Recommended mig welder

[rutter123]

Now the 30 odd year SIP 100 migmate is playing up (the wire feed is very temperamental and getting worse) im looking for something similar and new to replace it must be gas/no gas. Any recommendations?

[Vanny]

Portamig 185 from Weldequip.com

[Djr88]

SEALEY SUPERMIG 180, I've used them for over 10 years with no real problems. great value for money.

[Defender110]

Is it not just the nylon sleeve in the hand set that needs replacing?

[rutter123]

No 110 i have a prob with the wire feed its getting more intermittent every time i use it, sometimes completely cutting out, this is a prob that these Migmates suffer with, cant grumble it is 30 odd years old and has done me a good turn. The whole torch line and trigger has been recently replaced but this prob persists there is a company that can repair the internal pcb that controls the wire feed but at £60 is it worth it?

[pauldaf44]

I use one of these

http://www.drapertools.com/product/1203 ... MIG-Welder

It's been fantastic. I used to use a Wolf MIG set and that I wouldn't recommend. The Draper though is a joy to use, not a bad price and takes both small and large wire reels as well as either hobby gas bottles, gasless or like I have a big bottle with a separate regulator

[Richb]

Lincoln electric. Really good. But dearer that the ones above.

[Dragon Man]

before i got my scrappy one, i used a Clarke MIG 151TE. its seen me weld up about 25 cars, 4 tow bars, countless other projects and even built a good 10 trailers over the years. its still working strong at the scrap yard i work at. we just kinda swapped welders.. i had there broken huge 3 phase monstrosity of a welder and stuck in a new single phase transformer (as i wanted a welder that could weld digger buckets together) and they had my portable one.

one thing i really recommend is rather than using those silly 600 gram gas bottles, just use a co2 fire extinguisher and regulator. when you need to fill it up (it lasts that long) it only costs £15 .. the price of one of those 600 gram gas bottles! best thing i had ever done!

[pauldaf44]

I use a big bottle of CO2 Argon mix from my local motor factor. You just buy the bottle then pay for refills, yes its more expensive than neat CO2 but it makes for a much easier time welding.

[Kitch]

Argon/Co2 mix is much neater than pure Co2 in my experience.

Our welder is a Murex Tradesmig 165. Yeah.

[Kaapelimies]

I pre-inherited a single-phase Kemppi Kempomat 150 from my father, from year 1989 I think, that welds very good even the 2CV nearly-no-metal-at-all-sheets also with a 0.6mm wire. I use argon with 12% of co2.
Thanks for this thread, you guys have very different brands there in the mist than we here in the nordics!

[rutter123]

After taking mine to pieces and removing all the crap that had accumulated inside and bits of wire and dust and spiders etc all seems well for now and back to working properly, but maybe not for long?

[KevR]

I've always found with hobby welders that the wire feed is the weak point, often due to the roller tension being uneven - on my old SIP Turbo, I made up a small steel plate which went on the outside of the roller/tensioner assembly and held everything properly in place. It meant I could use more tension on the rollers (because previously the adjuster got to a point where all it could do was bend the roller support arms rather than force the rollers closer together) so there was far less slippage. It worked really well for years, until I bought an old BOC Murex Transmig, which was a revelation in terms of power and quality (although I did have to wage a continual war on failing connections internally). You can still pick them up cheap enough - worth considering for workshop use if you don't really need gasless (I've never used gasless so don't know if it's desirable or not), although too heavy for carting about. Now got a 3-phase Migatronic and that's even better.
As for gas, I've used medium sized no -contract bottles from Adams Gas in the past. Now using similar from Ryval. Noticeably better with an Argon mix than with pure CO2.