14-03-2016, 11:10 AM
(This post was last modified: 14-03-2016, 11:19 AM by pug306driver.)
Everything I do is on a tight budget, that's why I drive a 1999/2000 car, but at least its brilliant on fuel ( that's buggerd it, please god be kind to me! ).
My mig must be over 20 years old by now and still gong strong, used very often in shed activities like welding up our old cars, exhausts, rusted bike mudguards and tanks, c90 frames and alike, even our pug, etc , not to mention benches form old bed frames dragged from skips, old sockets to sprockets to make a "holding tool" etc etc etc etc.
Its paid for its self many times over and in truth I would be lost without it. If I was to need a new one, it would be a fan cooled more powerful gas/gasless one, a Clarke one, as the existing machine has proved to be brilliant.
My mig is a Clarke gas one ( will post picture ) using pub gas and 0.6mm wire, and was well worth the money it cost ( about £150 ish many years ago ) , a good investment. I have used thicker wire but results where not as good as the 0.6mm wire, due to low amperage probably. Aluminium welding with it was a non starter, probably as the machine is not powerful enough to weld a cracked m/cycle sump.
Waiting for the right one to turn up second hand, and/or saving and waiting to buy a professional one at high ( relative ) cost, wait wait wait.
Just get the most versatile/powerful machine you can afford and use it to the full.
If you need an even more powerful machine, sell the first one to fund the second, after you have mastered it and can produce "good welds".
My mig must be over 20 years old by now and still gong strong, used very often in shed activities like welding up our old cars, exhausts, rusted bike mudguards and tanks, c90 frames and alike, even our pug, etc , not to mention benches form old bed frames dragged from skips, old sockets to sprockets to make a "holding tool" etc etc etc etc.
Its paid for its self many times over and in truth I would be lost without it. If I was to need a new one, it would be a fan cooled more powerful gas/gasless one, a Clarke one, as the existing machine has proved to be brilliant.
My mig is a Clarke gas one ( will post picture ) using pub gas and 0.6mm wire, and was well worth the money it cost ( about £150 ish many years ago ) , a good investment. I have used thicker wire but results where not as good as the 0.6mm wire, due to low amperage probably. Aluminium welding with it was a non starter, probably as the machine is not powerful enough to weld a cracked m/cycle sump.
Waiting for the right one to turn up second hand, and/or saving and waiting to buy a professional one at high ( relative ) cost, wait wait wait.
Just get the most versatile/powerful machine you can afford and use it to the full.
If you need an even more powerful machine, sell the first one to fund the second, after you have mastered it and can produce "good welds".