Hi, has anyone got a recommendation of a decent welder to buy - or ones to avoid?

I want to start doing a bit of fabrication work - not sure whether to go stick or MIG. I'm leaning towards a higher quality stick unit rather than a cheaper-end MIG unit & am willing to spend around the $500 mark to get myself welding.

Of course flea-bay is awash with options most of which have to be cheap, junky, & buyer beware.

Any opinions welcome!

 

Hi Simon

What type of fabrication do you mean? No one I know uses a stick anymore. Migs offer you so much more control when welding, and you can always use gasless wire (flux cored wire) in it so you don't need any gas bottles.

It really depends on how much welding you intend to do. If you wanted to future proof yourself, buy a good quality mig (maybe $1000).

 

I would call myself very much an amateur, I learnt to weld with a stick on a welder built in the late 40's, but having since used a MIG, I would never go back. Its a lot easier/quicker/cleaner and you have much more versatility. Stick still has its place, but you will probably enjoy using it less.

It does depend on what you want to do, and what you have access to, I'm guessing if its odd-jobs around the house, and you only have 15A single phase power, that puts you in the 170-250amp range (you probably would find a 170-180amp sufficient)


In terms of purchasing one, one of the very few benefits of manufacturing heading overseas is a number of maintenance workshops are shutting shop, and selling their equipment which is often higher quality/industrial grade stuff. If you keep an eye on gumtree, you will probably find a used Lincoln/Hobart/Miller/Cigweld/BOC on the cheap (heck, my mate was given his!). They might also be selling their mask/gloves/apron/cylinder etc. too - which if you don't already have them can be as expensive as the welder itself.

Older welders are often as good, or better than the new ones, as they typically use thicker copper windings, and don't have lots of circuitry that the newer ones do (and this is the area that often fails) - they are not something that wears! A good one will last forever. You mainly need to check that everything works, and all the cables look in decent condition. Getting a name brand welder is important, as the support/parts are much more prevalent. I would also get one that you can use gas with - you just don't get the penetration with a gasless welder.

If this is something that is new to you - I would head down to the local Tafe, they often have very cheap short courses, and knowledgeable instructors that can help you. I did one as part of my engineering degree, and it was really valuable.

 

Thanks guys. I've got a heap of metal box section off cuts from a roof build, I was going to fab-up a decent made to measure work bench for the garage. I'd ID'ed Lincoln, Miller, & Cigweld as reliable/desirable brands. Also I have 3-phase to the house, so I could potentially run a big unit if I happen to fall over one in my search.
There is a massive Lincoln stick to 275A on flea-bay for $100, but I'll probably will never build an army tank.

Main reason for stick was I sort of fancied getting a portable unit that I could use for welding in odd places, and potentially carry in the back of the truck with a generator for mobile repairs.

I've also checked the local tafe - $420 for a 20 hour welding course.

Anyway, thanks for the info. Sounds like I need to get a bit more budget together and look more closely at some MIG units.

 

Ive had this baby for about 6yrs now
Lincoln MIG Electric Welder SP 170T 30Amp to 170 Amp 220V | eBay
Great welder. Cost around $900 back then. Good for up to 8mm.
Dont stuff around with gassless wire. Get the argon bottle and do it right. I believe Bunnings is doing swap and go on the bottles now. And for the course, forget it. Gets some scrap metal and practice. If you can stick weld you can Mig weld. Just run the other way.

 

I went through this last year, got to buy a new MIG for my 40th birthday

A few of the factors I looked at were, build quality of unit, torch quality, warranty and backup, material type capability (mild steel, stainless and ally), gasless capability for outdoors use, 15 kg wire roll for economy, and single phase supply.

I settled on this unit, it comes with a top quality Binzel torch, can run up to 220 amp delivery on the 15 amp flex lead and comes with the hard wiring option for going up to 270 amp output. It lists at just over $1200 but I got them to sharpen the pencil a bit on that.
http://www.boc.com.au/shop/en/au-boc...compact-welder

You can rent gas bottles by the month as you need them but a lot of jobs can be done with gasless flux-cored wire, just remember " if there's slag, you drag" use backhand action. However, whilst gasless stainless wire is available you will have a heart attack at the price - over $450 for a 15kg roll
Also make sure you have a good power supply, otherwise the volts will drop off quickly in the supply.

 

I ended up heading down to a Gasweld shop. Inside they had a pallet of Lincoln 180C MIGs that they were trying to shift. The sales guys told me that he's sold a thousand units and never had a return. I made it 1001. I also purchased a bottle of Argon/CO2 75/25 blend so that I can weld with solid wire.

Now I have to arrange a 15A outlet at home. Duh!

Actually I just figured I could plug my caravan extension lead into one of the garage power points, which must be a 15A outlet as I didn't have to force it, and plug the welder into the socket at the end of the caravan lead. So I'm powered up.

I'm still reading the instructions for the welder, but I couldn't help myself at Gasweld & also bought a plasma cutter, the smallest & good for 1cm cuts. I set that up with air from my compressor and had some 1cm bar to cut into sections to make some pins fpr a garden bed log wall. Holy C, I'm amazed, chop, chop, chop, 6 pins cut in about 6 seconds - what a tool! Now I just want to cut some stuff!

 

I made myself that custom-fit work bench. 1 or 2 welds look nice. The rest look like the work of a drunken kindergarten student (me) but they hold up. The Lincoln MIG is a dream to use. I will be making some additions and I reckon my next project will be a custom made workshop stool out of another section of cut up D-section.

 

You will have to share some photos!

 

MIG welder Project 1 - work bench from scrap:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10776...13830402976812

happy with the end product, still lots to learn!

 

is that galv material? did you grind the welding surfaces clean with a flap disc or wire wheel before welding them? also could be caused by not enough gas or any breeze/wind/draught blowing the gas away from the job

other than that it's a pretty good first effort I'd be happy with it that's for sure

 

Hi Xran, yes I also purchased a Unimig 40 plasma cutter. So I cut up some off-cuts of gal box section into angle and used that. I didn't prep any of the areas to be welded.
I was in the doorway of an open garage doing the welds so I'm sure that some of the welds would have been affected by the wind blowing the shielding gas away.

Thanks for your observations!

 

No probs mate, if you try to weld straight onto galv then you get 2 things - toxic gas and dirty parent material... definitely do some surface prep and clean it all up before you weld next time and you'll notice a huge difference

As you get better you can also change your gas to CO2 because it's a lot cheaper than either MigShield or Argon/blends. It's a much colder gas though so it quenches the weld and causes a lot more spatter, so you have to compensate for that but that's probably a long way off haha. Just some more food for thought though