All about welders and welding

[JUG-HEAD]

i dont know about the nascar special, but mine does have a nascar sticker on it

[Eddy]

yea thats the one, makes it more race i hear

[Nicko]

Trade tools do import some cheaper ones, but the actual trade tools ones are awesome Migs...

NBC200, NBC250, NBC250SEP etc are all easy to get parts for because they use the German "Binzel" guns and TradeTools keep all the binzel stuff and spares in stock. If you're referring to the welders themselves, when I worked for Trade Tools, we hadn't seen a single one of the models above come back for warranty after 18 months (and probably 500 units sold) they are as good as if not better than a Lincoln and that is a fact. So spare parts for these are something you wouldn't need to be worrying about.

[Sam-Q]

well now after using my Unimig 200A single phase welder I would like to give some feedback.

It does a really neat weld, is quiet and completely reliable. The 3M earth lead is too short but I will fix that myself in due time. So yeah basicly it has worked almost flawlessly.

[takai]

The WIA ones are great, as are the UniMig/CigWeld (from memory they come from the same chinese factory).

Personally i have a fairly heavily modified SIP welder which i got from a garage sale. Its a piece of junk, but after about $50 worth of mods welds just as well as my old $1000 WIA that was stolen. If you are after a cheap welder and can be arsed modifying it then go the SIP, just expect to replace half of it before you start Ive got a new gun, liner, massive cap on the wire feed, stabiliser on the power transformer, and a few other mods to the wire reel and feed screw.

[Nicko]

Unimig are Italian

Came across a few people with SIP / WIA but would still spend the money on TradeTools one though

[takai]

The UniMig and Cig internals look fairly identical from the last couple i had open.

Personally i wouldnt buy a SIP for the money that they charge new, but all up mine has cost <$400 and it was at a time that i didnt have much cash (insurance took 7 months to pay up), so it was a welcome break.

[Anthony]

If you can stretch to the upper end of that price range, I'd suggest the Kemppi mini 180. Inverter based, weighs virtually nothing and is amazingly smooth. Great for the whole spectrum of automotive apps. Also as its inverter, it works well with dodgy power (extension leads etc) as it's self correcting. I grabbed one when they first came out have been extremely happy with it.

[Sam-Q]

I like the weld quality of the inverter migs however the only thing that made me not get one is I would be concerned about the reliability. You see if I can't use my welder daily for over 10 years I would be pissed off. But I am sure my needs are the exception here.

[takai]

An interesting thing if found in the last couple of days is that power fluctuation affects the wire feed more than the power on my MIG. Especially in the rain, i get stuttering wire feed, but when its not raining its all silky smooth.