Mig Welder Recommendations

Yeah, I looked on there but found it to be like a HiFi forum. Unless its mega expensive its junk!!! The cheapest recommendation on there was an R-Tech welder which is just under £600, more than double the price of the Draper welder. I'm not looking for something to build a car with, just to weld the ocassional patch on it.

www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=123&products_id=22932

Black line 200A mig, £223, reviewed on mig welding forum and given the thumbs up. The Draper has no mentions as far as I can see.
Don't forget that gas and PPE will add significantly to this.

That's not really a fair comment about the forum in my opinion - no offence intended

People buy a cheap "box mover" manufactured in a land far far away and get frustrated with it because they are built right down to a price with a profit in the box

It doesn't mean they don't "hot glue" stuff together it's just they don't do it very well. They have problems with wire feed and welding amps as they warm up. There are some good threads on migwelding forum from people who have attempted to make a better welder out of a cheap one (One very long one is mine after I bought an SIP in 2007 and then attempted to make it better in the subsequent 3 years)

There are upgrade kits for "Euro torch conversion" (Std hobby torches are quite nasty to use) "Improved earthing" clamps (Again what you get clamp wise is cheap and chearfull), separate wire feed "motor transformers" (to try and improve the consistency of the wire feed which is often linked to the power settings and then you can go down the control side of PWM (pulse width modulation for wire feed motor control)

Just because it might help copied from the mig welding forum my costs during three years for a cheap "box moving" welder

SIP Cosmo 170 Costs (Inc modifications)

£152.00 Purchase cost BINB - "Old Stock" (included delivery)

1st mod to wire feed - should be std IMHO

£2.00 Wire Brace

2nd WFM Mod - separate power feed

£4.70 Relay Bridge
£21.10 Transformer
£10.00 Wire & Connectors

3rd mod - Euro Torch - to fix constantly leaking gas valve

£29.00 Euro Torch Connector
£20.00 Gas Solenoid
£32.00 Euro Torch
£7.00 (Postage)

4th Mod - Multi turn pot and counter - fix over senstive std Pot

£12 2K Ohm 10 Turn Pot ("First one")
£22 10 Turn Pot counter

5th Mod - to stop wire run on

£3 Relay Brake

6th Mod - 100 Ohm Trim pot

£2.50 - The cost of pint cos that's what I owe BillJ

7th Mod - to remove original wire feed circuitry and improve wire feed

£15 PWM
£12 New 10K Ohm 10 Turn Pot to suit PWM ("Second one")
£1.63 for some rubber feed

If my math is any good Total £345.93

So cost over the three years for just the welder was £115.31 per year

So cheap welder not so cheap after all

So after I did all of the above and it was still not a patch on a decent machine so I threw it on a shelf and bought a Portamig at £600 - the most expensive tool I have ever bought for my garage life/hobby

In the 14 years I have had it I have never had a single issue and I can pretty much set it up with a guess and be spot on for whatever I am trying to weld

Cost per year £42.85

If you are going to buy cheap my recommendation would buy a Clarke as they seem to be best of the cheap end

I had a SIP MigMate 90, bought for £50 off a mate, blew holes in everything. After much thought and dithering I bought the RTech on 12 months credit.
Wow, what a difference, even an occasional welder like me can make good welds on my 50 year old MG Midget, in my opinion it was worth the money, made making patch panels and glueing them in an enjoyable experience.
It may be expensive, but worth it for the lack of frustration I had with the ancient SIP.

Unfortunately the RTech cost (even on credit) is completely out of the question. Doesn't matter how good it is if I can't afford it I'm afraid.

I have a Clarke 150TE and it must be getting on for 20 years old now, apart from a new torch its been fine and i've done several cars with it including this one:

forum.retro-rides.org/thread/213238/econo-jag-mk2-1967-auto

While there are no doubt better welders out there, if you can't get good welding with something like the Clarke then you won't get good welds out of a more expensive one either.

I used mine a lot, i've done three Jags, two sprites and a VW camper (all major jobs) plus loads of other bits and pieces and its as good as the day I bought it. Its ok for a bit of thicker stuff from time to time as well.

I got a hand held mask with my TIG welder. I should have asked how I was supposed to use it :-)

I had a Clarke 150TE for 15 years or so (In fact, I still have it, set up for welding stainless for exhausts etc now).

I managed to get reasonable welds from it, and it wasn't a terrible machine (with a wire feed mod).

I then bought a secondhand but nearly new Sealey 180 from a friend who had emigrated. I paid £275, best new price I could find is about £400 at the moment. It is a better machine than the Clarke, although still not flawless.

Might be worth looking around at secondhand, although with this sort of thing there's some benefit to finding one you know hasn't been abused.

Clarke offerings are, generally speaking, adequate. Of all the machines I've used it's the best of the affordable machines and they seem to last okay and tolerate being abandoned in the corner of the garage for long periods. The biggest trouble I've had with them is wire feed issues so if you're getting into a larger job (as welding often ends up doing whether you like it or not) it can get incredibly frustrating as those issues get progressively worse the longer you're working.

I know the R-Tech is currently out of budget for you but when you're able, as others have said, they're a great machine for the money. If you're having to weld outdoors and repair less than ideal material, it just compensates for all that in a way no Clarke I've used ever has. Takes a lot of stress out of even the smallest jobs.

As Slater says, avoid the hobby welders, you're just going to have a bad time.

Oh, and auto dimming masks are worth every penny, even the 'full colour' ones aren't that pricey these days.