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Tech Spam thread - because 1/4" BSP gets 5 hand spans to the jiggawatt


Roman

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If you're going to swap it out, might as well get a bigger unit. How many shekels did the M45 set you back?
The 1ggze  sc14 has different mounts to the estima ones, and the manifolding is slightly different which makes them more desirable. 

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As someone that is new to welding, I want to buy a welder. I can get both of these at a similar price, does anyone have an opinion of which one would be the better option? I have heard inverter is a good thing?

https://www.cigweld.com.au/product/weldskill-135-multi-process-welding-inverter/

https://www.cigweld.com.au/product/weldskill-135-mig-portable-welding-machine/

Alternatively, anyone have any better option under the $500 mark?

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First one looks like what you want. Second one looks to be slightly more specialized as a higher use mig, although has smaller max wire size. Unless you are doing lots of continuous welding, you dont need to worry about that duty cycle, and if it is a problem, just wait 5 minutes before continuing welding/blow on it

 

Bit of a pain they dont seem to have specs to properly compare models, although I suspect they have done that on purpose

 

And you don't want to go near flux cored welding, its the devils poos. And some manufacturers have something called 'live wire technology' or something similar, which means that when used as a mig, the wire is always live, which you super dont want

 

Best deal you will be able to find will be something second hand. And factor in the price of a decent helmet, gloves and a bottle

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I looked at the first one, was a really decent price in the SCA trade mailer, was thinking I could flick my BOC tig off and just have the one machine.

Decided I want something a little bit gruntier with Euro torch though.

Looking at one of these ATM, they have smaller/cheaper options too and I've been hearing good things

http://www.weldtech.net.nz/shop/Mig+Welders/WT200MP.html

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Looking around, im now a little conflicted. I just want to be able to do some basic welding on rust repairs and the usual Oldschool stuff; is it best to go for a cheap MIG (with gas), or get a semi-decent ARC that can do lift-TIG? @Raizer you clearly have a TIG, whats your opinion on your machine and your welding? Do you wish you had MIG instead?

I have done some gas welding before, but never electric. I know the basics behind them, but will have to learn from scratch.

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Unless you are keen on welding aluminum I would suggest getting an inverter mig which will do mig,  lift arc tig and stick. The only complication will be needing different bottles for mig and tig.

 I have a excel arc mig/tig/stick machine and a weld well AC / DC tig too.

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I have the cigweld 135 mig - was very cheap from supercheap and they stock tips and other bits 

fits a larger wire roll than the small crap flux core roll it comes with 

seems to do what I need as I only have single phase power anyway and have only hit thermal cutout a few times while really blasting on 5mm plate 

if / when the torch liner dies I will probably just buy an aliex euro torch conversion for it 

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18 minutes ago, kws said:

Looking around, im now a little conflicted. I just want to be able to do some basic welding on rust repairs and the usual Oldschool stuff; is it best to go for a cheap MIG (with gas), or get a semi-decent ARC that can do lift-TIG? @Raizer you clearly have a TIG, whats your opinion on your machine and your welding? Do you wish you had MIG instead?

I have done some gas welding before, but never electric. I know the basics behind them, but will have to learn from scratch.

I've always failed at MIG, but have managed to hot glue a few different metals together successfully with my TIG.

Not saying I'm a good welder by any means, but I find TIG fun and fairly easy to get results that I am happy with and are functional at least.

My machine is just a little BOC 130amp inverter, ARC/Lift TIG, gives a really nice arc and is easy to set up (a pro welder gave me a couple lessons when I got it and he was impressed by it for a cheap machine)

 

But as I want to start doing a bit more fab work it looks like a MIG is going to be something that will be an asset to have, hopefully now I have a bit more confidence I'll be able to manage to actually do it haha.

 

@Truenotch was telling me last night about a couple different welders he reps, I can't remember the models but one has caught my interest.

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Think I paid 399 for mine not 529 but 

and 80 $ for a reg from tardme for big co2 bottles 

at that price it was easy and cheap to get started and learning mig after only using arc before - 

keen to try alloy with tig but to me it seems easier to have a machine setup for each rather than one that does all if you have the space for them 

 

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I have both mig and tig

 

I use my mig more,

if I have fiddly stuff that I want to look pretty I use the tig, I still have a lot to learn about it though.

mig is good if you just want to blaze stuff together or do rust patches on slightly questionable panels/things that are not perfect/gaps not 100%

also mig seems a lot more economical on gas

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1 hour ago, Raizer said:

I've always failed at MIG, but have managed to hot glue a few different metals together successfully with my TIG.

Not saying I'm a good welder by any means, but I find TIG fun and fairly easy to get results that I am happy with and are functional at least.

My machine is just a little BOC 130amp inverter, ARC/Lift TIG, gives a really nice arc and is easy to set up (a pro welder gave me a couple lessons when I got it and he was impressed by it for a cheap machine)

 

But as I want to start doing a bit more fab work it looks like a MIG is going to be something that will be an asset to have, hopefully now I have a bit more confidence I'll be able to manage to actually do it haha.

 

@Truenotch was telling me last night about a couple different welders he reps, I can't remember the models but one has caught my interest.

It's the next step up from this. $999 retail and the tig torch is an optional extra. 

They come with a regulator and I'm pretty impressed with my one so far!

https://www.bunnings.co.nz/bossweld-180-amp-ms180-mig-and-stick-arc-inverter-welder_p08911800

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51 minutes ago, cletus said:

I have both mig and tig

 

I use my mig more,

if I have fiddly stuff that I want to look pretty I use the tig, I still have a lot to learn about it though.

mig is good if you just want to blaze stuff together or do rust patches on slightly questionable panels/things that are not perfect/gaps not 100%

also mig seems a lot more economical on gas

I'm pretty much where Cletus is.

I find the mig easier in rust repair as it is easier to fill in gaps and deals better with less than perfect prep.

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