Thread: what welder will i need?

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 . 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

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.

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.