Your thoughts on this welder please?

A mate of mine phoned me up today, he knows a fella who has recently bought this welder but its not powerful enough for him, its got a small gas bottle and regulator with it, in perfect nick and used only once, I only need it for the Landy so would just like your opinions on it and if im getting a good deal or should I stear clear? £195 all in.

MIG MAG WELDER GAS/NOGAS BIMAX 4.195 TURBO TELWIN | eBay

Cheers.

Have a look here....

DIY MIG Welding - Search Results

good site and forum for all welding concerns....

many will say that low end , Clarke will give you more for the money . However , I seem to recall hearing that many migs were the same italian machine in different paint , Sealey etc . That £195 sounds high to me for a small machine . You would probably want to upgrade immediately to bigger bottles as fluxcore wire is ruinously expensive and can be a bit of a bugger on thin , tenous metal as it burns hotter than regular wire with gas . That and the cost of the little bottles .

I would be inclined to talk to Portamig on that site linked above and see what he can sell you for similar money before going any further .

Oh , and if you DO get a big bottle , make sure it doesnt fall over and break the stem of the regulator off discharging all the expensive gas out at speed so that you have to sit on it to stop it taking flight like a cruise missile whilst trying to wrestle the key spanner back onto it as it bucks around ,as you attempt to shut off the flow .......like happened to me yesterday .

shocker said:

Oh , and if you DO get a big bottle , make sure it doesnt fall over and break the stem of the regulator off discharging all the expensive gas out at speed so that you have to sit on it to stop it taking flight like a cruise missile whilst trying to wrestle the key spanner back onto it as it bucks around ,as you attempt to shut off the flow .......like happened to me yesterday .

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wow i bet that got ya blood pumping

davesdisco said:

wow i bet that got ya blood pumping

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Aye and arse twitching !!...:doh::nopics:

I find 160 Amp Mig is good for Landy chassis work on an Argon gas.

i got a clarke 160 en turbo does most fings without any problems even welded some 10mm plate for pikeys front winch bumper with no problem

shocker said:

Oh , and if you DO get a big bottle , make sure it doesnt fall over and break the stem of the regulator off discharging all the expensive gas out at speed so that you have to sit on it to stop it taking flight like a cruise missile whilst trying to wrestle the key spanner back onto it as it bucks around ,as you attempt to shut off the flow .......like happened to me yesterday .

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I would of paid lots to see that. Bet that involved a bit of swearing.

If you get a gas welder you can get (large) gas bottles from Beer Gas Cymru who are based in North Wales . They do Argon and C02 (what I use cos it's cheap) and they're supposedly cheaper than BOC for Argon.

RichP said:

If you get a gas welder you can get (large) gas bottles from Beer Gas Cymru who are based in North Wales . They do Argon and C02 (what I use cos it's cheap) and they're supposedly cheaper than BOC for Argon.

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Cheers mate Ive seen the truck before but never put 2 and 2 together, so im still a little undecided at the mo if I should get it or not as funds are really tight, I cant afford it to be honest but thought if it was a bargain I would have it just for the sake of it, the funny thing is ive just spent 8 months getting her shipshape and got a mate to do all the welding that needed doing for the foreseeable future, to add to that ive been promised an old mig from a farmer who I did a job for recently but its been sitting for some time, for all I know it may be buggered and I may have to accept payment instead. Will have a look on the site shocker recomended later if I get chance but in the meantime your opinions are still very welcome.

Oh and shocker your more of a man than me, the moment I heard the WHOOOOOSH I would have probably just ran away until it was safe lol.

Cheers.

More of a man ? No , just more tight with money ! My maxim is "the body heals for free , whereas material goods cost money to replace"....

