Welders

[topari]

The Tokentools Mig seems all right on paper but I’m not that keen on driving to NSW to test one out.
[/quote]

Start with a phone call. My conversation started with "are these welders any good !"

[Mike52]

I was looking at A Unimig as well.
I know of a few factories that happily use them but they have released (a while now I guess) an Inverter Mig.

I have a Mag Mate Pro inverter mig and cannot believe the performance . 250 amps on a 15 amp lead , fully adjustable and only weighs 16kg.

Now you’ve confused me, granted it’s easily done these days but “Mag Mate” comes up as a BOC unit not Unimig.
And it appears to be the BOC unit that I hated!!

Sorry GM , I only saw the inverter mig bit and was commenting on that.
Yep it is sold by BOC but mine has separate knobs for wire/current adjustment not the stupid switch arrangement.
Works well on the bigger jobs.
Cheers Mike

[GMC]

Start with a phone call. My conversation started with "are these welders any good !"

That’s about as useful as ringing me to ask me if my products are any good.

[GMC]

Yep it is sold by BOC but mine has separate knobs for wire/current adjustment not the stupid switch arrangement.
Works well on the bigger jobs.

That would be the mid size green unit then?
The one I tested welded okay but it coughed and spluttered everytime I started a weld.
I didn't really try it on thick stuff, I was only intersted in it's ability on sheetmetal.
Turning them down low can be a good test for them.
My previous welder, a 250 amp with remote wire feeder had the same problem, was great on the big jobs but would cough and splutter when turned down low.

[head]

What you need to look at with a Mig is how low the current will go. A lot of the cheap welders will not go low enough. You need a machine that goes down to at least 30 amps. Some only go to 50 or 70 amps.
I bought a Lincoln Redi-mig 255c that goes to 25 amps. It is awsome at welding light stuff and great on the heavy settings. Look at the specs, you do get what you pay for with a Mig, spend the money and you have got it for life. You wont be sorry.
I also bought a Chinese Tig AC/DC 200amp which I have had no problems with. Great being able to do aluminum when you need to. Paid $800 for it. Had it for 2 years now.
They tell me don't buy a Chinese Mig because of the mechanical parts. But Chinese tigs are ok. No moving parts.

[GT43]

Thanks GMC and Head, for the low amp Mig info.

If the Mig does do low amperage well, does that mean it will be good also with Aluminium sheet as well ?

I suspect however, that two seperate machines are really needed for alloy fabricating.

If I purchased an AC Tig, how long do you think it would take to grasp it?  Months / Years ?    ( with no experience ).
Perhaps I need to do a short welding course first before choosing a unit.


You might have saved a few hundred bucks GMC, by buying the Jasic instead of the Unimig ? Being the same machine by the look.

Regards.

[GMC]

While the low amp rating is something to watch for in a Mig if you’re looking to do light metal work it’s not a guarantee of a good welder.
Both my current Jasic and the previous ESAB both go down to 30 amps and both do light stuff okay but the ESAB just did it so much better and smoother.

Looking up a welding course would be a good thing, even before you buy something as you may learn more in what to look for as well as picking up more tips.
Have you ever tried Oxy welding? Not brazing but fusion welding. It is similar to Tig welding, just swap the flame for an arc.

Don’t know that I saved that much on the Jasic as I bought it through an industrial supplies store. So while I paid more than online I picked it up on the spot and got warranty easily when I needed it looked at. ( the gas line was leaking due to poor set up)

There’s no easy way around it, you need 2 machines and 2 different bottles of gas.
The main problem with trying to Mig alloy is the softness of the wire.
When welding light gauge steel we tend to use either 0.6 or 0.8mm dia. wire but this size wire in aluminium is too soft to be able to be pushed down the welding lead forcing us to increase the wire size to around 1.2mm dia.
The larger wire will push down the lead to the torch okay but the size limits how well you can weld on thin material.

This is why they invented the spool gun. With the spool of wire only a few inches from the gun it is much easier to use small diameter wire.
An alloy Mig weld though will always look ‘dirty’ compared to a Tig weld. Its juts the nature of the beast.

[GT43]

Havent done any Oxy either Geoff.

Youve helped me out a fair bit here, and left me with a bit more thinking to do.

No worries.
Cheers.

[GT43]

Ended up going with the Mig/tig 200 unit from Tokentools. Rocked up the other day at the door.

Havent used it yet, looking into getting some gas as I heard it gives better welds than gasless.

Thanks again GMC for your helpful knowledge, and thanks to others for their input as well.

[hagon_84]

migomag make good quality welders i have a 260 amp which for heavy work is perfect but not to good for low amp light gauge work, i also use a unimig 180 not a inverter model but still easy to move around and can be purchased with a sep wire feeder as most of my welding is sheet metal panel work in smash industry i find that 0.6 wire is the best suited to light work and the unimig gets the most workout  but if u want a clean neat weld for show the tig is the way to or get a set of oxy accetelene bottles and fusion or bronze weld it get back to the old skool

[Slakewell]

I recently purchased a WIA 280 with 15 amp plug for a place I was working and whilst it is out the price for the none trade person at $2,800 it was a great machine , Took me a while to get use to the soft start and auto wire speed correction. I ran 0.8 wire solid wire and you could lay down perfect welds with good wetting action on the sides.  If you find a tidy second hand one buy it.