Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi everyone

Looking at buying a MIG welder. Read some old posts on here, a fair few people reccomend a UNIMIG 240AMP Procraft.

What price are u guys getting them for down south. Im up in Darwin and they charge a bit more up here sometimes.

Do I really need to get a 240Amp mig. I doubt i will ever need to weld anything like 10mm plate. But on the otherhand I never know.


Thanks

Jason

I've been looking at the same unit here in effenque.
been quoted $1562 GST inc
but got the price off the Norstate website @ $1326.60 so i'm gonna hassle them 2morrow

I see from searching that people have paid around $1200 for this unit. With Roktruk in Canberra claiming to get one <$1000 from Fisher Discounts in Fyshwick,
a creative whitepages search puts them as:
FISHER DISCOUNT WORKSHOP MACHINERY
68 Barrier St Fyshwick 2609 (02) 6280 4105
OR... (02) 6280 4277
Fax (02) 6280 7983
may be worth givin them a call also

jasonmcc wrote:Hi everyone

Looking at buying a MIG welder. Read some old posts on here, a fair few people reccomend a UNIMIG 240AMP Procraft.

What price are u guys getting them for down south. Im up in Darwin and they charge a bit more up here sometimes.

Do I really need to get a 240Amp mig. I doubt i will ever need to weld anything like 10mm plate. But on the otherhand I never know.


Thanks

Jason

Get the highest amperage you can afford jason, as you said you never know !! I paid $1295 for mine with helmet, wire and spares kit.
http://www.hareandforbes.com.au =

DONT always buy the cheapest unit check out the price of comsumables and there availability some units parts r interchangerble and remember if there made somewere else check were the unit is to go should something go wrong buy consumables i mean tips, rollers gun parts and parts in general good luck.

We in Alaska have been using the Ready Welder II.. tHE THING IS AWSOME! 12-40V MAX. I think most of you are running 24v ea? The unic comes with a spole of wire and can be used with gas. All nice and ready to be used out the box.

I'm pretty sure my father inlaw has the Unimig 240.... he uses it a lot for everything and loves it.

I just recently helped repair it after one of the wires going to the handpiece trigger switch broke- it does get a lot of use though.

Try looking for secand hand units like CIG weld and Migomag there are heaps of spares available nothing much goes wrong with them.I bought a CIG weld transmig 250 amp for $900 it was a year old and there worth$2500 new.

Hi everyone

Checked out the UNIMIG Procraft series today. They look like something you would buy from super cheap. Really cheap looking. Buttons and switches looked cheap and the sheet metal box looks cheap.

The guy at the welding shop says he sells a fair few to schools, he says they are not that well made. He recomended a MIGOMAG 205. Which is a Hungarian made 180A MIG. Looks really good, have to make my mind up whether I go the WIA 175 AMP or the MIGOMAG 180A. They are both about the same price about $1400.

That you guys reckon is 175Amps enough for most jobs.

Thanks

Jason

jasonmcc wrote:Hi everyone

Checked out the UNIMIG Procraft series today. They look like something you would buy from super cheap. Really cheap looking. Buttons and switches looked cheap and the sheet metal box looks cheap.

The guy at the welding shop says he sells a fair few to schools, he says they are not that well made. He recomended a MIGOMAG 205. Which is a Hungarian made 180A MIG. Looks really good, have to make my mind up whether I go the WIA 175 AMP or the MIGOMAG 180A. They are both about the same price about $1400.

That you guys reckon is 175Amps enough for most jobs.

Thanks

Jason

Interesting observations, Strange Rover has a unimig 240 single phase that I have used and it works really well and has stood up to commercial use. Most of their big welders are well over 300A so this one is a bit more portable.

The question is how much welding are you going to do ? I would take the 240A unimig that can be had @ trade tools for under $1400 it will serve you a lot better than a 175A unit. After speaking to a few retailers around here (Bris) they tell me anything under 195 will not give enough penetration to make a truely sound structural weld. Several blokes told me they wounldn't weld a trailer with anything less that 195.... Imagine using it to build a roll cage !

I don't agree with your observations on the quality of the unimig welders although I am no authority, the ones I have used are years old and still going strong. BTW I have used supercheap migs, $300 gasless cig welders etc and the 240A unit would have to be 1000 times better than any of those.

I would look at getting 3 phase power and get a second hand 3 phase unit because all in all it will cost about the same.

1. 3 phase power install from energex $450 ish (standard house with overhead cables
2. Electricial work for 3 phase from electricial $250 ish
3. Secondhand 3 phase welder look at around $1000 for a 300+ A unit

Total of about $1700 for me

1. Single phase 240 A welder $1400
2. 15A circuit from electrician $250

Total $1650

I know which I would rather

Tom

Steer clear of the hungarian ones leave them to the Hungarians use the tried and tru models dont buy anything thats new on the market here in Aus that is and also buy the unit which has the biggest DUTY cycle u can that just means u can weld for longer at that amperage , u dont want to be stopping and starting espeicialy if uv got a last minute job on the go

Found the auction on ebay - it's for a 195, but says if you go over $1150 then you can get a 240....not bad huh?
opps forgot link

I've got a Unimig 210 - very happy with it. Easily welds six mm plate, and can turn it down to stitch weld light gauge. 12 months ago Fisher discounts had it for $1100 retail, I got it for $990 during a sale, with a 15kg roll of wire thrown in. Damn heavy though, and needs a 15 amp plug. The leads are a decent length, too. They also have auto helmets around the $150 mark.

