Thread: Mig welder

Originally Posted by stumpy

if you can get close to the house with what you need to weld , the oven hot points are set at a higher trip , so wont blow fuses all the time ......

Haha this reminds me of being a young fella and holding the fuse so the old man could keep welding.
Not really the brightest of ideas

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Sorry but oven "hotpoints" are not set to a higher trip. Supply to the stove itself has bigger fuses but the side outlets are still only 10A capable. Doing welding in the kitchen only makes holes in the lino.

I've just brought the above.
Pissed on 8mm, Using 1mm wire with 40+ amps to spare.

My mates old beast with Teflon liner in a 180 with 1mm will do 6mm fine.

So much Chinese welders in the market now and not all of them are crap either. Giving the Italian machines a run for their money

Originally Posted by sako75

So much Chinese welders in the market now and not all of them are crap either. Giving the Italian machines a run for their money

Yeap - some of the Chong machines arnt bad - havnt seen a pulse machine out of china though (if thats what you want)


You dont need a spool gun, a teflon liner and a shortish lead will do fine.
I dont like them either as they are aquward and heavy - and the small rolls are an expensive per kg comparatively to larger ones
You need to reverse the polarity of the earth/torch setup when changing between al and steel - some machines dont have that ability
I just leave 2 machines setup each way and has been a while since I looked at the Al machine LOL

Originally Posted by sako75

So much Chinese welders in the market now and not all of them are crap either. Giving the Italian machines a run for their money

Hmm OK care to tell me which brands are not bad...

Originally Posted by Spanners

Yeap - some of the Chong machines arnt bad - havnt seen a pulse machine out of china though (if thats what you want)


You dont need a spool gun, a teflon liner and a shortish lead will do fine.
I dont like them either as they are aquward and heavy - and the small rolls are an expensive per kg comparatively to larger ones
You need to reverse the polarity of the earth/torch setup when changing between al and steel - some machines dont have that ability
I just leave 2 machines setup each way and has been a while since I looked at the Al machine LOL

Cheers spanners. I had forgotten about earth/torch swap.

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I'm setting up a machine dedicated to Alum welding only and was wondering whether to go the spool gun way or not - so you reckon Teflon and a short straight lead is the go?

I've had no issue on 2 machines with 1mm wire and U rollers
I twisted the lead up on mine trying to find a spot where it would bird nest but was all good.

What's a good basic mig welder for steel, building trailers etc? Probably run CO2.

Or tossing up whether to get a little inverter.

BOC used to sell a green no name machine. 180A from memory.
Was really good and cheap also.
End of the day for steel most will suffice. It's all a numbers game $ wise now.

Originally Posted by Savage1

What's a good basic mig welder for steel, building trailers etc? Probably run CO2.

Or tossing up whether to get a little inverter.

Ur gonna run Co2 through a mig? Do u mean argon

Can run co2 argon or argosheild on steel. Argon or helium? argon mix on aluminium
Don't know anything about the helium though as never used it

Stretching the grey matter but I think Helium is to do with heat.
If you are running CO2 watch for icing on the reg. If it starts to freeze a high wattage light bulb next to it can help or run a heater on it

you can get heated CO2 regs on Tardme, I got one and its ok. The only thing I find with CO2 is that the weld builds up/ stands proud more (don't know the technical term)

Stand up and be more proud?