Thread: BOC Smootharc MIG welders

BOC have 2 or 3 lines/qualities of GMAW. Their top tear use to be made by Kemppi. They no longer are and now made in China. I would seriously look at WIA. I think some of their stuff is also China made, but they are an Aussie company that has been building Exellent GMAW for many years now. You may find their big single phase GMAW made here anyway

If you can, you may have a dealer that sells Kemppi and or Esab. These both also worth a look.

I have a BOC 250C made by Kemppi. It has been fantastic for my home use. I think Slunnie may have had issues with them in an industrial use?

Should look at CIG and Lincoln and i think are both still made here.Lincoln are good machines but they cost a packet unless you go second hand.I used CIG at work a lot in the past and they tend to give more trouble but there cheaper.
keith

I have had a CIG Transmig (750 i think it is) Rural Pak for the best part of twenty five years. I purchased it new and it has done a fair bit of work since. It has never given me any strife. My only winge is the price of bottle rent $172 PA. I keep considering going over to gasless wire.
I have only ever tried gasless wire once and that was at a Field Day in Maree S.A. about 20 years ago. It was a bit like welding with a sparkler back then...but I expect it would have come a long way since!

Cheers for now, Mick.

You need to ask your self some questions before commiting yourself to any particular machine. I recently purchased another MIG recently after selling one 15 years ago due to the price of gas verse the amount of use (always had regrets), gas now is about 3 times the price. The first question you need to answer is how thick is the steel that you want to weld abd how often do you want to weld thick plate. Most hobbyists will want to weld a maximum of 5mm. You need to know this to work out how many AMP machine you will need. I would recomend going no bigger than 200AMPS which will need a 15AMP outlet. If you go bigger then this you will need a 32AMP outlet (which would require heavier wiring a huge expence). You can run a 250AMP machine on 15AMP outlet but you will only get around 200AMPs output so you will waste a lot of money for no real gain.

After a lot of research I purchased a CIG 175i and i would highly recomend them. In most of the research I did I found them to be the highest rating out of al the inverter welders. The beauty of an Inverter welder is that they are a 3in one so you get a MIG, TIG and Stick.
All welders will soon be Inverters including large industrial ones that is the way the market is going. I was unsure of the technology at first and after owning one now for 6 months I am very impressed with what they can do.
As part of the research I did I contacted the local repair agent and his advise was to stick to a brand name he listed 2 CIG unimig they have very little trouble with these. They have had a fair amount of trouble with the WIA which is what I found in my research also. The unimig is a good welder its downfall is the plastic wire feed bracket. The CIG is all metal.
I hope this helps you. I am happy to answer any mor questions if you have any. I spent a large amount of my life behind a welder for work.
Cheers
Rod

Originally Posted by keith73

Should look at CIG and Lincoln and i think are both still made here.Lincoln are good machines but they cost a packet unless you go second hand.I used CIG at work a lot in the past and they tend to give more trouble but there cheaper.
keith

90% of welders come from China now. Some are rubish some are very good. The 2 brands you mentioned are both made in China.

Hello,
I am a boilermaker and used lots of MIGs I did buy a BOC smootharc had it for 3 hours and returned back to them. If you are only welding steel not bad but will not weld aliminium due to the high volts. I now have 200amp lincoln fantastic I got one of the last copper ones made in Australia. Had the time to buy another one I would go with WIA welders .
Thats my 2 cents worth stay away from BOC made in China.
Welding gasless is great remember to change the leads pos earth, or lots of spatter and doesn't weld at all very common mistake.
Ian

I don't mind fluxcore and have done some pretty hefty welds with my Transmig 165. I've really got to get around to biting the bullet and getting a bottle of gas, though, as I'm missing the smoothness of solid wire, and it's better for thin stuff as well.

One thing you should most definitely check is spare parts availability. Sooner or later you'll need drive wheels and liners and whatnot, and if you can't get those parts easily then you either stop using your welder or just put up with it not quite working properly.

Originally Posted by justfishing

Hello,
I am a boilermaker and used lots of MIGs I did buy a BOC smootharc had it for 3 hours and returned back to them. If you are only welding steel not bad but will not weld aliminium due to the high volts. I now have 200amp lincoln fantastic I got one of the last copper ones made in Australia. Had the time to buy another one I would go with WIA welders .
Thats my 2 cents worth stay away from BOC made in China.
Welding gasless is great remember to change the leads pos earth, or lots of spatter and doesn't weld at all very common mistake.
Ian

WIA are made in China too. They stopped making welders in Australia a couple of years ago. They are not the quality that they once were.
Cheers Rod