Welders

[Evoman]

Thanks dai, sounds good advice. Ill have a look into them seems affordable at 300

What you mention about the porrus welders, that doesnt sound good!!

[macplaxton]

I've picked up one of those Ceboras for £65 that had been used about 3 times back in 2007.


Cebora is the OEM, the exact same welder can also be found secondhand badged as a Snap-On 130 Turbo (which I have here, bought s/h in NI for £75) and a BOC MigMaster 130 Turbo (which I had many moons ago circa 1991 (£199)).

I would hunt for a s/h one for £150 and spend the rest on trying to get a fixed priced/non rental cylinder of shielding gas (argon/carbon dioxide/oxygen mix) and some clamps and consumables. Rental from BOC/Air Products is okay if you do bucketloads of welding, less so if you do bucketloads one month and nowt the next.

Still fancy a PortaMig 180 though.

[macplaxton]

Here's the BOC badged version:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270967740720

And three Snap-On badged versions:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130687676755
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110871290906
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150808778990

All the same bar the badging as the Cebora. Plenty of advice on the mig-welding forum on converting to Euro-torch if so desired.

[Evoman]

is the 130, 130 amps max?

thanks for more info its exam time atm so Im putting the purchase back a couple of weeks, gives me more time to decide

[Evoman]

How easy the conversion to eurotorch? what is eurotorch?

[classicswede]

Euro torch is what is used on the bigger comercial welders. To be fair I've had little problems with the original torch but can see the atraction in converting. It is more of an advantage if you do a lot of welding on thicker plate.

My first mig was the cebora (90 or 110 soomething like that) lasted for years and I only changed as a good second hand 130 came up cheap from a freind. The 130 is still going now many years on but hardly gets used due to a new bigger cebora machine taking its place. I needed something that would weld thick plate well rather than using the arc all the time.

For years I used to use PUB gas but they started charging rent on those as well. If you can get your own bottle and have it refilled that would be best.

[macplaxton]

The torch assembly is the snake bit from the unit to the end where the wire comes out. In it is the liner with the welding wire going through it along with a tube with the shielding gas, plus some electrical wires. On small sets it's part of the unit.

A eurotorch is just a standard sort of socket and plug arrangement, so you can remove or fit whatever torch assembly you like to a big welding set.

I don't think it's worth changing the assembly for the sake of it, but if you have to replace it, then it might be just as cheap to convert it.

Check this and this:
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/sho ... hp?t=28333
http://www.southwestgassupplies.co.uk/d ... html#Wales

In fact, just comb through the www.mig-welding.co.uk forum, there loads of info there.

[Evoman]

Is 130 amps high enough, I do intended to own a land rover at some points and would like to do some fabrication for other things so I was thinking 150 might be a better option

[macplaxton]

Depends what you want to do and how often you do it.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/buying.htm

Will a "150" go down low enough for your car panel needs?

I'd bag a second hand Cebora/Snap-On/BOC 130 on the cheap, and play around with it. If you want to get serious, save some lolly and get a bigger machine later in the day (or buy now if you have bottomless pockets)

A 130 will do 3mm. But I'm not sure of the duty cycle on some sets, as they may keep cutting out when going flat out - to cool down - so a considerably bigger set will allow you to weld at 130A morning, noon and night. Also when you go past 150 and need to do some heavy work, you will need a different plug, as the 13A household ones will melt!

[Evoman]

I was looking for one with a range of 150-30 amps. Ye i found that welding forum useful

[Nimminz]

Mine's a Clarke 90 gas/gassless, got it from a car boot sale for £35 Welds 3mm fine. I was doing a lot of welding on a mate's transit (so surprise there) using 1.6mm steel and we went for about 2 hours before it cut out.

Reckon a 130 would be fine, if you get a landie buy a cheap stick welder

[classicswede]

The 130 will weld landi chassis perfecctly fine. You can weld 4-5mm thick sections with it on max settings. Duty cycle is where it will let you down for doing a lot of heavy work. For most diy and car repairs the 130 is pleanty ample. As already pointe dout you can not go much bigger on a 13amp plug

[Evoman]

Seems pretty good me, I think I will be hunt for one then thanks for the advice!

[Evoman]

It seems that if I can get Cebora 130 for 150 ish Ill get one, if not I think ill go to the that sealey 150

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MIG-WELDER-SE ... 695wt_1163

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MIG-WELDER-SE ... 695wt_1163

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-SUPERM ... 35ba0fd169

These do seem good value.

[Fuse]

My two cents: If you are short on money, save a while. Nothing is more frustrating than start to learn welding with bad equipment. A good welder does ok with substandard equipment but if you are just starting it's good to have good equipment.

Though I've never fully understood the "DIY class tools" at all. If I don't have professional skills, I don't think that shitty tools will help the situation...

I myself would buy a second hand brand welding machine like Esab, Kemppi or similiar, than new cheap Telwin etc...


-Marko