buztoy wrote:
Quote:
Put the money on the table - will see how it works out.
so is it a good one mini dave, rate it if you could,
Buztoy
Yes I have been happy with the MIG. Bought it mainly for the floor work in the moke and went out and got some 1.6mm zincseal sheet from metaland. The welder takes both the larger and small wire spools. It has the better 'euro' connection and torch and runs on a rented argoshield gas bottle that cost $12 per month and about $75 to fill (still haven't used the first bottle yet). For small thin guage work it would be an overkill. I plan on some bigger projects. Cost wise I paid just over $1000 which isn't much more than the smaller units but what sold me was the infinite power adjustments. A lot of smaller units have only 2 settings which might not be suitable for thin guage work. My MIG has a duty cycle of 60% @180 amps and 100%@140 which is very impressive.
This is my MIG:
It has very good controls for voltage and wire speed. Don't know how you can look at the meters when welding though! The variable control is good when setting up as you can start a practise weld and then alter the voltage dial until you get a good 'crackle' happening.
Still haven't perfected it but this a close up shot of a lap weld where one piece of metal has been overlaped on another and welded at the join. Think of this being when you weld in a floor and the new section overlaps the old part. It's not a 'butt' weld. You can see where the zinc coating on the sheets has bubbled up onto the weld. Don't have any shots of a weld on mild steel, although I am going to weld up a rotisserie over the next few weeks - so I can show you then
A few tips I have picked up:
Keep the power cord to the minimum length possible. I just bought a heavy duty 5m cord just for the welder. If possible plug straight into the power point.
I had to change my dark welding lense from an 11 back to a 9 as my eyes are not so good and I couldn't see the weld clear enough to run in a straight line. The 9 lense works better and at least I can see whats going on.
Play around with the angle of the torch to get correct spread and heat. Play around with either pushing the torch or pulling it towards you. I seem only to be able to weld better by pulling towards.
Check under the weld to make sure it has penetrated the material. It may look nice on the top but if it is not all the way through the material it will not be strong enough.
Lastly - go into 'You Tube' and type in 'MIG Welding" and you can watch some tutorial videos about welders and welding technique. Practise, practise and then practise some more!
regards
) I finally settled on this - should be here by the weekend 
