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Location:
Wollongong / Sydney
Registered:
October 2003
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Welders..Which one to get ?
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Tue, 28 December 2004 12:59
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Well its come time for me to buy myself a welder. Ive previously been using my bro-inlaws gasless mig (SIP 90amp gasless) and have achieved decent results without being great ( Works well with sheet metal but the penetration is pretty crap when trying to weld anything decent.
I started looking at a Toolex ( made by SIP in Italy) welder at gasweld at they could sell me a 120Amp model (gas / gasless) for $529 ( which got me thinking maybe this is too cheap). So I got talking to some guys at BOC gases ( customers as well). They were telling me that the cheap mig welders are crap (anything under 220amp) and I should look at a decent stick welder.
They refered me to another place that sells these cool little DC inverter MMA ( Manual Metal Arc) welders. Ive never had much luck with arc welders in the past and this one looked way too small to weld anything. The owner came out and took one out the back and got me to weld with it. Much to suprise it was easy to use and the penetration was brilliant. Not to mention that you can put a TIG attachment on and use it as a TIG welder as well! The price tag for this little beast is $800. Im starting to think I should shell out the extra dosh and get one of these
These are the 2 models that I have been looking at. The pictured mig is actually a SIP but the toolex is exactly the same....
The MMA / TIG that im looking at is the kemppi 110amp on the left
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Location:
East Maitland NSW
Registered:
December 2004
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Tue, 28 December 2004 13:09
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to be honest i reckon id never spend anything lower that $700 now on a welder as the last stick one i bought cost me $350 and i can weld pipe and shit fine but anything less than 2mm thick it burns holes in it. i think you should look around a bit more and if so do some testing and find one that suits you. like i hate sticks but i love tigs and migs i reckon it comes down to practice and wot you like. but for me the next welder i am gunna buy will be a $750 mig..
andrew.
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Location:
Kita-Ku, Sapporo, Japan
Registered:
January 2003
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Tue, 28 December 2004 13:15
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i like "liquid-arc" products because they have continuously variable voltage and wire speed.
mine is a maxmig200, 200A model.. weighs a shitload, and if they still made them would retail for around $2-3K.
it really depends what you are doing with it. if you are doing panels, you'll likely need 0.6mm wire, and a continuously varible machine, otherwise you'll blow holes..
if you are only welding 10mm thick plate, you'll need something different.
if i was to buy a machine again, i'd be going for a DC TIG in the 2-3K range, with around 200amp capacity (have a look at the duty cycle also, no point having a 200 amp machine that has a 15% duty cycle at 100amps  )
there ar a lot of good welding shops, but my recent one is mascot welding supplies?(i think) (off gardeners road)
Cya, Stewart
ps, and gasless bites.. welding with gas is sooo much better.
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Location:
Kita-Ku, Sapporo, Japan
Registered:
January 2003
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Tue, 28 December 2004 13:20
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and if you can, don't get a tweco (sp?) gun as the tips are not stocked as often.. can still get them, but the other gun type is far more popular (even tho i like my tweco gun  )
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Location:
Wollongong / Sydney
Registered:
October 2003
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Tue, 28 December 2004 13:24
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wow I didnt expect to get replies this time of the morning 
Cool I might check out Mascot welding supplies and see what they have..
The Kemppi that I looked at does 110amps @ 50% duty cycle
Im just a home handyman and will probebly use the welder for general repairs around the house, and hopefully to make engine mounts for engine conversions.
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Location:
Kita-Ku, Sapporo, Japan
Registered:
January 2003
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Tue, 28 December 2004 13:52
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WELDERS SUPPLIES & SERVICES PTY LTD
Rosebery 90 -92 Dunning Ave 2018 (02) 9313 8000
Fax (02) 9313 8605
Brookvale 19 Ada Ave 2100 (02) 9907 4181
Fax (02) 9907 3877
Revesby 2 Fitzpatrick St 2212 (02) 9773 5666
Fax (02) 9773 5577
i don't know of that brand (i don't know of that many brands ) but have a chat to these guys (actual name above ) and see what they can suggest.
when you say general house repairs, what thickness material are you thinking?
for engine mounts, the metal will be around 4mm thick, and even a stick could do it, but a mig/tig is cleaner.
a gas bottle is about $100 a year to rent, but fill is maybe $30-50? (for argoshield)
heh heh, like toymodders have anything better to do
Cya, Stewart
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Location:
Wollongong / Sydney
Registered:
October 2003
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Wed, 29 December 2004 01:00
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Cool, I'll check these guys out too, thanks for the info once again
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when you say general house repairs, what thickness material are you thinking?
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Just want to build a bench for the garage (the frame is made from 50x50x2.0 RHS). Ive got a office chair that needs a bit of weld around the base. Need to repair some rust in the base of the lawn mower.. Nothing too exciting
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Location:
Campbelltown, NSW, Austra...
Registered:
January 2004
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Wed, 29 December 2004 04:31
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I would go for the stick/tig combination unit you mentioned. If you are just doing general steel welding you wont need to worry about the costs of gas/wire, only filler rods. As long as you aren't welding really think stuff it should be fine. If you ever do want to weld thin material, you can use the tig attachements to weld thin steel/other materials.
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Location:
Wollongong / Sydney
Registered:
October 2003
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Wed, 29 December 2004 08:25
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cool, thats what im thinking now
Does anyone know what a tig attachment would cost for a machine like this ?
Im still waiting for some time off work so I can do some welder shopping
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Location:
Victoria
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Welders..Which one to get ?
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Fri, 31 December 2004 07:36
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| oldcorollas wrote on Wed, 29 December 2004 00:20 |
and if you can, don't get a tweco (sp?) gun as the tips are not stocked as often.. can still get them, but the other gun type is far more popular (even tho i like my tweco gun )
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Local bunnings has CIG tweco tips off the shelf, they happen to fit my Magnum 100L gun that came with my lincoln
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