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View Full Version : good migwelder for $300



Mike-86
6th January 2009, 08:30 PM
yeah as the title says im looking to get a little mig welder for around $300 within the next few days for variouse car and non car related things and i was wondering what youd recomend i get. tuffest thing id need to ever weld would be engine mounts / gearbox mounts.

marvis
6th January 2009, 08:34 PM
I would suggest investing a bit more money into it then that.

shift_rook
6th January 2009, 08:36 PM
sorry but where are you located?? shouldn't this be in the wtb section??

hilux05
6th January 2009, 08:41 PM
i think he wants advice..

you could probly get a stick for that tho..

trade tools have a cheap 180amp mig for around $450, or save a bit more and get a ws-200 amp stick/tig for $650 (i bought one a month ago, farkin sweet welder, burns the shit out of 7mm plate like butter) that was from trade tools..

af300e
6th January 2009, 09:23 PM
What about waiting for a nice used machine to come up?

hachirusto
7th January 2009, 01:07 AM
supercheaps telwin gasless migs are now half price they use to be $500 so have come down to $250, Ive gotten one but havnt tested it out yet

8ball
7th January 2009, 01:33 AM
Mate if you can find a good mig welder that can weld engine mounts and diff brackets for $300 i`ll take 5 of them, only jokin ;), if i were you i would seriously be looking at the trade tools machine, as for gasless welders they are no good for rust work as the flux in the wire ends up contaminating the weld and you will end up with rust returning to the repaired area, also i think gasless wire costs a shitload more than solid wire.

8ball
10th January 2009, 01:25 AM
We used to weld diff housings with a lincoln sp170t at the workshop i where i was employed, excellent welder. Hiring a mig welder costs about $100+ a day if you look at the cost of hiring it for a week (7days)=$700+, or you could buy your own for the same price and be able to achieve a lot more than you would in those seven days.

keiichi
10th January 2009, 01:08 PM
yes the only decent mig welder ive used was worth thousands, and worth every penny IF you were to use it every day. I have a $100 stick welder though which does everything just fine so far except for panel work.... exhaust work is a right pain but doable.
you can also get all sorts of fancy welding rods too for countless applications.

SSD20V
18th January 2009, 07:01 PM
Guys save ur pennies and buy a descent welder.I work for BOC and have come across countless customers who bring their cheap $600 welders to us to buy simple spares like shrouds or gas diffusers only to be told "sorry mate ur going to have to go back to the place you purchased it from" only problem is the place only sells the welders and no parts,then what?Most of the money you pay for the mig machines is in the wire driver(shit wire driver = shit welds) and the transformers and programms it comes with.Stick welders are ok but not for doing thin sheet work,there more for home handyman work like repairing the gate and odd bracket.Buying a cheap Auto darking helmet is by far the worst thing you can do.If it takes the mask over 100th of a sec to react you will eventually get sever eye damage,make sure they conform to Australian standards.
Apart for that Happy welding and PM me if you need any welding advise I will try my best to assist you.

SSD20V
18th January 2009, 10:34 PM
NBC315 sounds like a 3phase welder,is this correct Webmaster?

SSD20V
18th January 2009, 10:42 PM
Well to be fair how many guys on here have 3 phase power,so you cant really count that one.I personally cant knock a product I dont know about or have used,so if you say they are good quality welders,then I would take your word on it.How many rollers on the wire feeder,whats the duty cycle like on these welders?

