MIG WELDERS

[pre-lit steve]

which is the best small welder to buy/use cheers

[XTR2Turbo]

Probably useful to suggest a budget but Clarke seem to get good reviews at the low end.

 

I paid a bit more and bought a portamig - mainly because assembled in the UK, has a good wire feed mechanism and has a very low power setting for use with car bodywork.

[pre-lit steve]

wolf mig 140 any good for home use, can use a decent welder at work but need one at home for car mods as cannot take car to work as it is on axle stands.

[XTR2Turbo]

Seems to be hard to get consistent feedback on the cheap units.

 

Some seem to have lots of trouble and some use them with no issues.

 

Is it the welder or the operator?

[blue ass fly]

Cebora turbo 130 is a lovely little welder

Snap on use it with their name on the side which i suppose endorses its quality

Plently of reliable power and doesnt overheat and trip like the cheap ones do

I bought a used one and its never given me a problem

[pre-lit steve]

fair point, I think I might hire one for the day. And keep my eyes open for a good welder popping up at some point. 

[Boombang]

Up to 3mm mild steel the Clarke 90 (with gas) gets my vote.

Not perfect by any means but for the money you can get a decent quality weld.

If using for more than 3mm or for long periods of time you'll need something meatier.

[DanDud]

whatever you do don't buy gasless 

[Kingster]

Where are you? I have a Clarke you can try out to see if it suits.

[AdamR]

Have a Clarke 135TE and it's fine for stuff up to about 2.5/3mm. After that you do need more beans. A 'better' welder feels much nicer to use though, much smoother - it's hard to explain until you've used one! (OP - I'm sure you know what I mean)

 

Something that I found a massive benefit was an auto mask, the one supplied with the welder is crap and hand-held - you really struggle to get a nice weld using just one hand/ Budget another £40 or so for a mask.

 

I'm tempted to move my Clarke on to pick up something a bit nicer as I've started using it more frequently (and for meatier stuff), if it could be any use to you just shout up

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I've got a Clarke 160TE, which does pretty well at metal up to 5 or 6mm thick - I've successfully welded scaffold thickness pipe with it, to make jigs and so on. It's fine for what I use it for, though it takes me longer to set up - through my own inexperience, whereas when I've tried the more expensive machines like those mentioned earlier in the thread, even I seem to be able to get going with them without so many false starts.

 

I keep meaning to do a night school course on Mig stuff, but since they closed one of the local schools and re-arranged responsibilities, I've struggled to find one reasonably local.

[pre-lit steve]

The welder we have at work is for the heavier duty welding, I just need something at home that will do for welding on the car, I have had my eye on the Clarke 135TE

but have heard mixed reviews and I am spoilt with using a decent welder at work.  

[Kyle]

I've got a 135TE too and it's perfectly fine for small jobs. Had it for years and never had an issue with it. If it's more than the odd job though I would look into something better.

[corsechris]

I've had a SIP 130 for a good few years now, it's been great for pretty much everything I have needed. Far from the best bit of kit but for the odd bit of electric glue, very happy with it. As noted, not enough grunt for thicker stuff but I've managed well enough on stock up to 3mm or so (have done some 4mm work for smaller items like brackets etc too). Never had a weld fail yet either. Worst thing with the occasional use is the gas. For a while when I was into a large build job, I rented a small bottle from BOC through a mate, but at £40 p.a. just for the rent, it doesn't pay unless you use it a lot, so once I finished my last car build, I went back to using those stupid small cylinders as & when I need them. There are alternatives though - not used them but there is a mail-order place for sensible sized bottles that don't charge rental, just a deposit and a higher 'refill' charge. Overall better if you fall between a full-on rental or the wee cylinders I guess.

[Rannoch]

If you know a local friendly landlord you can use a co2 cylinder from the brewery, you just need a co2 regulator and pipe adapter if you have the small gas pipe on your welder.