[Bucketload]

Anyone bought themselves a decent MIG for home lately? Gas or gasless? Is there anything decent around for under a grand?

[ball]

Bucketload wrote:

Anyone bought themselves a decent MIG for home lately? Gas or gasless? Is there anything decent around for under a grand?

nope

[lump_a_charcoal]

I got mine for $850, second hand, a CIG 250. Pretty sweet.

[shep]

hay ball isnt the boc 180 jobbie about a grand?

[shakes]

Gasless is a complete waste of time unless your working outdoors everyday and cant use arc.

If my shitbox ever dies or I can justify an upgrade I'd look seriously at the lincoln units.

[ball]

shep wrote:

hay ball isnt the boc 180 jobbie about a grand?

yep,

but it is gutless

[lump_a_charcoal]

Get a 250, biggest single phase mig there is I think.

[Fatzook]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

Get a 250, biggest single phase mig there is I think.

Nope. Mines a 255, and I have seen 275's.

[vl2dy4]

I have a Kemppi MINARCMIG 180, and i can weld gas and gasless, it is a tiny inverter welder, but cost $2200 a while ago. Bloody worht the pingas to get a good welder.

Conrad

[monley]

I brought a CIG 175i welder, it dose MIG, Stick and TIG cost me $850 not including the TIG kit.

[31zook]

lincoln 180SP (nascar edition), $1050 new, is going to last forever, like any decent and looked after welder should.

[ajsr]

I bought a 250 amp single phase mig for a large on site welding job I did a few years ago, It was all generator powered and as I didnt want to wreak my esab so I priced a chinese mig into the job.
the machine is called a migstar, it shocked the shit out of me when it turned up, the quality is easily as say a unimig.
its copper cored weighs a shitload, has a good wire feed and did the job sensationally, that was 3 years ago its now in my home workshop working away happily every weekend.
only shit bits , the chinese binsel copy torch was only 2m long and so so quality and it could use a few more smaller steps in power/amps switch as some times you want a little more or less amps than you can select.
cost me $850 and 40 del 3 years ago
would I buy it again? without a shadow of doubt.
They sell an inverter mig as well I belive.
MIGSTAR have a look

[something_else]

I have a kemppi miniarc 150 packs a punch and I can climb on ladders with it on my shoulder easily

[zookprojectfnq]

WIA have a special on for $965 for a 190. A mate just brought one and I have to say I was pretty impressed. Even with a 15 amp power supply like most people have at home, you can only pull 200 amps out of it. All these people running 250 amp welders on 15 amps are kidding themselves. I run a 25 amp unit on my lincoln 250.

[Fatzook]

zookprojectfnq wrote:

. All these people running 250 amp welders on 15 amps are kidding themselves.

Agreed. I have 16mm cable from main board to sub-board, the 16mm to a 40A point for my 255. I also have a 20A point in my carport running off a 10mm cable from the main board. But this seriously cuts my duty cycle.

[lump_a_charcoal]

zookprojectfnq wrote:

WIA have a special on for $965 for a 190. A mate just brought one and I have to say I was pretty impressed. Even with a 15 amp power supply like most people have at home, you can only pull 200 amps out of it. All these people running 250 amp welders on 15 amps are kidding themselves. I run a 25 amp unit on my lincoln 250.

A 15A outlet, run in 2.5mm cable is generally good for 20A.

[ajsr]

I have a dedicated point for my mig with a 6mm supply.

it runs fine from the other points as long as your running under about 180amps and no longer than say 20 - 30 minutes

most things you can weld on to a zook would be lucky to require 120- 150 amps

[2stroker]

There is nothing too tech in my welding, I have an old school stick welder, a basic 120amp gasless and an big old basic WIA mig, I just pull the trigger and adjust to suit whatever I am welding, time and practice has given me a basic idea of where to start.

I keep hearing inverter welder coming up, can someone give me the tech on what they are all about, pro's and cons.

[shep]

2stroker wrote:

There is nothing too tech in my welding, I have an old school stick welder, a basic 120amp gasless and an big old basic WIA mig, I just pull the trigger and adjust to suit whatever I am welding, time and practice has given me a basic idea of where to start.