Trade tools fortitude valley have the following prices for anyone that wants to rock up and pay

UNIMIG 120amp MIG gas/gasless
Takes .6mm & .8mm wires up to the more economical 5Kg rolls. Ideal general purpose serious home user or light industrial unit. Easy to use and very reliable.
$549
This is one of the finest welders of its type available


UNIMIG PROCRAFT 175
Takes .6mm & .8mm wires up to 15kg rolls. Single phase with a full copper secondary transformer. 3 year warranty. High quality Binzel mig gun, regulator, earth lead, etc..
$995
You won’t find better in this price range


UNIMIG PROCRAFT 240
One of the most powerful single phase Mig welders available. 240 amps of power that takes gas or gasless wire. Comes complete with a 250 amp Binzel gun, regulator, earth lead, etc. Output meter and spot welding function are standard. Ideal for the car body repair shop, maintenance workshop and most light to medium industrial users.
$1349

I have a unimig procraft 190. Works very well for jobs in the back yard. Since it has a digital controller, all the features (and buttons) are easy for the manufacturers to include at little extra cost. Admittedly, they are gimmicky and not used 99% of the time.

I am more than happy with it. In Melbourne they are not much more than $1100.

I am looking at buying a mig welder very soon.....got my eye on the esab brand 205 amp single phase 240 volt machine for $1295....
Very important to me is having adjustable wire feed control as you can set it for positonal work like overhead and vertical up etc.....

I bought an esab 195 a couple of years ago and it has been a really good welder. Plenty of adjustment, spot/stitch/feed/amps adjustable hand piece. I chose it because you can get replacement parts like the liner in the wire feed to the hand piece. This are throw aways on some welders. My 2cents anyway

Very important to me is having adjustable wire feed control as you can set it for positonal work like overhead and vertical up etc.....

If your mig dosent have variable wire speed your using a stick welder.
Go as high an amp as you can afford the highr the amp the longer the cycle. 240 amp and you will burn your hands thru your gloves b4 you run out of cycle.
Dont forget you get what you pay for.
B4 you buy make sure you have model number and ring the shop asking for liners to suit, that way you get to see if they can suply you with parts if you need them.(after saying that you should be getting 500kg of wire thru a lining b4 it weras out ive put 35 rols of 15 kg thru my work welder in the last month and the liners still going strong)TIP keep the lead as straight as you can. no bends no stress.
240 will allso weld stainless with the write gass.(gee that $1000 exhaust just cost me $300and a couple of hours laber) three of those and mig paid for.
BTW if your looking at doing structural welds your safty cert might want you to have them exrayed. Costly unless you can supply the engineers or welders cert for them.

Love my ESAB.

Had two of them for over ten years and the buggers still work fine.


Even after the dumbarse apprentice dropped the hoist on one. Both 240v. Haven't had 415v for a while.


Other shop used to run 415v Migomag. Bloody good too. Until the apprentice dropped the hoist on it........Stoners.

i have a 240volt MIGOMAG 260 with portable wire feeder.
i havent had any probs with it and the portable wire feeder is excellent ... i dont have to move the main mig unit or gas bottle around the shed just take the portable wire feeder to the part i am welding ( it has a 10m lead from wire feeder to main mig unit)

buy the biggest MIG you can afford , compare the features of other migs like the size of wire spool it can handle , welding settings , cooling fans and what materials it will weld ETC.
And biggest warranty just in case

i have a 240volt MIGOMAG 260 with portable wire feeder.

Bling metre ringing bells
I bet you didnt get much change from 2 big one for that nice set up
whish the handbrake would let me spend that much on a set up like that.
arr well , i made her push my unit around for me when the leads wouldnt reach where i was going. Funny that hoist appeared to get on the budget early (lol) Makes light work of engines now too.

I second buying a traded in unit

I bought a Lincoln Redimig 255 Amp with remote wire feeder, I paid $1300 for a if new $2900 welder, the traded units come with warrenty on the transformer

Best thing is my Lincoln has been upgraded to a twin roller tweco wire feeder, perfect for welding alluminium

In the se qld region if buying new or used call Aitkin Welding Supplies

i have a unimig 240. i wouldn't go smaller as i have used full current often never needed more herbs though. i have welded everything from that steel pallet strapping (extending hose clamps) to building up high speed mixer blades where i use 6 - 7 kg of s/s wire in one session on full current and it is sweet. they are cheap and good for what they are. just work out if you are preparred to pay double for something that works the same. how much work will it see?

cheers bru

I have a unimig 210 amp,had it for 5-6 years and it has never missed a beat. I am a boilermaker by trade and it is one of the better 240 volt migs i have used. Its good for light guage stuff and bigger jobs,for example a mate of mine has excavators etc,and he brought a broker ripper tyne to me to weld up after he had broken the end off it ripping rocks out of the ground. He had it repaired previously by an engineering workshop and he broke it after a couple of months. I turned my mig rightup and welded it up and it has never broken again,that was 5 years ago. Plenty of power in these migs.I would recommend the unimig,for the price they are hard to beat.

ShortyMQ off this site uses a UNIMIG Procraft 210 for commercial use everyday welding up suspension/trucks etc. He has no dramas whatsoever and on his recomendation I bought the Procraft 240 (was gonna get the 210, but got the 240 for the same price as the 210). It's been great and will be more than I ever need!

I started off with one of those crappy Glenfords MIG welders...stay clear of them! What a waste of time that was.