All about welders and welding

[orange32]

awesome, cheers for your opinion. I think I'll end up buying it, I'm just being a tightarse about paying for 2 bottle rentals a month if i do buy it haha.

[meadan]

No problem, hope it all works out.

Also, I tried out my Krieger MIG welder. Basically its an ebay spec chinese mig.
I got the migstar 250 amp version, which weighs 80 kgs, has a proper sized handle and only takes 15kg spools. From the look of it, it really seems quite good for the price (I paid $405 brand new). The chinese gas regulator seems kinda crap though. The whole maching seems like a chinese copy of older model WIA machines, which it probably is. It has funky digital display and all the features of a normal industrial style MIG.
Ive only done a few test welds with my argon bottle hooked up. But straight out of the box with some 0.9mm wire and 5 mins setup I got some decent welds on some 5mm flatbar. Seems like this welder will be more than enough for the garage...

[NIZLAH]

honestly considering the purchase of a MIG now, never welded but quite confident I will pick it up fairly rapidly..
Anyone got any comments on the SIP FEMA MIGS looking at the current range on ebay and these stand out from my price and requirement perspective...($600ish max) looking at the 160amp, or the 195amp since its not much more but still drops down to 25amp min setting.
From my research this would more than enough to get me started and keep me going for a while...

Comments welcome..

[Sam-Q]

gas or gasless, 195 amps will get you pretty far. What work do you have in mind?

[NIZLAH]

capable of both, nothing particular in mind for what I want to fabricate really apart from stuff like doing my exhaust, bit of panel work etc, and what ever else I deem to be worth doing, maybe making garage racking/shelves or a trailer who knows...

[Low Style]

Hi,

I'm looking for a semi decent gas less portable Tig welder to do the odd jobs or just to mess around with.

Anyone had any experience with this end of the market? any advice?

[meadan]

No such thing as a gasless TIG welder.

You can get an inverter arc welder which would be able to be used as a TIG if you get a gas bottle.

We used to use a small kemppi 200A portable inverter which worked well on site. It didnt have high frequency start though, so scratch starting the TIG was a bit painful. I dont recommend this for learning on...

[Casey-G]

+1 for Kempi

Have used both there tig and mig welders and they are just a dream to use..

I would actually recommend a scratch start setup for the learner.. that's all I've had up until this year and I've made everything from manifolds to exhausts, strut braces and fuel tanks.. though the transition from the scratch to high frequency is different to get used to its nice just to be able to do those little fine finicky jobs with a cheap little box from ebay/bunnings and a decent rig lead set with a small price tag... argon ain't all that cheap so till you get used to welding with a tig its not that bad to save a few dollars until you know a bit more about it.

After that, fronius all the way

Anyone got pics of there welding bay setup at home? Keen to see.

[meadan]

Yeah, If you kinda understand the basics of welding a scratch start wont be too bad. But either way you will need argon as a shielding gas.

Plus for the price of the cheap 'throwaway' chinese welders, you may aswell get one with some features to make life a bit easier.

I dont really have a welding bay setup really, I need to get a proper bench one day. My tig just lives on top of the mig cause its easier to wheel around that way

Anyone wanna go halves on a sheet of 6mm steel for a benchtop? lol

[Casey-G]

Aha yeah ya need gas lol

Mate if you were closer I would be throwing 6mm at ya! My bench is 8mm stainless on the removable half and 6mm black for the most of it.. shits coming outa our ears here if you needed some and were closer I'd give you a section