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I hear you Phil . My experience with most things has been that the cost over the long run is much the same , the cheaper ones do not generally last as long as the trade ones but they are cheaper . the way I look at it these days is that if you are going to need a tool for the long term, you can pay less and replace it when it breaks , or pay the money up front . The advantage of the trade quality tool is that they are usually nicer to use , & I like that .
My experience with cheap MIGs had been the opposite to Phil's. Crap machines and horrible to use. If I was only going to spend $300 on a welder I would get an inverter stick welder and definitely not a mig. Nice to use a much more versatile than a mig.
Steve
I asked about the warranty procedure for the BOC eBay store and they provided the following:
I intend to give the local BOC store an opportunity to price match before purchasing though.Quote:
We use the same authorised dealers and repair agents across our network so in the event of a warranty assessment, we will authorise you to send your machine to the nearest (or your preferred) agent on our BOC list. The machines don't normally come back to us.
I thought a final post would be appropriate to finish this thread off and let you know of my decision. I ended up purchasing the BOC Smootharc 175 this afternoon. I went into my local BOC store (Derwent Park) with my iPad and the BOC eBay listing. I asked them if they would price match it for me and they did. Further to that, they were extremely pleasant about it, very helpful in still running me through the features and settings on the machine and some other advice. I then purchased some 0.8 gasless wire and they did that for half price because I had just bought the machine with them. All up very happy with my purchase and they've certainly won me over as a future customer!
Happy welding .
What did it eventually cost you?
Is it gasless?
Enjoy.
Phil
Welding myth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil B
Making ANY MIG run 'gasless' filler material (Flux Cored Arc Welding, or FCAW) wire requires a few key things:
1) Ability to change the polarity of the torch (generally gasless wire is DC electrode Negative - 'normal' MIG/MAG welding is DC Electrode Positive).
2) Knurled feed rollers in the wire feed for pushing the fluxcored wire
3) Ideally a torch liner which is replaceable- use a smooth PTFE liner which won't 'snag' the wire
4) a torch which is capable of the duty cycles of gasless welding. In MIG/MAG, shielding gas plays a part in cooling the torch at the gas diffuser / nozzle. Some people run without the nozzle to get more airflow around the contact tip, but if this touches the job, you've just killed your torch.
As per my above post, they matched the eBay price - $762.85.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil B
Yes, as per the spec sheet and my experience now in having used it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil B
I have just completed my second welding job - the first was a minor spacer for the dirt bike forks when strapping down - a set of rock sliders/tree huggers/side steps for my D2a.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...014/10/788.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...014/10/789.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...014/10/790.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...014/10/791.jpg
My welding skills continually improved as I made them. I would love to redo them now as I would do a much better and neater job, but they'll do the job and I learnt a lot doing it.
I am super impressed with the BOC unit. Now that I know how to actually work/use the thing it has been brilliant. I have been doing some very very long welds and the duty cycle has more than kept up!