What size and makes of mig welder

There comes a time in every Landrover owner must invest in a mig welder. My question what size of mig welder and make of welders do you guys own. Looking for advice before I get one.

Cheers in advance.

Clarke 151te - am no expert and not welded prior to this but it is easy to use and has done everything I have wanted

Avoid the bottom of the range gasless migs. Ok in an emergency but wish I'd spent more on a better suited set up

I got an old sealey power mig 180.

Tis a pretty good welder considering its getting on a bit. But is well looked after. Got a full size gas bottle (co2/argon mix) on the back and is fine for welding up to 6mm steel with some prep work.
Also should mention I've got it rigged up on a dedicated 16amp socket as I kept tripping it out and blowing fuses on the standard 13amp plug.

But generally the bigger the better. Don't bother with gasless. I personally think they are ****e. You can still use a gas mig outside you just need to crank the gas up a bit and shield it sufficiently.

I'd love a 3 phase welder at home but can't justify the price to have 3 phase installed.

Maybe one day if I decide to buy a nice big old lathe to stick in the garage. And possibly a milling machine.......

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk. Have a read through the forum on there, and the shop if you like. I got a SWP and 4 car rebuilds later wouldn't change it. Make sure the wire feed is decent, and the low amp setting is low enough for car bodywork (land rover bulkheads are thicker but it's nice to have the low setting)

After owning a Clarke minimig 100e for about 20 years I bought a Clarke 151en. The 100 amp model was not really up to chassis welding without careful weld prep. The 150amp unit is more than enough. Of course you can spend a lot more money and get a "better" machine but for home use and sticking old Land Rovers together its fine.

I agree with the other posters who have commented on flux wire welding, stick to gas.

Another 151 owner here They dont come with a 13A plug on as technically they can draw upto around 15A but i use mine on the mains, as long as you dont crank it right up it will be fine.

Tuskenraider said:

Another 151 owner here They dont come with a 13A plug on as technically they can draw upto around 15A but i use mine on the mains, as long as you dont crank it right up it will be fine.

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I've got one of those blue socket jobbies on the wall of my garage with a dedicated 20 amp breaker, no problems using mine on full power. I use a big caravan extension lean so there are no problems with voltage drop if I'm working at some distance from the socket.

Get the biggest and ugliest you can handle, the larger welders can work out cheaper as wire is in bigger/cheaper rolls and you have more options on what you can do with the machine.

Ours is an ex industrial Oerlikon Solomig 260, goes up to 250A, 32A single phase supply and takes a full bottle on the back, 15kg reels of wire and very good for almost anything you throw at it.

Duty cycle on 2mm is continuous, you will drop before the machine does.

Peter

Got a snapon 187, which snapon claim can run from a 13 amp plug, made by cebora great quality mig but bit expensive to occasional use.

I run a cheapo chinese made 185amp thing on 3 phase its unstoppable and single phase good for about 130amp with lower duty cycles, i have rebuilt my disco with it and its still going strong, wasnt new when it came to me.

a branded model would usually be the way forward but a bigger cheap chinese thing will do less just as well as more, i dont do body panels as i have a landy i just buy new/used panels and keep welding in more steel on the rest, i have maintained my rig well and it keeps on giving so i dont be afraid of the yella fellas work, sometimes it works out quite well.

ive a sealey 180 runs of a 13amp plug with extension lead to suppress spikes

roger352 said:

There comes a time in every Landrover owner must invest in a mig welder. My question what size of mig welder and make of welders do you guys own. Looking for advice before I get one.

Cheers in advance.

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Mine's a clark 130,gas/gassless you just change the polarities over to use gas.It does what i want to do.

Ive got Clarke gas less mig does all the jobs I need patches on chassis mending fencing tools I love it

Ive got a 450 amp 3 phase professional welder so slightly a different league ....

Make sure if you buy single phase it has an inverter as this produces a smoother power flow and so better welds

I've got a sealey 150, It'd be nice to have something a bit better but for how much I use it theirs no point spending more money.

The point raised by the op about a long caravan lead being higher rated is true in my case.

I now use a heavy duty caravan lead that I squezed into a 13amp plug that I plug into our "cooker socket" thats much higher rated..
seems to work better than my 13amp extention lead

Snap on 187 with euro torch

I've just brought a swp redline 210 single phase welder and I can't fault it for £400 with 2years warranty I'm a welder by trade and use 3phase but the swp is spot on for welding on the landy