Buying a new mig ?? opinions please

[zagan]

He's not having a dig at the gasless metal inert gas welding is he?? I'm still not sure how you have gasless MIG welding but meh, last time I welded was year 10.

I was hoping somebody could explain how a gasless gas system works.

Since I have to guess, I would say that a gasless MIG is essentially an arc welder with a MIG style wire feeding system, feeding a special flux coated wire.

Wire feeds remains the same there's nothing to change unless you are using ally wire and SS/mild wire spools in which case you will need to change rollers, liners, tips.

There 2 types of mild steel welding wire.

The gas welding wire uses a gas as a flux but is used to protect the arc from oxygen.

you can't have oxygen get into the arc or it'll bubble up, so if it's a bit too windy etc you might not be able to weld.

Gasless is a hollow wire which has flux down the centre of the wire, the flux cleans the arc as you weld, so same sort of deal as with stick welding.

To use gasless wire simply put the roll in and feed it up and start welding.

To use gas wire put roll in, feed it up,
check that you have gas in bottle,
turn on the regulator and set it to the right amount of gas you actually need to protect the arc and make sure it's coming out the gun.
start welding.

little bit more with the gas but not heaps more.

Gas usage will depend more on the amount your using per min and then amount of time you are welding.

You'll also want to keep a check on leaks etc as leaks will cost you extra money, you don't want to pay for a full bottle and find out it's empty the next day.

[zagan]

Ok im looking at getting a mig too found a Lincoln 180c for $990 does anyone have one of these? are they better than the sp170t? whats difference..
heres the link..

http://www.weldmart.com.au/

Cheers

Craig

More a gasless wire welder but can do gas wire as well, 1 bad point might be the fixed gun you can't remove it, so might not be too great if your going to use it everyday.

Should be a good gasless weekender type welder.

Depends on what your wanting to do really, will be fine for trailers, bullbars etc you know 1 off type jobs.

[SWBMQCraig]

More a gasless wire welder but can do gas wire as well, 1 bad point might be the fixed gun you can't remove it, so might not be too great if your going to use it everyday.

Excuse the ignorence but why is a fixed gun a bad thing? and would it be alright for sheetmetal/bodywork sort of stuff?

Cheers Craig

[BOWTIE]

I think i will be getting a unimig in the next few days. ill let you know how it goes.
A mate at work shop says he prefers it over all the others he has used and he's been in Fab and Mech for 12 years

[zagan]

More a gasless wire welder but can do gas wire as well, 1 bad point might be the fixed gun you can't remove it, so might not be too great if your going to use it everyday.

Excuse the ignorence but why is a fixed gun a bad thing? and would it be alright for sheetmetal/bodywork sort of stuff?

Cheers Craig

Because you can't take the gun off the MIG, so you might not be able to change the liner if needed, also you'd be stuck to a set wire thickness.

Once the liner is done you would need to replace the whole unit which is why I was saying they would be a weekend welder.

For the sheetmetal and body work as long as you can get the right settings it should be fine, I looked at the link for the linclon 180C which has the dails for the settings so yeah should work good, some of the real cheap ones only have high/low switches.

[MICK77]

I have a Unimig Procraft 210. It is a fantastic unit. Welds panel steel upto 10mm plate no worries.
Unimig have just released their new range of inverter mig's. They are approx 1/3 the size of the older transformer units, are less suseptable to changes in tempreture(sp?)etc.
The unimig website hasn't been updated to show these new models as yet. I was at a trade night on Wednesday and the guys from unimig were there with a few of the new units. An inverter 190 mig weighs approx 18kg as opposed to 84kg for my procraft 210. Expect to pay around $1500 for the above mentioned inverter model.