TIG or MIG welder

[birchy]

That's innacurate information and as a former Vauxhall Dealership Panel Beater and Jig Operator I can inform you that body steel down to 0.8mm is easily welded with MIG and CO2, ESAB set bodyshop proceedures for this using 0.8mm wire, thinner material than this is better welded with 0.6mm wire, some good MIG sets designed for lighter work will have an intermittent setting to help welders who are unable to deal manually with thin material,
Regards,
Nick

I didn't say it CAN'T be done. For "on the bench" type work, TIG does a nicer job of sheet metals and gives better pool control, particularly for none-expert welders. I also said that thinner materials could be welded but you generally have to "spot" weld to avoid burning through if you're not an expert. I've welded cars with an arc welder in the past but I wouldn't recommend it.

[m_c]

I'll second Diesel's comment, although I wouldn't say CO2 is crap, it certainly is not as good as using an Argon mix, especially if you're working on thin metal.

[dazza]

I'll second Diesel's comment, although I wouldn't say CO2 is crap, it certainly is not as good as using an Argon mix, especially if you're working on thin metal.

yeah craps a bit harsh ,perfectly usable and its got me out of many a hole .

[Boyan Silyavski]

Hi there,

Actually i had the same dilemma before a couple of months. After spending a month reading forums and watching Youtube videos i decided on my choice.

For the price of a decent MIG and much under the price of a decent TIG or combine machine, I became an owner of 2 very good machines. Yes, Chinese, but not so crappy as many lead you to believe.

I feel that owning those 2 covers the basic needs of any hard DIYer, or even a small shop.

I acquired them in different order, but here is the order i recommend:

1. MIG+ ARC welder in one , 250A

This is unique as its 2 in one, 250A and at the time of my purchase there was no other similar machine, specially at that price. i bought it for 310eu, now is a bit more expensive i see. Works great and is my workhorse. the mig melts 10mm steel like a butter.

2. 200a Pulsed Tig+Arc+ 50a Plasma
This is the second toy. 5 year warranty should clear your doubts

Both work great in all modes, the Mig I still use with cheap C02 bottles.

And by the way you can weld aluminum with any of them. With the stick, the mig or even with the DC tig. Search you tube if you have any doubts.


I had many reasons why exactly these 2, but the main are-price,quality,versatility, run on 230v 16a household supply/yes even the 250A MIG/ ,. Even if a board is faulty, at aliexpress a board is 100eur.

PS. Every one of them payed itself by the first job i used them for


Hope that helps

[birchy]

Granted, Argon mixes can give a better looking weld for inexperienced welders but once you learn how to set up correctly with CO2, it's more than adequate for home use, particularly at a fraction of the cost of Argon mixes. Personally, I'd rather buy a decent 2nd hand machine than a cheap Chinese one. Main reason is that I don't have much faith in Chinese electrical goods as they use low quality components to achieve the low prices. I very much doubt a Chinese welder would last 20+ years but I'm willing to be proven wrong...

[IanS1]

Thanks for all the advice folks. So MIG it is then.

What about amps? I need the welder for my machine frame which is mostly 100 x 100 x 5mm, a little research suggests I need something up in the 250amp + range. This should cover 5mm and give me the option of welding thicker box section if needed in the future.

I'm not going to be production welding so how important is the duty cycle? If I aim for something around the -35% @ 250amps, would that be sufficient?

[birchy]

180A with a decent duty cycle (60%+) should be sufficient up to around 8mm thick. A 200A - 250A machine will have plenty of head room as you'll only use 100A - 150A for most DIY jobs. The extra ooomph may come in handy when you have some thick plate 10mm+ or your local farmer drops his tractor bucket on your front lawn for you to repair. I see the Oxfords are now £600. I paid £400 for mine 20 years ago and it paid for itself the first week due to my first car being a Vauxhall Nova which seemed to need new sills and rear wheel arches twice a year.

What sort of budget are you working to?

[IanS1]

Thanks birchy. No fixed budget as such, just want something reliable and to give me some headroom on plate thickness, 10mm + should be enough. The Oxfords look more than suitable and I've also looked at Portamig, any idea on reliability of these? I know you can get cheaper but I do like to support British manufacturing whenever possible.

[birchy]

I've not used Portamig, so you'd have to do your own research on that. Obviously I rave about the Oxford welders because they're just good work horses. Just ask anyone who's owned one of their oil filled arc welders - most of them are about 40 or 50 years old and still going strong. Butters are decent quality, as are Esab, Miller, Lincoln, etc. Keep an eye on the power supply required. Many of the 200A+ machines will require a 16A supply. Even my 180A welder will take out a 13A fuse at the highest setting. I now have a dedicated 20A MCB for the welder socket.

I'd also make sure the welder can take a 15Kg spool of wire. It's much cheaper to buy the large spools as they're "industrial" size. Plus it indicates that the machine is capable of doing some man-work. If you're not sure what diameter to get, 0.8mm will be suitable for pretty much everything. If you'll only be welding 5mm+, then 1mm might be a better choice.

[IanS1]

Thanks birchy, I'll look into those makes. No worries on the power supply, I've just moved into a workshop with 240 & 3 phase supply, I'll get the leccy to install whatever breaker/socket is needed.