MIG Welders

[whoneedsbitumen]

HI just lookign the latest Repco catalouge they have a SIP weldmate trade 100w portable mig on special .. The only reason im interested is that im doing alot of work lately with a CIGWELD compact turbo ARC welder (welding 40x40 RHS Mainly)
Are these MIG's any good or am i better with the arc with the ugly welds?

[suzy]

arc only ugly if you can't weld..if you get a mig you might want a decent one.maybe look at some factory auctions.get a good second hand one that has gas don't get a gass less one and if you get the right one doesn't matter if it's old some will last for ever..I can't really coment on cheap welders because i have never used them.

[wannaberacer]

I bought a new SPI mig welder. I couldn't sell it quick enough...was a POS

[F'n_Rover]

i've got a gasless mig = pos. i can do some nice welds with an arc, but this mig has got me stuffed, although it is quick and easy. did a few test welds and tried to break them, they held up - but fark they look bad.

give me a $100 arc over a cheap mig any day (but i don't know shit about proper welding, but i know about hack stuff)

[runnin4life]

yer i got a cheap $100 repco arc welder pretty good just the duty cycle sucks was thinking of mounting a computer fan on each side on to sucks the air in and one to suck air out

but then i void the warranty so who know but i havnt done much welding with it
simply cus i have access to a mig and tig

any ways
thats my 2 c
cheers
elliot

[whoneedsbitumen]

Thanks for the info guys think i will stick with my arc for now

[pcman]

i have a cigweld portaweld 100 tiny gasless mig and i love it

ive done heaps of work with it and its heaps better to use than a arc but yes crappy ugly welds

imo not worth the extra $$$ go the next step and get a big gas mig you wont turn back

reason i say this is i didnt pay for my mig its a mates thats on perm loan cause he cant weld and just gets me to weld anything he wants

ive been usin a big oldschool mig at work and it welds awesome gonna be using it lots more when i need to weld serious stuff

[The Fish]

Used to use my brothers piss ant little gasless mig but had to run with the covers off to get any sort of decent duty cycle time out of it.

Conned the old man into buying an ESAB 195 MIG and it has been fantastic

Have had it 4 yrs and gone through 4 x 15kg reels of 0.8 wire in that time. That's probably not a huge amount of use compared to a mig that does everyday work but for home work shop use I can't fault it

I reckon it's the best $1,400 the old man has ever spent