Any welders? Need advice on equipment.

gixer1

Well-Known Member
As above, looking at treating myself to a decent welder. Likely mig/mma.

I know it’s a broad range but jst looking for some suggestions.

Fed up “getting by” or having to borrow/get someone else to weld larger things.

Regards,
Gixer
 
It depends on budget
It depends on what you want to weld
It depends on your electrical supply , you’ll be limited in size on a domestic supply
 
I have Mig, tig and arc.

My tiny mobile arc inverter is incredibly useful runs off a 13amp socket and will comfortably do 10 or 12mm with a few passes and costs very little to run....no gas/bottle rental from BOC...

Might be a simple and cheap way to get going...

Some of the machine mart inverters are very capable....
 
If you can stick weld the esab mma inverters are really good for the money, I have the rogue 150 for site and it’s been great so far. Mig wise rtech are decent enough, with good warranty (5years). If you have the budget I’d definitely look at kemmpi or esab though, really good kit but expensive.
 
For occasional use a nice inverter arc set will do a lot of welding in many usually inaccessible places. I remember making a shed with dad, me with my ‘toy’ welder and dad with his old Oxford. I did twice the work he did. And when we put the wind braces in I took it up the ladder and welded them in. His opinion soon changed on my toy welder.
I’d look to get a 160 amp / 180 amp Jasic welder. The higher the duty the better not the higher amps.
 
It’s mostly steel. Up to 10mm. No issue with power supply.

Oddly enough as it’s been mentioned I’m currently pondering an ESAB 210pro.

I don’t want gasless, I currently have a couple of welders and one of them is a little Clarke 140 gasless, great for small jobs but trying to run a nice weld even on clean plate is a bit iffy.

Regards,
Gixer
 
It’s mostly steel. Up to 10mm. No issue with power supply.

Oddly enough as it’s been mentioned I’m currently pondering an ESAB 210pro.

I don’t want gasless, I currently have a couple of welders and one of them is a little Clarke 140 gasless, great for small jobs but trying to run a nice weld even on clean plate is a bit iffy.

Regards,
Gixer

I have a Kempii Miniarc Evo 180 and is has to be the best welder I have ever bought. You can run it on 2 x 50m cable reels being an inverter welder and I use rods down to 1.6mm for the thin stuff. Being digital is fantastic for ultimate weld control.

 
I have an ESAB 300 amp mig bought secondhand from the guy who makes fuel tanks behind me. When he swapped his for pulse welders. It does most things I ask of it although to be honest I'm still learning how to set it up for different material thicknesses. My old now sadly deceased Hobart was more intuitive to use. I also have a little inverter that I use for TIG mainly, it is handy for MMA when required (usually somewhere without three phase).
While on the subject of what brand there lad I got my ESAB off employs eight or ten welders building multiple tanks a week. Every welder is an ESAB I believe most of his are also running water cooled torches.
 
Thanks for the input folks, definitely leaning towards the ESAB.

A 20% duty cycle will be more than I will need, a 2 minute run is more than I would ever be doing.

The newer ESAB’s appear to have an auto setting so even easier (hopefully)

Regards,
Gixer
 
I have had an esab rebel 235 multi process for around 4 years, I really like it, had no issues,

Steveweld in east tullos is the dealer in Aberdeen,
 
I prefer Lorch as a move-about MMA / TIG that runs specials great but they are a fair price . I can go 200 mtr with my long power using my heavy cables . In the Shop its an old Kempi MIG ,
You can burn up a lot of cash on welding plants on brand names today , like cars they dress them up in a different suite but the underpants are just the same underneath
 
I have domestic single phase power and a 200amp Rohr MIG welder. I have tried another stick welder and using the Rohr as a gassless MIG. Neither were that great, gas shielded MIG is the way to go. The Rohr is fine but it is and feels like a cheap Chinese model, I had to work out the speed and power settings myself (and make a cheat sheet). 10mm steel is quite thick and I would feel a bit underpowered, I have recently started pre-heating thick metal which helps a lot.
 
I have a Hyundai gas mig which I have been delighted with. Not the best but for my use ideal and a lot better than the clark I used to have
 
Most manufacturers have gone Chinese or worse, Indian now.

Might as well save yourself the cost of a brand name and buy a Jasic. Jasic is the largest manufacturer of welders in China and pretty much the countries flagship manufacturer. Like Murex was to the UK.

Not a fan of R-Tech. Outdated, overpriced machines now and the warranty isn't that great in our experience.

ESAB all Chinese or Indian. Warranty and backup awful. (I used to work for esab, after the yanks got hold of it, it became a very toxic place to work).

We have two Jasic machines, a 200A inverter MIG/MAG and a 45A Plasma and they've been good reliable little units for basically throw away money.

We also run some Lorch and Miller stuff, but that's in another league in terms of performance and cost.
 
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