Good Buy on Binzel Mig Torches

[hux]

Folks

Went into my local Tradetools (www.tradetools.com.au) and they had a stack (literally) of genuine Binzel mig torches. Only two size MB15 and MB25AK. The 25 was $118....which is quite cheap in comparison to other prices I have seen around the place.

Ohhh 4m lead length standard euro connector.

Replaced my old gun and the welder goes like a new one.

I'm not sure if Tradetools is queensland only but they do mail order.

[Grahame Collins]

Gday Craig,
An exceedingly good purchase.

Bargain of the year I reckon. I have just checked. The same torch goes for over $200 at bobthewelder site on the net.

Grahame

[Com_VC]

while on topic are the copy guns any good or should they be avoided?

[hux]

while on topic are the copy guns any good or should they be avoided?


Why would you bother? I am no expert but have been told that a decent quality gun will make a difference in your welds (not sure how, maybe the liner feeds better, the contacts are better?). I have only every had the two guns, both name brands. I do know the new Binzel works much better than my old Par was - the welds are better for starters, and the welder seems more controllable to amps and voltage changes.

I bet the real welders like Grahame will have never used a cheap gun either - in fact my cheap Binzel is probably not even in the same grade as the stuff on the high end welders.

[Grahame Collins]

while on topic are the copy guns any good or should they be avoided?

Com_VC
There is a yes and no answer to this one. It depends on who is making the copy guns.
Chinese made guns that come with the machines are not that good.It gets back to to the quality of components and good design and manufacture.

Having said that one can go to the welding supply shops and buy generic model replacement welding torches and consumables.
I was given a SIP basic model Mig machine -one of the one s that was designed as a flux core welder. It had no cover door and the torch was damaged.

With the aid of one the very clever sparkies where She who must be obeyed, works, we swapped connections around and added a gas solenoid,generic torch and got it fired to work as a solid wire gas shielded mig.

I have to say that the torch was not too bad ,better than the welder was capable of perhaps as it had only the grunt to weld car sheet metal.It cost me about a $100,so Hux's genuine Binzel torches are an excellent buy in comparison.

Perhaps its an option you could keep in mind if your pick up a second hand Mig. Contact tips ,shrouds,torches handles and cable liners are consumables sooner or later in an industrial or well used mig unit.

The whole deal in short is that the wire must be got to the contact tip with an absolute Minimum of friction.
A well designed torch does that.

Grahame

[Grahame Collins]

in fact my cheap Binzel is probably not even in the same grade as the stuff on the high end welders.

Hi guys

Its been my experience that Binzel do not make cheap guns. Craig, you can be confident in your Binzel torch.It is is well made and will last you a long time.after all they are made to stand up to boilermakers abuse.

The is nothing in them that is has poor design or shoddy materials .

The cheap manufacture may not be the only answer but perhaps an error in purchasing. A one zero typo error on the purchase order may see the vendor with 900 units more than they really wanted to buy.Maybe the vendor did intentionally make a bulk purchase which could drop the purchase price somewhat.

Possibly the units are made in China to Binzel specs.The standard of quality is still there but the labour cost of production is minimal.

I have remembered the brand name of the genereic torch that I fitted to the SIP.It was a Profax.
I will mention quality here as its pertinent and what you should at least expect when purchase a quality machine.

In reference to this expected quality Mig guns and torches,I was welding with the Kemppi MiniArcMig last weekend and had a wire jam.I had to remove the liner out of the torch cable.
I am really poed to pay nearly $2K for the unit and have to suffer the degree of difficulty in easily removing the liner from the torch.A liner removal and clean should be a twenty minute job max, not and hour.

They has not been much design thought applied to the necessary disassembly process or sequence.The design is basically an after thought being fiddly and cumbersome.The reduction in in size has led to some really inferior design implemented in the wire feed side.

If one has wire feed and/or liner problems, one needs to deal with it quickly and efficiently.This unit is cramped and clumsy with poor access for removal of the fasteners.I can forsee me dicing the Kemppi torch and spending a 100 hundred bills or so on fitting a Profax torch body. This model lends itself to shortening of the gun cable which is necessary for running aluminium.

A good while back someone mentioned there were problems with this unit.I dismissed it as inexperience on the part of of a beginner.It was not so, my full apologies to that person.

I'll do a review with pics on it when I get a new camera.

Steps down of his soapbox
and stops whinging

Grahame