Thread: Which welder to buy?

Originally Posted by Harry72

I see BOC online have 40% off welders at the moment

Thanks for the link Harry, I'll check them out.
I just had a look Rusty and the only shot on the interweb is of the front of the machine, there doesn't seem to be any shots of the inside of the machine available to look at.

I've also been checking out Cigweld, the Transmig 200i or 220i look like good units
Transmig 200i Plant - Cigweld - Victor Technologies Asia Pacific - South Pacific
Transmig 220i - CIGWELD An ESAB Brand
Anyone have any experience or feedback on these ones?
Thanks for looking.

Originally Posted by Lovey71

G’day all,
I don’t have any specifics of material sizes that I’d like to weld, but my initial thoughts would be that I’d like to make a set of storage boxes/drawers for the back of my ute (which I’d imagine would be a fairly thin gauge angle or tube steel), a set of gates which have to span about 3 metres, and I’ll probably also need to make a welding table of some sorts.

I’m not looking to do anything fancy and I don’t think that I’ll be welding aluminium anytime soon, so probably just mild steel, and maybe gal at this stage (unless I need a stainless work bench top)? I’m sure that once I get a welder I’ll ‘find’ other things that need welding and that I may want to expand my repertoire at a later date.

Back to the original question - my limited experience is limited to stick and TIG. Fairly thin (<= 2.0mm) can be difficult with stick. Even slightly thicker can be painful if things go wrong (i.e. you blow holes or trap slag). TIG on the other hand is a joy to work with whether thin or thick and no matter what the material. All the work is in the prep. But you pay for the privilege.

From what I hear I should have thought about MIG long ago. It would be a lot faster however I'm not a production welder so I don't care, and I prefer the cleanliness and finesse of TIG. I never use stick any more.

From what I hear MIG requires learning all the settings and dialing them up just right but once the settings are on it's just pull the trigger and go. TIG the settings are pretty basic. Sure you can play with things (and I do) but really it's very versatile just playing with your hands and feet to control the melt/freeze process and you can handle a wider range of "incorrect" settings. OK I'm biased.

One of the biggest secrets I've learned for my own fabbing is wishing I paid more for expensive materials to save prep and finish time. E.g. if an application can handle stainless, I wish I used stainless instead of dealing with rust, galvanising, paint on mild steel.

And the other one, which I continuously screw up, is dealing with warping. This will be applicable to you making nice fitting boxes and a gate that should look square out of thin materials.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and help, it's really appreciated.
Although it wasn't on my original short list, I got a good deal on a WIA Weldmatic 200i so I pulled the trigger on that, now to wait until it turns up.
Thanks again all, and I'm sure I'll be seeking your advice and guidance with my upcoming welding endeavours.
Steve