Inverter stick welders

[Steve F]

Haven't had a chance to try on anything thinner. No closeups either but I can tell you it was a lot easier than with my 140A non inverter stick welder.

Cheers
Steve

[josh9465]

I got myself a Cigweld 170 inverter. The difference is amazing and so quiet too.
Easy to start and if you chip the ends of the rods its still easy to start.




the weld on the right is a vertical down weld.

[carvesdodo]

Hows that ebay welder from Vict. holding up SteveF

Any issues / bad experiences yet

Is performance as good as promised during phone calls to the seller

Anything about it make you wish you had bought the weldskill 170 instead



Yes Murray ... I'm a cheapskate and still trying to justify the extra few bucks for the blue one ...

[Steve F]

Originally Posted by carvesdodo

Hows that ebay welder from Vict. holding up SteveF

Any issues / bad experiences yet

Is performance as good as promised during phone calls to the seller

Anything about it make you wish you had bought the weldskill 170 instead



Yes Murray ... I'm a cheapskate and still trying to justify the extra few bucks for the blue one ...

Still going just fine, glad I didn't spend anymore for what I use it for

Cheers
Steve

[XJKEE]

I was thinking about getting one from BOC - MMA130 as it should still do the thickness I want and also has a 10A plug. Under $350 as well, their 170 about $100 MORE. Also scratch TIG capable.

[Disco Damo]

Originally Posted by jzp

Nice....

I've seen similar ones that are MIG, but at a $1800 price range.

Do you have a link to the ebay store so I can have a look?

I've got 2 MIG welders (1 for workshop and 1 for portable use) and want to offload my 'portable' one to something much lighter.

I have a Kempii Miniarc Mig 180 at work and I love it.

Anything with a transformer cant come near good quality inverter stuff these days but the question will be in 20 years if they are still going.

My Kempii only cost $1100 + Wire, spare tips regulator etc etc so I was pretty happy with that.

Im wanting to get an inverter arc as well as I use the mig mainly in the workshop but with gasless wire I will be able to take it out of the workshop and do repair work if need be.

So far Ive used it on it's auto setting to weld mainly mild steel but also ally and stainless but the SS was with the mild wire but pure argon which seemed to work fine, the argo shield light was causing staining for some reason so I switched to the argon/

Great on ally, a little more agressive than a coil welder but wroked well but I have the old Mig which doesnt like welding thick stuff on full bore set up for ally full time now as it works brilliantly for that.

Inverter welders are the go in my experience.

[Disco Damo]

Originally Posted by XJKEE

I was thinking about getting one from BOC - MMA130 as it should still do the thickness I want and also has a 10A plug. Under $350 as well, their 170 about $100 MORE. Also scratch TIG capable.

Ive tried both of them and they are great, just the TIG set up doesnt like anything much finer than about 1.5mm unlike a High frequency start or even the Kemppi scratch start kit for their inverter.

Anything other than that I couldnt tell the difference between the $850 Kemppi and the $420 MMA 170.

My next purchase is going to be the MMA 170 + a plasma cutter (hopefully)