Mini Chat you say?

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

I've been procastinating for a year now.

I narrowed mines down to Lincoln and Kemppi and overall opinion was Lincoln was best. I also searched USA and UK welding forums/sites.

I believe that WIA also make a good one but more expensive than Lincoln.

There is 1001 of other makes out there.

Basically you want:

- For sheet work 30A
- Brand name so it lasts
- Spend as much as you can

If you don't want to spend $1000 on a Lincoln then set your budget range and find out what lies in that range. The internet is a wonderful tool!

Lot of chinese stuff on the market so beware.

I couldn't find any specific low deals because of the competition everything is priced as close to bottom anyway.

Hope this helps.

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Regards,

Mike
"He who dies with the most toys wins."

"Mini Chat"?

It'll be used on the little beast! That's what pushed me over the purchasing edge....

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Regards,

Mike
"He who dies with the most toys wins."

The Lincoln at a grand seems to be the best value at the moment if you want to watch the pennies. The other option when I was looking is a BOC 170p which is supposed to be a rebadged kemppi and was about 1100 when on sale but isnt listed on their site any more? They now have a BOC MAGMATE 180P INVERTER MIG WELDER (MAG180P) but know nothing about it...

I bought a reco Cigweld Transmig 210SE because at the time the best price for the Lincoln was $1300, I got the 210 for less than half that. Heavy mother but works a treat!

cheers

Kevin

Be careful with BOC and particularly Cigweld, both being consumer focused (not so much industrial) these days, they have a reputation for changing models often (and maybe leaving you in the lurch partswise..)
It happened to me years ago.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I have one (but not sure if it is an inverter?):


Haven't done alot of work with it (Moke resto about to start!) but the welds come out OK (subject to the DR's closer inspection)

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Dave K.
1979 Moke Californian + 1981 'Coke' Moke

I can't tell from the front panel, does the V knob have 10 steps or is it an infinite adjustment?
If it has switch steps, it's NOT an inverter. If it's continuous, it could be, or else it's a thyristor controlled transformer like mine.

Pick it up, if it's a heavy sucker it's NOT an inverter.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Lincoln is infinite adjustable and it's a transformer (I believe!)

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Regards,

Mike
"He who dies with the most toys wins."

Yes it is, my old Kemppi is too. [edit] both these use thyristors in the output stage, not diodes, to achieve this.

Not all transformer machines have switch steps, but all inverters have stepless (what I called infinite, but isn't really) adjustment.

If you have a machine with switched voltage steps, the more it has the better. Some el cheapo toy ones have only 2.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Just looked up the brochure and it is an inverter (voltage is infinite adjustable):
https://boc.com.au/boc_sp/downloads/Ind ... ochure.pdf

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Dave K.
1979 Moke Californian + 1981 'Coke' Moke

I have a Lincoln 180C and I could easily turn it down enough to weld a Nissan Tida front guard back together. A Nissan Tida front guard is made of Kraft cheese too!

I kept an eye on this topic and decided to buy myself a licoln power mig 180c.

I received it via courier this afternoon and spent an hour setting up a trolley for it ( in the lounge room! ), this should do till i get around to making a more mobile trolley that would be easier to cart around.

im pretty happy with the end result