Help purchasing a welder

[Aaronsjeep]

Originally Posted by tigermuzza

I have a second vote for this welder, ive got the 190 and itll do everything you want, its a little dearer than you want (900) but its got a stick welder on it too, you can reverse the polarity for gassless wire, a really good welder

damn 900s a keen price.. i paid 1100 dammit
sydney tools had them advertised for 1200 on special, so thought i was doing well..

[Jeep Devil]

Originally Posted by Tezza

I have had a lot of smaller machines but I invested in a lincon 180amp 240V ac And I wish I had done it years ago peal industries in brizvagus has some good gear and advise

I can definately vouch for these little welders.... I made this 8 tonne roof on site from scratch with one of those 180 lincolns and the roof didn't make a sound when it was lifted off the jig and into place... mind you it was a little hard to hear over my heart beat

The torches on them are a little bit average but you could do far worse for the same money.

[wiz]

Originally Posted by Aaronsjeep

damn 900s a keen price.. i paid 1100 dammit
sydney tools had them advertised for 1200 on special, so thought i was doing well..

i wont tells ya what i got the 250(wheelie model) for then

[tigermuzza]

[QUOTE=Aaronsjeep;1120334]damn 900s a keen price.. i paid 1100 dammit
sydney tools had them advertised for 1200 on special, so thought i was doing well..[/QUOT

i get a good discount through work thank god

[Wooders]

IMHO get the gruntiest one your budget will allow. Nothing worse than welding everything on the one setting (full).
I run a 210Unimig which works great for me.

[litestorm]

what about those TIG/high freq for alloy /Plasma cutter combo's ?they are around 2k ?

You just need a compressor and and bottle etc..

[Auberon]

Agree with all this but would with respect add that a stable and guaranteed 15A power supply is critical for penetration and reliable arc stiking.
Agree with Wooders re grunt - The Unimig will do some OK work but you dont have so much fudge for technique shortcomings. It is sometimes difficult to get good penetration on heavier gauges and the duty cycle is light-on compared to the more "Industrial" machines.

I often use a Uni mig 120 but it is only its portability in its favour.

Better units will allow for the addition of a spotting arm. Get lots of brownouts here and if your using the Unimig 120 you have less reserve in internal circuitry in terms of heat carrying capacity (coils etc) - you can be running a lovely well prepd weld then lose consistency in penetration and arc stability with a brown-out.

Prefer gas rather than fluxed wire but I do SS, Al and MS. Gasless welders have a place in emergency or windy situations as wind will draw your inert shielding gas away. Use that feature of the UniMig with fluxed wire if I have to weld in wind. The meterial has to be VERY clean compared to gas shielded MMAW but then the tiny dispo argon or carbon dioxide cylinders are OK for that now.
Hope that helps
Auberon