What Mig welder ?

[Kev80]

Looking to buy a little general purpose mig welder for home use prob gasless as i dont realy need to hire gas cylinders.
Heard some say to avoid the inverter type as there is more electronics that can fail over time, is this the general opinion ?

Looking for value for money as its only the occasional use so dont need top of the line.

Any ideas ?

[ledgend80]

what do you want to spend so we can advise in your price range

[Kev80]

Hard for me to answer that as i dont know what $$$ they range from, maybe start at the entry level price what ever that maybe.

Or even recomend a reliable brand and i can go from there.

[Green as Grass]

I'd go for one of the reliable brands. I bought a Cigweld Transmig turbo165 about 10years ago and it's been fine. You can use 0.8mm wire on a dinky roll or a 4.5kg roll. It wasn't cheap at the time, but they are affordable now. You can use it with or without gas. Parts and repairs are cheap and good welding supply stores know Cigweld and what parts fit where. It will do thin steel like body panels and vehicle floors or heavier steel up to about 10mm is no problem. I've never used gas on mine, but it would give a better weld with gas. I wouldn't bother with the cheapies. You might as well not buy a mig and just tear up your money. It would be less traumatic.
Unless you are doing body work or other thin metal work, I'd look at a good stick (arc) welder as well. Despite what some people will tell you, some of the best metalworkers on the planet use only stick welders.

[Kev80]

Agree with not buying cheap, old saying poor man always pays twice.
I have owned and used arc welders for easy 20 years or so and fairly good at it, thing is i borrowed a mig a while back and forgot how good they are.... loved it.

That Cigweld one sounds like what im after, will check it out. Thanks

[SIMMO84]

I bought a cig weld about a year ago and it has built 1 comp truck in that time. It had a few problems in the first week but no problems with replacement parts. It also comes with stick handle and can also get tig for it.