SSD20V
18th January 2009, 10:55 PM
Sounds like some quality welders Nick.I personally wouldnt even rate the Uni-Mig,they are the biggest piece of shit I have come accross,Cigweld are now made in Thailand and the quality have dropped big time.Lincoln are pretty good machines especially the SP170T.Has all the settings you want inside the panel and its as easy as picking voltage 1-10 I think and wire speed A-G or something like that.My personal favourite is Kemppi.Yes I do sell em at work but this is not a plug for em.You now dont have to guess the settings its as easy as picking what material your welding,then dial in the thickness eg 1.0mm,6.0mm and hit the trigger all is automatically adjusted from amps,stick out,burnback and wire speed.still not happy with the settings hit a button and you can now go manual.Who do you work for Nick?

oh and my name is Telly :D

SSD20V
18th January 2009, 11:09 PM
Best thing bout working for companies like these are all the tools at your disposal.What I do is when I need say a welder or a plasma cutter,I get em for demo purposes for my customer to use,little do they know that the customer is my little Hatchi sitting in the garage patiently awaiting repairs.:hehe:

JUG-HEAD
19th January 2009, 12:00 PM
how would guys rate the cigweld stuff?? never used them personally, have only ever used there electrodes. but im currently looking at getting a Cigweld Transmig 135 just for some light fab and panel work. you guys think they will be fine?

SSD20V
19th January 2009, 05:52 PM
The welder ur talking bout the Transmig 135 is a not bad machine,but its a pain in the ass to get your welding currents right.It has a switch that says fine/course then you have about 5 settings to go off that,so in total bout 10 settings.If you take a look at the cradle that holds the wire drive mechanism its plastic,which flexs not giving you constant wire speed,this in turn give you shit looking welds.Gp for one of the ones Webmaster was talking bout,they are cheap and from what he reports back on em are a pretty good machine.

JUG-HEAD
20th January 2009, 10:49 AM
do u think it will still be alright for panel work? as its not like i will be needing long consistent welds, just spot tacks

SSD20V
20th January 2009, 06:20 PM
should be fine for spot welds just might need to crank her up.Another thing that plays a major role is the type of Argon mixture you are using.Boc has Argoshield light and Argonshield Universal.Argoshield light is goog for 1-6mm anything over that and you will have to use Argoshield universal whick had more oxygen in the mixture thus giving greater penetration.If you dont get your gas from BOC(Yes I work for em) get the other company you go to,to do a cross reference or if you want to open an account with BOC and live in the St.George.Sutherland shire areas I can hook you up with good prices as Iam the rep for these 2 areas.

Hope this info helps ya.

JUG-HEAD
21st January 2009, 10:51 AM
yeah thanks mate helps heaps. i should be able to get a good deal thru work with BOC down here in adelaide so all good on that front

Mr Awsome
6th March 2009, 06:09 PM
lincon 170 is a dope welder

Joel-AE86
6th March 2009, 07:41 PM
I just bought a TradeTools direct 180Amp MIG welder for $430. I'm yet to use it (need to get a gas bottle), but it looks 1/2 OK. Cheap chinese shitter, but it appears to have a fair amount of wire speed and amperage adjustment.

TradeTools aparently sell a lot of these units. Aparently good for the home hobbiest.

I'll post up my thoughts once i've used the thing!

Jdm-Mcc
8th March 2009, 01:08 PM
This TTD180MIG you fellas are talking about, whats the thickest steel you would be able to weld with it, sounds cheap with a reasonable amperage.

Nick what in your educated opinion are the Pro's and Con's of this welder?

Cheers JAke

lo_rolla
11th March 2009, 08:16 PM
I just decided I'm gonna buy a welder. This week end.
I got access to welders at work, but I don't get to use them. They seem to think there's no point teaching an apprentice how to do it when there's all these other blokes who can.
I can TIG, but I'm not great, but the only thing I'd be weldin' is cyclinder heads.

What I want is something I can keep in the shed for panel work, fabricating shit and other bits and pieces for my AE86 (rust!!!!!) and the project me and a friend are gonna do after wards - from scratch (Cept it's a dirty Nissan).

What do I need Nick, what do I neeeed?

lo_rolla
12th March 2009, 09:01 PM
Gonna get a mig.

Gonna head into trade tools on Satty.

tauhu86
14th March 2009, 01:40 AM
how much does the NBC200 cost nick?