Outer Limits 4x4 Board

inverter it is ! i had a look at a few today and the cigweld 170 inverter seems the go for my first one ,

kemal wrote:inverter it is ! i had a look at a few today and the cigweld 170 inverter seems the go for my first one ,

I agree, I was lookin at one two days ago and they are a great little machine.

If you are just learning to weld, track down a tafe college and enrol in the basic welding course, usually one night a week for a couple of months.

It'll help ya get confident with the welder.

they look great searched around today for a few shops that sell them around $ 420 $60 bucks extra gets a tig torch :)where i go to tafe now runs courses for welding , and at the end of my spray painting course ill get tough "introduction to welding " in a panel beating module , cant wait
cheers for you help guys

well i found out that the cigweld 170 inverter needs a 15 amp powerpoint i dont have one so may go for the little brother the cigweld 130 inverter any one had anything to do with them? or should i just install a 15 amp plug?

It will cost sweet F**k all to get a 15 amp plug installed.

If you go for the smaller one you will find there will be some heavy jobs that require more power.

Buy the best you can afford!

I personally would get the 170.

15 amp plug it is cheers

or you can do a 15 amp plug tail.

1 end 10amp male
1 end 15amp female

handy to have

zagan wrote:or you can do a 15 amp plug tail.

1 end 10amp male
1 end 15amp female

handy to have

Thats the easy way.
Then you just need to make sure you have a big enough circut breaker fitted to that circut in your fuse box.

But if you can afford it, it is a good idea to get a propper 15 amp circut wired to your shed.

zagan wrote:or you can do a 15 amp plug tail.

1 end 10amp male
1 end 15amp female

handy to have

Or why not just snap the earth pin off or grind the pins down so it fits in a 10A GPO.

ausyota wrote:Thats the easy way.
Then you just need to make sure you have a big enough circut breaker fitted to that circut in your fuse box.

As long as you ignore the fact you'll exceed the rating of the power point it's plugged into.

Do you think they go and jam a 15A plug on the end just for the fun of it?

Its only the earth thats larger, the circuit and fuse should be 16A, and the fuse is there to protect the wiring anyway so at worst case if you had it running flat out and boiled the kettle on the same circuit you'll just blow fuses...
Not that youd probably be using it flat out that much.
Pretty much the same as having a kettle and dryer going on the same circuit.
Not that im telling you do do anything by the way

Patroler wrote:Its only the earth thats larger,

It's larger to prevent you sticking a 15A rated plug into a 10A rated GPO. Just as a 20A Plug has a larger Active and Neutral to stop you plugging it into a 15A or 10A rated GPO. The size of the pins has nothing to do with how much they can handle, they are merely different sizes to allow you to plug lower rated devices into higher rated points, but not plug higher rated devices into lower rated points.

The wiring may handle it, the breaker/fuse may handle it, but the GPO won't as it's not rated to handle 15A, hence why they have 10A stamped into the lower side of the switch.

Back to the topic of welders is Weldsmart any good? or is it just another Chinese job repackaged.

Just saw this unit here
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/WeldSmart-200A-I ... dZViewItem

I've been looking at getting one for a while too. Just to have a play, otherwise I'll just pinch me mates arc welder again when I need to (bunnings special)

I would go see your CIG dealer, they have inverter welders on special for around the same price.

i spoke to both weldsmart and cigweld dealers and yer didnt know who to beleive they were both bitching about each others welders and how crap they are lol ,

r0ck_m0nkey wrote:

zagan wrote:or you can do a 15 amp plug tail.

1 end 10amp male
1 end 15amp female

handy to have

Or why not just snap the earth pin off or grind the pins down so it fits in a 10A GPO.

ausyota wrote:Thats the easy way.
Then you just need to make sure you have a big enough circut breaker fitted to that circut in your fuse box.

As long as you ignore the fact you'll exceed the rating of the power point it's plugged into.

Do you think they go and jam a 15A plug on the end just for the fun of it?

it simply lets you get started until you get someone out to do the job, no idea what 15amp plug would cost but a 3 phase plug is around $500 installed at a house.

zagan wrote:it simply lets you get started until you get someone out to do the job

Pretty poor excuse for bypassing a safety feature.

kemal wrote:i spoke to both weldsmart and cigweld dealers and yer didnt know who to beleive they were both bitching about each others welders and how crap they are lol ,

I would sugest to simply pick 1 and buy it.

You havn't welded before so you won't know what the differance is between the machines anyway.


Oh and I'd be more worried about that ebay shop.

It has the item named as a Plasma cutter not a welder, with a discription about an inverter welder.

WeldSmart WS-Cut 40 Inverter Air Plasma Cutter

That isn't a welder, so I'd be asking them about what they are trying to sell.

Are these the 2 welders your looking at?

CIGWELD 200amp(tig) 160amp(stick)
http://www.thermadyne.com/cigweld/compo ... temid,272/

Smart Tig 200 Amp DC Tig with Pulse & MMA Inverter Welder
http://www.weldsmart.com.au/node/65

because none of the pics from the ebay shop match the weldsmart site.

from the website the weldsmart seems to have a better rating.

Adam GQ wrote:200 amp = 15 amp plug

= cut earth pin

hy zagan not getting one off ebay to risky, the one im looking at is the cigweld weldskill 170a inverter ,

I say buy the cigweld, they have always been good welders and fit the 15amp plug, they can't be much more than an ordinary plug.

I have one fitted in my garage for my welder, but I don't pay for electrical work, so I can't say what it is worth.

LTD351T wrote:stick will do most of the general fab work, but for panel work your better off with mig, gasless works fine but they chew the wire much quicker than gassed, and generally the weld is messier.

everyone still happy with this assumption?

Migs are much easier to get a neat weld. I have a little 80A gasless and a 130A with gas bottle. Gasless wire is alot more expensive, but a gas bottle cost $70 a yr to hire so it depends how much you use it.

Sick welder normally pump out more current for there size but take more practice to master. Also they are not real good for light work like panel repairs and exhausts.

I like the the mig cos they are just so much easier to use.

As for the 15A plug. Dont file the earth pin down, it just looks dodgy. Making a 15A to 10A converting short lead isnt a bad idea. If you overload the circuit the fuse or breaker will blow b4 you damage anything.

A 10A and 15A power point are basically the same internally they just have a bigger earth pin. 20A power point have bigger contacts and switch internals.