cheap welder

[lil86]

hey just saw an add on tv that repco is sellin arc welders got $109 that seems damn cheap and yes i know its no mig but its cheap to just have a welder at home. does an arc weld as strong as a mig??

[Area54]

Can't comment on the strength question, but I've joined heaps of steel (even stainless for an emergency) bits together with my 20 year old CIGWELD. Prolly not as easy or flexible to use as a mig, but if you're on a budget and don't want to be constantly paying out for gas, tips and servicing, an arc is good value.

[pcman]

ive owned a $150 140amp arc from supercheap for nealy 2 years now ive welded up quite a bit and given it a hard time have just repaired it from dropping it and had broken the thermal overload so i removed it and its working again great value for money and good to learn on ive prolly gone through 20kg of welding rods over 2 years have built exhust systems for friends repaired rust in my cortina ill upgrade to a mig oneday but for now the arc does the job im currently using it to make a brace on the bullbar so it dosnt move as much

cheers
pcman

[bru21]

mig weld strength is dependant on 1 setup 2 user where as arc is user 1 setup 2. bunnings has them for 99.

the problem with arcs is the flux. i have seen many folks do a weld think that it is good withought chipping the flux off to reveal a crevass!

i have a 160 stick, a transtig 180 - stick / tig and a unimig 240.

i feel that for straight welding on flats stick is great. more heat less metal lift rod, less heat lower etc more user control during the seam.

migs are perfect after you 'dial' them in and learn but obviously cost 10 times more. and are good for those on the back on the floor jobs

there's not much i haven't done with my 160 stick (we won't bring up not burning 3.2 mm rods). for 99 how can you go wrong. stick to 2.5 rods and keep them dry (so very important with low current sticks esp when learning)


boil some steel

bru

[Shadow]

my brother just baught one of those new backpack welders by cig i think, called Inverweld, uses an inverter instead of transformer

its really light, welds really well, much better than the $200 cheapish traditional stick welder they got from trade tools (they also got the inverweld from tradetools). It starts unbalievably easy compared to thier older welder, it almost never sticks at start. Its really great, welds steel up to 16mm to 6mm really well(big arse PFC's to posts), havent tried any thicker

Think it was $400 or so tho. Its definantly a mile above thier other welder. I have no experience with the cheap welders your speaking of but i guess you get what you pay for. It will have a low duty cycle, as with the cheaper one of my brothers, doesnt like doing a lot of welding, the inverweld has double the duty cycle which is also a plus.