Thread: MIG Welders - which one?!

First thing is stay away from Gasless MIG's, they are really only for light weight stuff and the wire is pretty exy.

Secondly if your not going to use it regularly then the rent on the bottle of Argon/Corgon is pretty exy as well.

For your average home workshop, you are better off with a DC inverter type ARC/TIG welder.

You can buy attachments for the higher end models (CIG,ESAB etc) that can convert them to MIG welders, gas or gasless where the wire roll is on the hand piece and there is a hose that goes to the Argon bottle that runs through a sleeve around the main cable as well as the hose.

I think ARB were selling one as well that was a DC to DC inverter welder with a gasless MIG handset the same.

You can get DC inverter welders that do ARC/TIG and Plasma cutting which just needs an air connection.

If you can weld with a normal ARC pretty well then you will look like an Expert with a DC inverter, they are great to weld with and would be my choice if I didnt already have a MIG at work at my disposal.

Good luck and have fun.

I have a CIG equevalent 170 MIG. I have just gone to gasless wire due to cost of the bottle rental. If I was going to buy another i would be looking at the 200+ amp range, with teflon lined wire feed that way I would be able to weld Aluminium with it.
I agree with mcrover and would look at the DC inverters with TIG capability.

Yep I second that dont even bother about the gasless ones. Waste of time in my experience.

Not too sure about the makes over here but back home I have a now 12 month old Murex Tradesmig 260 which is awesome, but very heavy (over 90kg without the bottle) and have used a Kempi over here which was also nice.

Rgds
Pete.

Yep like MC said DC tig's are great i have one and its a top unit tho for doing larger or reptitive work you cant go past a mig and with a good one you can also do alloy ......

My opinion there are mig's and there are MIGOMAG's i have the MIGOMAG 260 its the largest 240V mig in there range and its the best 240V mig on the market hands down ask any tradie who has done lots of mig welding and they will say the same tho these units come with a hefty price tag but are well worth the coin .....

CIG and LINCOLN are both great units too and are well built and will do much the same job but are not as good as the migomag then there are the higher end stuff like KEMPPI and FRONIUS these 2 brands are more suited to alloy work tho they also make units with less features which are good but not as simple to use as the migomag or the cig,lincoln units .....

If you can justify the work load go for the migomag if not then get the cig 250 both these will do much the same work tho the migomag is the beta unit tho nearly twice the price of the cig unit best thing to do is go ask a few tradies for advice and then go test drive a few to see wich you prefer ..

As for gas try work a deal with your local supplyer to get a beta rate i did and im happy to pay the $120 per year for rental on tha large bottle and $60 per fill up

I have a 240v. CIG Transmig 195 which when new, was the highest capacity 240v. MIG welder available. It is a true industrial welder and takes 15kg. rolls of wire. I have feed rollers for .6, .8, .9, 1.0, 1.2 wire and two handpieces & conduits, one for .6 to .9, and one for 1.0 & 1.2. The machine will handle 1.0 alumimium wire on light work using a 1.2 conduit and tip. Keep away from gasless MIG welders. They really are just for light hobby welding. Like just about everybody, I resent the high rental of bottles. I will be using Repco's throwaway bottles when the next fill is needed. Lots of MIG and other welders go through auction sales every week. Most are 415v. three phase but you do find 240v jobs if you keep looking. Remember MIG welders are for indoor use or heavily shielded if used outdoors. My old technical college teacher repeatedly told us that the beat of a butterfly's wings will disturb the gas shield.

You'll get as many answers as there are MIG welders!

I have a WIA (Welding Industries of Australia) Weldmatic 120G gasless MIG which I've had for, crikey, 15 years or more. For the amount of welding I do, I couldn't justify gas. In fact, I let my gas bottles for my Oxy-Acetylene set go for the same reason.

WIA now make a Weldmatic 150 which is gas or gasless which makes me wonder if I can can convert mine. See NEW RELEASE! Weldmatic 150 - Single Phase MIG - Welding Equipment - Welding.com.au

The WIA machines seem to be pretty good - I wish I was.

Originally Posted by p38arover

You'll get as many answers as there are MIG welders!

I have a WIA (Welding Industries of Australia) Weldmatic 120G gasless MIG which I've had for, crikey, 15 years or more. For the amount of welding I do, I couldn't justify gas. In fact, I let my gas bottles for my Oxy-Acetylene set go for the same reason.

WIA now make a Weldmatic 150 which is gas or gasless which makes me wonder if I can can convert mine. See NEW RELEASE! Weldmatic 150 - Single Phase MIG - Welding Equipment - Welding.com.au

The WIA machines seem to be pretty good - I wish I was.

Ron all it takes to run the gasless wire is to reverse the ploarity of the output thus making the torch negitive and the earth clamp positive my migomag has this option by way of plug in leads on the front pannell

Originally Posted by lokka

Ron all it takes to run the gasless wire is to reverse the ploarity of the output thus making the torch negitive and the earth clamp positive my migomag has this option by way of plug in leads on the front pannell

I shall look into that. I'd need gas bottles and the right handle, etc .