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My Series 3 needed a bit of welding and I have an inherited 120A gasless MIG, don't even go there. It's way too small for 2.5mm steel and drove me mad. I bought the Weldsmart 200A MMA inverter (the cheapest one) and it is a dream. Light to carry, easy to start even down to 30A with a 1.2mm rod on thin steel. It also cost only $199 as I picked it up from the distributor in Canning Vale, WA. I made up a new front cross member from 3mm steel from the local steel merchant and never had a problem, even though my technique is far from professional. The 200A can run 2.4mm rods at 100% duty cycle and that size will do 3mm steel. It can do up to 4mm rods so should anything you come across in a farmyard.
Best of luck!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chops
Has anyone got, or tried one of these?
I have a mig and a stick, but as others have said, with the mig, unless your using it reasonably regularly, the wire can rust, the bottle can be expensive, (over time), and of course, depending on your shedding, difficult to move around.
I use my stick more than anything,, and a mate used the mig for quite a while :eek:. So, I'm thinking of selling the mig and getting something similar to the small inverter welder listed here.
Weldsmart 200 AMP DC TIG Pulse MMA Inverter ARC Welder Quality Stick Welding | eBay
It'd be nice to be able to tig weld stainless and alloy, even if only occasionally. Mind you, tig welding steel has a nice finish to it too ;)
If by "alloy" you mean aluminium, then unfortunately that machine won't do it. You need an AC TIG to do aluminium.
That one looks like pretty reasonable value to me. Comes with a TIG torch which would cost $100-150 by itself. Would probably be an ideal machine to do your stick welding and also have a play around with TIG.
I don't know too much about the brand other than they have been around for at least a couple of years as I recall seeing them when I was looking.
Steve
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Thanks for the info Steve,
I mostly want it for Stainless,, although I thought I could do Alloy too,, but alas, no it seems :(.
One of the things I like about having something this small and versatile is the fact that I can pack it away in the bus when we head off.
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I will be looking for a mig myself shortly,i have been using my old mans little SIP gas/gasless mig but its over 20 years old and the wire feed plays up and not worth fixing.
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I currently use a Migmate 180 compact from BOC. Ok for what I need it for and went this way mainly for a small/light machine. If I need more, have access to a 335amp Mig at work, or drag the stick welder out.
While have run gasless, I now use gas and leave the gasless only for if I really need to use it outside in the wind on stuff like gates/fences etc. The only up side to the gasless stuff is that's its a lot less fussy about rust and paint on the material that your trying to weld. For general use, gas wins
hands down...
