Sunday, March 04, 2012 - 11:45 am, by: Michael Sinay(Mikey)
Hi guys, I've been thinking about getting my own welder for a while now. It would be so handy to be able to do my own welding in my garage rather than having to go to friends workshops or professionals.
Basically I would be doing occasional stuff like exhaust mods, intake piping, flanges etc, just that type of thing.
Has anyone had experience with the gasless migs that are available? I've been reading a lot of mixed reviews, but was wondering if they would perform pretty well for the type of work I'm looking to do?
They can be picked up in the $2-300 range from bunnings and also on ebay etc. So the price is good. I know you usually get what you pay for, but sometimes cheap things perform better than expected.
Sunday, March 04, 2012 - 01:04 pm, by: Matt Newman(Soarersrock)
mate my personal opinion on gasless migs is they are rubbish if your only looking to spend that kind of money get your self a nice little arc welder instead. however my preference would be to get a tig/stick ac/dc inverter and yes for one that will do about 180 amps your looking around the 2k mark but if you use it often enough it would be worth it.
just my 2 cents matt
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Sunday, March 04, 2012 - 02:00 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
gasless mig is OK for little jobs. I agree you can get a much better arc welder for the same money. Given the money you are talking about I would definitely get an arc. They are very versatile, being able to weld through rust/paint and surface contaminants (not saying this is good practice mind you) and they make a nice weld.
Gasless migs, especially low powered ones, are actually quite tricky to get nice welds with. I personally disliked using a mates. I stuck with my arc until I could afford to buy a gas/gasless mig (180 amp Lincoln Electric, and a aluminium welding kit all for under two grand).}
Sunday, March 04, 2012 - 08:28 pm, by: Michael Fuhrmann(Tha_new_dude)
I can believe people are recommending an arc welder
I have a little 180a gas/gasless and haven't used it with gas for years, make sure you use good flux core like Boss, I do everything from rust repairs to diff/engine conversions with it, though i tig all my rollcage stuff
the little bunnings welder will be perfect for the kind of work you want to do
Sunday, March 04, 2012 - 11:49 pm, by: Aaron Mead(Aaron)
Gasless sucks. I went back to arc for jobs like pipes and mounts. Bought a mig o mag with the argon kit, and its great for cages- the overhead jobs are much easier than the arc of course. A gasless mig is like a $99 arc welder. Useless and slaggy. Save up and buy a TIG. Id do that if I could.
Otherwise, use your $250 gasless to tack tricky bits together and get a pro to weld them complete. Use the smallest possible tack though.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 12:06 am, by: Michael Sinay(Mikey)
So Michael it sounds like your gas/gasless mig works well with the gas at least. So perhaps getting one of these cheap units and hiring a bottle would be a cheap option to do some decent welding would you guys agree?
Or there are plenty of 200amp tig/arc welders on ebay in the $400-700 range, would they be a better option?
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 06:34 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Look, my gas/gasless works well with either gas or not (much better with gas actually) but it is a Lincoln Electric 180 amp quality product. Gasless is better at high amps, but is pretty messy at low power. It cost about $1500 odd, so not the same as a $200-300 gasless. If you had $200 I would buy a decent arc. That's all.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 08:02 pm, by: Matt Newman(Soarersrock)
do you have any links to these stick/tig's on ebay i know of a few cheeper brands that work well but there still like 1k for a dc only welder. plus argon is not cheep its like $240 odd for an "E" size bottle and god only knows what the bottle hire is. plus it takes time to learn to tig well. and some of the cheeper gear does not come with tig leads so be weary. but im with Ben if you only have a few hundred to play with go and get a nice stick welder and some quality rods and dont look back
Dan McColl Goo Roo Victoria (The Nazi State) Pretty Red Thing and The Black Rattler
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 08:44 pm, by: Dan McColl(Hoon)
I'm an agent for www.everlastwelds.com.au Check it out and see if there's anything you like there.
Tig is great, but has a real big learning curve and it's a pedantic process. If you have the time and patience it's great and you can weld just about anything with a Tig. Tig gets expensive with consumables, I think I've spent over $500 on stuff on top of the cost of the welder. I tend to be pretty pedantic, though.
Mig is a fast, and relatively easy process. You do need some discipline though, as it's very easy to weld cold with a mig. It will look great but fail under load.
Gasless mig, I think, is good for bridge or shed building. It's messy and ugly, but it can be done in the wind.
Gas mig is a far nicer process, but heavily affected by wind (not as much as Tig, though).
Arc, I put in the same field as Gasless Mig. Sure it works, but there's nicer processes out there.
You will find, as with everything, you get what you pay for. If you're only looking to spend a few hundred dollars you may be better off paying a welder to do the work for you.
The choice is really up to what you want to do with it.
Don't forget to add the cost of consumables into your budget. Welding rods, filler wire, Shielding Gas etc etc Plus the cost of practice, which should be lots before you do any 'real' welds.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 10:48 pm, by: Michael Sinay(Mikey)
Cheers for the advice guys. I can already weld well with a mig. Just dont know if the amount of use i would have for a welder would justify spending around 1k or more... Is it possible to hire a mig?
Dan McColl Goo Roo Victoria (The Nazi State) Pretty Red Thing and The Black Rattler