body panel welding only mig is best  

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3 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, i bought a R tec arc welder on behalf on my friends farm account and it been very good, why now a arc welder ? they are more versatile but for thin body panel welding only mig is best  

no body panels will be hurt. simply,  i understood that mig was easier.. but as stated i am expecting to do various different jobs and would like to buy quality machine, even if it takes longer to get used to. 

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13 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, i bought a R tec arc welder on behalf on my friends farm account and it been very good, why now a arc welder ? they are more versatile but for thin body panel welding only mig is best  

hello, that R Tec arc welder should be ideal for general welding, earth clamp/rod holder look quality, 175 amps top, could not see lowest amp but if 30 ish can do thin welding rods, 3 year warranty all sounds good with your budget you said still enough for a good head mask/ gloves/apron/ welders hat/ and rods up to 4 mm  

Edited by oldypigeonpopper
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4 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, that R Tec arc welder should be ideal for general welding, earth clamp/rod holder look quality, 175 amps top, could not see lowest amp but if 30 ish can do thin welding rods, 3 year warranty all sounds good with your budget you said still enough for a good head mask/ gloves/apron/ welders hat/ and rods up to 4 mm  

hello, my first arc welder at home was an Oxford Bantam oil cooled weighed about 60kg now look at what you can buy now, 

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On 07/06/2019 at 07:04, islandgun said:

Thanks for all the replies chaps. My budget is up to £300 and was thinking no gas.. I get the impression most are basically the same and made in China, so was thinking any stand out.. will take a look at all the suggestions.. cheers

not impressed with gasless migs...........most cheap migs are fine....but do use CO2/2%Argon gas...get a 1/2size bottle and flow gauge...it will last you a long time and give you really good welds.........

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Give some thought as to your shielding gas.

I used to do a lot of mig welding and obtained a couple of full size BOC bottles of Argon, eventually moving onto Argoshield which was a Argon CO2 mix.

These days I just use a pub gas bottle of CO2.

 

Personally I like Clarke, I bought a 100EMk2 in 1990 and only upgraded to a similar Clarke model last year. I used it to repair cars, build trailers etc.

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38 minutes ago, Ricko said:

Give some thought as to your shielding gas.

I used to do a lot of mig welding and obtained a couple of full size BOC bottles of Argon, eventually moving onto Argoshield which was a Argon CO2 mix.

These days I just use a pub gas bottle of CO2.

 

Personally I like Clarke, I bought a 100EMk2 in 1990 and only upgraded to a similar Clarke model last year. I used it to repair cars, build trailers etc.

i have a couple of mates who use pub gas.............good call...............go for a good 2nd hand mig from a dealer or off e-bay.......

 

the trick with mig is not really the quality of the machine....(quality does count tho).....but keeping your machine CLEAN...cleaning the feed rollers clean....right size groove for the wire...right spring tension....blowing out the feed tube...and a good supply of tips and a few shouds...and anti spatter spray......my mate up the road pulled out of someones skip a cheap and nasty mig....we messed about with it....he uses argon mix gas.........bloody thing welds fine..:lol:...expensive migs tend to have more functions...

Edited by ditchman
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11 hours ago, ditchman said:

i have a couple of mates who use pub gas.............good call...............go for a good 2nd hand mig from a dealer or off e-bay.......

 

the trick with mig is not really the quality of the machine....(quality does count tho).....but keeping your machine CLEAN...cleaning the feed rollers clean....right size groove for the wire...right spring tension....blowing out the feed tube...and a good supply of tips and a few shouds...and anti spatter spray......my mate up the road pulled out of someones skip a cheap and nasty mig....we messed about with it....he uses argon mix gas.........bloody thing welds fine.....expensive migs tend to have more functions...

hello, i had a C0 2  pub bottle  with my Cebora mig welder, with an inline heater, makes a good difference in welding with CO2, we bought a second hand Clarke mig for the farm and have yet to find one of these heaters still for sale, or a similar type, i know you can buy a guage with integral heater, have you seen any for sale Simon, cheers

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I just bought an inverter stick welder and am intending converting it to a scratch start TIG.

i also have a light duty ARC welder I use for silly bits. 

Check out the duty cycle if your planning on big jobs. Nothing worse than having to keep stopping to allow the welder to cool down. I welded “plated” a boat trailer using MIG 100A and it did a good job too. But some I find have atrocious wire feed. 

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9 hours ago, Lord Geordie said:

I just bought an inverter stick welder and am intending converting it to a scratch start TIG.

i also have a light duty ARC welder I use for silly bits. 

Check out the duty cycle if your planning on big jobs. Nothing worse than having to keep stopping to allow the welder to cool down. I welded “plated” a boat trailer using MIG 100A and it did a good job too. But some I find have atrocious wire feed. 

Thanks your lordship,  Im pretty sure Im going with the Rtech stick, it has great reviews, and a 3 yr warranty.  I have gone off the mig, given the reports of dodgy wire feed etc, etc  I dont have any major jobs just repairs so would like to keep it simple.  cheers

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Good thing with stick, it will weld in rain wind and through rust and paint when needed to get you going. Clean metal is always best but the right rods and you can do most jobs.

The modern inverters are easy to use and light weight. 

I use a AC DC Tig inverter that does stick welding too. A DC inverter with HF and you can Tig weld and thin metal.

Edited by figgy
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The old oil filled welders take some beating. Very little to go wrong, just have to get used them sticking the electrode to the work. 

The modern light weight inverters are easy to use and great for occasional repairs and jobs.

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1 hour ago, figgy said:

The old oil filled welders take some beating. Very little to go wrong, just have to get used them sticking the electrode to the work. 

The modern light weight inverters are easy to use and great for occasional repairs and jobs.

hello, your right figgy but the old oil cooled did not have a good step up amps system where as the modern inverters you can dial up amps in a precise way if your welding different positions like over head or pipe work 

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Whereas I bought my MIG new, I picked up a secondhand 140A arc welder for next to nothing. I fitted a better earth clamp, electrode holder and decent leads that must be 29 years ago, still works fine.

All comes down to what you're using it for and how often you'll use it.

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I've got a Clarke mig welder,  think it was about £300, it's a capable welder,  but not as easy to get a decent bead with as some of the more expensive makes, I've spent many hours on various migatronic machines and been happy with them.

Not used a GYS mig welder, have done abit of agricultural work with a GYS stick welder, not a bad machine, my only gripe being the power ***,  also turned the machine on and off so if you were tuned in just right, you lost your setting when you switched off for dinner.

My choice of stick welder is a Hobart machine at home, bought by my old man probably 15 years ago , he taught me how to weld with it, it's a very capable machine and my go to bit of kit. 

Parweld auto darkening mask as well! 

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