I keep hearing inverter welder coming up, can someone give me the tech on what they are all about, pro's and cons.

inverter stick welders are great. my 200amp one weighs 7kg and is very
easy to weld with, something to do with being DC current instead of AC

[crewsy]

monkey wrote:

I brought a CIG 175i welder, it dose MIG, Stick and TIG cost me $850 not including the TIG kit.

x2.. got the same setup with gas

[Fatzook]

2stroker wrote:

I keep hearing inverter welder coming up, can someone give me the tech on what they are all about, pro's and cons.

Basicly they use an inverter to step up the current instead of a heavy transformer. You also get a more stable arc, which leads to better welds.

[2stroker]

So Pete are they just stick welders or is it mig as well that have inverter tech

[shep]

2stroker wrote:

So Pete are they just stick welders or is it mig as well that have inverter tech

my mig is also a inverter jobbie

[Fatzook]

Your MMA (stick) inverters are also TIG these days.

But you can get MMA/ MIG inverters and even MMA/ MIG/ TIG (dc) combos too!

[Bucketload]

Thanks for the advice guys. Having made a living out of testing welds and being in the NDT industry for some time now (google will explain) it's about time I can slap down some decent runs myself at home. The $150 stick job is more slag than weld metal.

[ajsr]

dont discount a stick welder its a good way to learn to weld and the general pricipals.
but I dont belive a stick welder is what you want if you are going to do panel type work or light work with any frequency.

the thing I dont like about migs and people who dont understand how to weld properly , is its easy to lay down what you think is a good weld that really is just sitting there looking welded and waiting to bite you on the arse.
its very hard to have that happen with a stick

[shakes]

ajsr wrote:

dont discount a stick welder its a good way to learn to weld and the general pricipals.
but I dont belive a stick welder is what you want if you are going to do panel type work or light work with any frequency.

the thing I dont like about migs and people who dont understand how to weld properly , is its easy to lay down what you think is a good weld that really is just sitting there looking welded and waiting to bite you on the arse.
its very hard to have that happen with a stick

Another very big vote to learn MMA before MIG.

A stick requires more hand control, and gets you into the very good habit of watching the weld pool.

[fritter]

Fatzook wrote:

Your MMA (stick) inverters are also TIG these days.

But you can get MMA/ MIG inverters and even MMA/ MIG/ TIG (dc) combos too!

WTF? Now I'm totally confused.
I'm looking for a cheap 2nd hand job for home. Won't use it often so i don't want to spend much.

So a stick / MMA / tig welder is what I'm looking for?

[Fatzook]

fritter wrote:

Fatzook wrote:

Your MMA (stick) inverters are also TIG these days.

But you can get MMA/ MIG inverters and even MMA/ MIG/ TIG (dc) combos too!

WTF? Now I'm totally confused.
I'm looking for a cheap 2nd hand job for home. Won't use it often so i don't want to spend much.

So a stick / MMA / tig welder is what I'm looking for?

Fritter, that comment was directed at 2stroker. Unfortunatley, NO inverter welder with MIG function will be cheap, so forget the combo units mate.

As far as second hand MIG machines are concerned, its really a lucky dip. "cheap" means you will be buying a transformer based welder. This is fine. But as time goes on, with heavy use the copper windings will start to seperate, which will reduce the duty cycle and overall performance of the machine. So a 250A machine may now only be capable of 220A etc....

If it were me, I'd be looking at a secondhand 250A BIG BRAND machine. (Lincoln, WIA, ESAB, etc). $1000 will buy a fair bit of machine second hand...

[shakes]

fritter wrote:

Fatzook wrote:

Your MMA (stick) inverters are also TIG these days.

But you can get MMA/ MIG inverters and even MMA/ MIG/ TIG (dc) combos too!

WTF? Now I'm totally confused.
I'm looking for a cheap 2nd hand job for home. Won't use it often so i don't want to spend much.

So a stick / MMA / tig welder is what I'm looking for?

ManualMetalArc(MMA) aka stick is the cheapest but anything smaller than 4/5mm and it starts getting trickier. you also dont need gas bottles on hand.

Alot of the newer inverter machines allow for a tig attatchment which unless your welding stainless/alloy often isnt needed. You can get all mix of combo's as mentioned. If you don't use it often not really needed.

If your welding car panels and the like a mig is much much easier. But as mentioned it's very easy to think you have a good weld when in actual fact you dont.