[steve]

It seems all the big welders are 15amp so i'd have to get a 15 amp point installed and that sounds too hard. These welders cost from $1200 up to $3000.

The smaller 10amp ones seem to be gas/gasless.

Do the 10amp gas/gasless ones do welds as good as the bigger 15amp ones when using gas ?

I currently have a gasless and the welds look ok most of the time, but when using a nice big gas mig the welds look soo much better.

[brendan]

gasless is a waste. i recently put my mig on gas. i never used gasless on it as i would use other methods of welding. i had the bopttle of argoshield so i though may as well try it.
my welder is a unimig panther 172. 15amp plug ground down (though i do have 15amps now) i have ran it at max setting and never had a problem.

[steve]

Thanks Brendan, i did a search on the Panther... So it's a gas/gasless and sell for around $900.

I looked at a Cigweld Transmig 165 which sells for around the same price. It's also gas/gasless.

I was just worried that it may not be any better than what i have now. But if you think yours welds nicely using gas, i would assume the transmig should be of similar quality.

[Fatzook]

steve wrote:

It seems all the big welders are 15amp so i'd have to get a 15 amp point installed and that sounds too hard. These welders cost from $1200 up to $3000.

The smaller 10amp ones seem to be gas/gasless.

Do the 10amp gas/gasless ones do welds as good as the bigger 15amp ones when using gas ?

I currently have a gasless and the welds look ok most of the time, but when using a nice big gas mig the welds look soo much better.

Hi Steve

Genereally speaking, the larger machines have 15A plugs because they have larger internal transofmers. These give longer duty cycles and more consistant welds. You CAN run a 15A machine on 10A supply, but it really restricts the power supply and can reduce your duty cycle and welding amps.

As you know my machine is a 255 single phase lincoln. I have been running it on a dedictaed 20A supply for a while ( 2.5mm wire) and recently I have been doing some HEAVY welding. Consequently I have been tripping the 20A RCD on the board after half an hour or so of welding. I had a mate come and check it out, and at full power, the mig was drawing over 34A So now I am having to run 6mm cable with 32A plug and RCD.

If you do buy a bigger machine, it would be worth the money to put the coirrect power supply in. Otherwise you will have nothing but problems in the future.

[royce]

yeah what he said, probably not a lot of money to run a line from the fuse box to round the back of your place, or if you know somebody to the hard work yourself and get it checked by them

[brendan]

i have acelly got a 20amp powerpint in my shed. i run my welders and grinders off that. got 1 in the shed and 1 in the carport for when i need to weld on the car. installed myself

[brendan]

i have acelly got a 20amp powerpint in my shed. i run my welders/spazma cutter and grinders off that. got 1 in the shed and 1 in the carport for when i need to weld on the car. installed myself

[Brett]

what are you trying to weld that you need a big duty cycle?

[brendan]

unless your you are in protuction duty cycle isnt realy somthing that need to be good. even if you got a 20% duty cycle at full amps thats still 2mins of welding time. unless you doing heavy plate vertical welding then its a bit over rated. but still good to have somthing that going to handle what you want to weld everday, you dont want a machine where you are cranking it at the max all day everyday