thanks for your time to read this. i have waited a long time to get a welder. i only want advice from very experinced people, i know this sounds cocky but if i buy a dud welder me or my dad wont be happy at all


i am looking for a gas/gasless mig. to do diy fabrication and diy bodywork, we are on a budget yada yada..
i have very little welding skills and want to learn and one day tackle my mothers karmann ghia.
what brand have you got? any issues? would you recommend it?

how much did it cost?

thanks a heap in advance i am eager to get welding!

As a long time 25+ years as a sheety and avid auto body player i would recomend the cigweld 225 mig as it is a good al round welder for 1mm through to 8mm material capability , and pretty good value at around $1500 +gas and wire etc .
If your mainly just playing with car bodies i would also recomend 0.8 wire as this will keep down your weld heat , but if welding 6mm plus material you will need the 0.9 for a good weld

Lincoln ,Migomag,Wia,Cigweld any of these will do the trick it's something you will have and use for a longtime so buy The best one you can afford.I would go atleast a 200 amp as said above,I would forget about gaseless too.I've never used one but ive seen the finished product and it wasn't pretty.A small Argon bottle will set you back $ 15 a month so that is something to take into consideration also

I have a Migmate 130, and while it's OK (and cheaper), it's harder to get tips and etc. Plus the parts are more expensive. It's been a bit dicky to use, and I had a friend who is a boiler maker check it out and said the same. So next time round I would probably go for Cigweld, lincoln or one of the major brands.

Avoid the super cheap auto ones if you can. Doing a TAFE course on welding & bodywork goes a loooong way and is highly recommended.

Everlast powertig 250EX

That is what I want to get one day

i am not very experienced, but the Lincoln Electric 180c is what I liked when I researched them - can be had for around $1000 plus accessories. They produce a very forgiving arc and have a very broad sweet spot.

Get an auto darkening helmet too - it makes life so much easier.

I was on a budget, so bought a 2nd hand cigweld transmig 130 twin. For car panel work and light fabrication it is quite good. For panels I'm using 6mm wire and argoshield light gas from boc. I spent about $500 up front on everything, plus $44.55 per quarter to hire the cylinder.

Gasless is only useful if it's windy or if you can't get a cylinder to your work site.

200 amps is a lot for what you said you wanted it for, unless you plan to weld thick steel.

cigweld rocks!

gasless causes heaps of splatter. Thats what i have. it makes more work because you fhave to use a flapper disk or grinder to tidy up the job.
I replaced my baja's a pillar with a gasless mig.

would luv a tig one day... thats the dream machine for me

Kemppi MinarcMig Adaptive 180 is my choice for a 15A 240V machine.

Hi There, have had the CIG 130 for 15 years and it has done at least 5 cars and countless repairs to almost everything steel (gates atc) . We have replaced a hand piece and hose but apart from that the thing in bullet proof. back in the day it was $1200 but much cheeper now. Go with one of the brands that have been round for a long time. the test of time sorts out the crap....

I have a eltig (old italian brand) 160 amp single phase tig welder, which I rebuilt my self.

Have everything but the helmet and gas bottle. I want to get a speedglas 9002V helmet but quite expensive around 500 buks but you can get em for around 150-250 used and good nik from the US.

It will allow me to got down to ultra low amps without getting flashed. 5 Amp sensitivity I recall. Also going to use Cerinated or lanthanated electrodes as the commonly used thorinated ones probably
going to cause lung or eye cancer from alpha decal in the dust of sharpening them.

I have had a WIA for around 2 years now and haven't had a problem (gets used every day pretty much) - was around $2500 but is bigger than you would really need (around 250 from memory).

hey guys thanks for the help, in the end we bought a cigweld transmig 175i it is a multi purpose power supply that supports mig, stick and tig! wow it was around 1100 plus the extras, helmets and crap

cheers!

good choice on the cigweld, not so sure on the multifunction side of it though- never tried them, one word of advice- dont bother with gasless, its just...ugly - im yet to find anyone thats had nice experiences/results with one, start stocking up on tips etc for the torch/gun and lenses for the helmet

oh, and use your ears aswell as your eyes to weld right, good welds seem to have a particular sound to them - dont laugh its true!

also if your really really keen to learn properly a night course at tafe couldnt hurt, depends how fussy you want to be

its amazing how many people go for cigweld like its the only brand. There are plenty of much better brands for mig/tig/stick.

like Everlast, Miller, Lincoln.

I do admit cigweld make very nice oxy-acetylene welding gear.

Agreed.

I gotta lot time for BOC welders

The little BOC DC inverter stick over in the shed is dads baby, I hate stick with a passion, but it payed for itself in no time.

And big bertha, Granted this puppy was was nearly $3k but I could knock together anything with it and my welding skills are limited to all self taught stuff keeping farm machinery going all these years.

All my engine crap, supercharger stuff and bodywork I've done I welded up with this




Don't get me started on gasless migs though

Have a look at the Weldmaster 3 in 1 invereter migs.

oops inverter wheres my bloody glasses!

In my experience, and another buyers experience, and what we went through to get warranty claims on Weldmaster, I would never recommend them.