Thread: advise need please

I am in the process of buying a new or used MIG welder, but I need help in making the right decision with regard to buying new or (potentially) getting brand/ quality with buying used.

With a new unit, I know I will have a machine that has some guarantee that it will work; and if there are any issues, I can have it repaired under warranty.

With a used unit, I can spend far less for more machine, in many cases, but I will have to do the repairs myself. If it is simply a matter of replacing a few basic parts

The welder will only be used for welding a few new car panels on a classic mini, some pannels are only 0.8- 0.9mm thick . after ive used it for this its unlikely to be used often.(like my arc welder which only used 2-3 times in 5 yrs- now sold )

because of this i dont want to spend a heap of cash nor do i want to have a heap of trouble with cheap units (like they sell on ebay) So the budget is about $400 -600 for the mig welder .

i done a bit of reseach online and at this stage i have narrowed it down to 2 migs
option 1 get a brand new unimig 180kmm for $410 delivered
or
option 2 get a used old cigweld transmig 135 for $245 ( comes with a 90 warrenty )

both have a low currant of 30amp to weld thin metel

what should i look for when inspecting a used unit ?
is one mig better than the other in terms of easy to use etc. or is there some other model that i have missed

The 135 will be junk in my opinion. Get one of these and when you need to sell you will get your money back. Cigweld Transmig 195 Single Phase Mig Welder Good Condition | eBay

I assume you plan renting a bottle if you are welding panels?

yes please buy better quality and sell it when you have finished, with a good machine you should get most if not all your money back if you buy wisely. And yes you should also budget for gas.

ok so maybe I need to learn some more info..

so just out of interest what makes this a better mig apart from the higher amps /currant and longer cycle running time( as far as I know both are not needed for thin .08mm car panel work)


also yes I will be renting a gas bottle, any one know if you hire them shorter than 12 months like 3 months ? and getting a good auto tinting helmet

The wire feed mechanism of the cheaper machine will be all plastic. The gun on the cheaper machine is cheap and nasty and is hard wired into the the machine. In the end you will be so frustrated with the cheaper machine.

Generally you pay for the contents of the gas up front, I think its around $100 depending on the size of cylinder you wish to go for, may be a bit less. Then you pay monthly for the rental. I think around $15 a month

Originally Posted by boyblueeye

ok so maybe I need to learn some more info..

so just out of interest what makes this a better mig apart from the higher amps /currant and longer cycle running time( as far as I know both are not needed for thin .08mm car panel work)


also yes I will be renting a gas bottle, any one know if you hire them shorter than 12 months like 3 months ? and getting a good auto tinting helmet

The first thing that makes it a better welder is the fact that it does not have unimig written on it. I have never found a unimig that runs smoothly.
Thin panel work is not about duty cycle or amperage as you have quite rightly pointed out. It is about one thing and one thing only - control. You have to be able to get your machine running with a fine consistent arc, this requires good voltage and wire speed regulation and a consistent wire feed. So to put that in a nut shell you need a good quality transformer, (doubt you will get a quality inverter unit in your price range), good electronics and a quality wire feed drive.
All migs were/are not created equal and this becomes most apparent when working in the lower ranges of the machine.
Spot timer can be a useful addition but is not the be all and end all and to be honest you will find that its function can be duplicated by your eye watching the spot form.
A Transmig 195 would not be my personal first choice for my usage, (ally transformer), but it will we worlds ahead of the UniMig.
Other brands to consider second hand MigoMag, WIA or Esab. You will not want a gun any larger than a 200A as large guns become too cumbersome when performing fine work.

There was a mob down in Seaford Victoria called Boss Welders.... they closed down about 6 years ago.... now the name is being used by someone else. This is one of the originals.... probably too big for what you need, and you'd need 3 phase:

mig welder boss | eBay

I bought their biggest single phase welder off them about ten years ago, 280 amps on a 15 amp plug. I have welded hundreds of metres of car panel with it, I run 0.6mm wire and turn the power right down.

Prior to this I had a Italian made CIG Transtig 135 (aluminium coils). It was okay, but the Boss 280 eats it for breakfast.

These welders were a little bit crude in appearance, if you can get one second hand don't hesitate to buy it. Or any good Australian made welder... Esab, Kemmpi etc aren't bad either. Of course you can buy cheap junk off Ebay which might be okay if you want to weld just car panels, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, you will be inventing welding projects left right and centre!!

The Transmig 135 was a toy. When I wanted to build my own trailer, it didn't cut it.

i have a lincon 180 c inverter type paid 850 on special from gasweld i have to say its the best mig i have ever usedand ive had a few . we have welded thin panels building speedway street stocks and am using it at moment to build a car trailer best thing ive found is the wire feed and voltage is variable so its really easy to find a setting that works for what ya welding .

takes a 5kg spool of wire that while not as good as a 15 kg its a damm site better than those mini spools some use . there is a chart inside the lid with some basic settings that are pretty close to the mark prob a bit more than you want to spend but you could flog it off once ya finished with it and recoup a good chunk of ya money back .

i was in the same boat as you did not want to buy ebay junk not much come up second hand so i just bit the bullit and bought a new one just waited till they come on special.

good luck in what ever you buy
cheers dean

I have a Unimig 175 inverter combo machine (does stick as well as MIG), which has proved to be an excellent piece of kit, but it cost more than twice the price of the 180kmm machine you mention, which makes me wonder what has been compromised in the design of the far cheaper unit.

From what I can see, it's not an inverter unit, so it wouldn't have the accurate voltage regulation you get with an electronic machine, and add to that the fixed torch lead, you start to see where cost savings have been made in the design and manufacturing. Looking inside the machine you might see plastic used in the wire feed section where steel is used in more expensive machines.

Unimig and other brands aside, I think your price point is too low for doing critical work like thin car panel sections. As suggested, a better strategy would be to buy a better machine and sell it after your job's done.