....swearing there was , aplenty ...my neighbour is an old Navy man and even HE was shaken by the range of vocab . To add to this it fell into a stack of his panes of glass (now smashed) that had a propane bottle hidden behind them ......"whoops" hardly begins to cover it . And since I was astride the bottle to prevent the cruise effect that I have seen oxy bottles perform I stood to lose a little bit more of my manhood .....oh dear

Nicey , that MIG forum is bob on for advice and buying stuff too . Find out what that welder the farmer has actually is and price up stuff like a new liner for the hose and maybe switch for the torch . If it has a euro torch , a hose system that disconnects from the welder body so much the better - this is what pro machines have .

Gas is much easier these days with drinks gas firms and independents supplying private customers with no contracts or hire , just buy the bottle and pay for the fill . For body work and thinner metal most people go for a high argon/co2 mix that BOC call Argoshield Light . Some indies now do that and a high co2/argon mix too , or scrounge a plain co2 from a mate in a pub or similar . You will need the relevent regulator and adaptors but that forum sells them the cheapest I have seen .

Size of welder . Bit of a strange one this . I used to have a bloody huge MIG that had all kinds of electronic setting that was fine for everything but blew its rectifiers out all the time so was not too reliable - this was one of the few large machines I have used that could be turned DOWN far enough to weld thin metal easily without overheat melting when you tried to run a bead , a line of weld . Since then I have had a Clarke 100 that I stuck a fan on to increase the duty cycle , the time it will weld before cutting out and needing a rest (this is often listed as a % of 10 minutes) and this is my machine of choice for thin metal as it turns down low . Even though its a toy really ! They are a bugger for the liners and the torches falling apart though . My main machine is a big Sealey which has no bells and whistles like my old big machine but has a great duty cycle and will weld anything I want to . Trouble is the power setting are not a smooth turn of a dial but steps , and sometimes 1 and a half would be just right and 2 , too much . That and the fact it cannot be turned down far enough for thin , old metal . Can be got around with technique , but annoying .

So....plenty of considerations for you there mate . Dont discount that farmers machine - it may be a lincoln or something really good ! Have a look at machine mart , northern tools and that forum and get some price ideas . And when you get that big bottle , take the time to find that bottle restraing chain , eh ?

haha will do shocker, cheers for all the info I'll let you know how I get on.

Like Shocker has said, that forum is great, I used it when doing my research and I have just shelled out on a mig - in the end went for the Portamig 180 as will go up to 6mm steel as well as down to 15 amps for body work, and it will run on the household ring main Got all the good stuff - euro tourch, and will take 15kg reels etc

Never welded in my life, and its great - have a look at some of the stuff I have been making.

When I did all my research, I found the same thing - spend as much as you can to get the best you can, as if you spend £300.00 say on a clarke, then you find its not good, you need to spend £600 odd on a better one plus the £300.00 you have spent.

I was going to get a clarke, but then the more I researched the more I was found that yes they are ok, but not 'good' if you catch my drift. I got my whole setup including a 1/2 size bottle (plus the deposit), regulator helmet etc for £700.00 - stonking deal really - had to run away from the guy before he realised how well I did

So see what you want it for, and then go from there - but now I have got mine, I have found so many uses for it, not only for fixing the Disco - sills etc, but light guards, expedition racks - even the old Chimenea steel stand has been brought back to life! You will be amazed what you can make - and what you can set on fire - including yourself

If you can, try and test out the welder before you buy it, as then you know how it works, and what it is like before you buy. Any proper welding outfit will let you do this.

Happy hunting

the mig welding forum is the place to go every thing you need to know is on there
MIG Welding - The DIY Guide
I got one of my tigs from weldequip on there
Weldequip - Welding Equipment and Consumables, UK

been more that happy with it. after a year it had a small fault got incontact to sort out buying a new part for it . the guy sent me out a replacement board free of charge.
So with that level of service when i want a better machine I will go to him. plus he also can get parts for your clark machine I believe at a lot better price than machine mart.

for my welding gas i get mine for engweld supplies as im in Grimsby not the cheapest but better than BOC for my mini bottle of argon i pay £5 a month rental and £29ish for a refill.
though I might upgrade to a midi. but for me I got given 2 more mini bottles so only paying for 1 and I always have 2 full ones on standby