Hi Guys and Girls

I'm in the process for replacing all the rust in my mini. I have a SIP Mig gas/gas-less welder. I have used mig and arc welders in the past, but I can never get the welder to weld the same every time. I thought I might be my lack of skill, so i got my nephew who is a boiler maker to have ago with both gas and gas-less, he got it a lot better but still not the best, he pretty much gave up.

So my dilemma is I want to buy an new / second hand welder that will hopefully help me to improve my skills and wondered what brands and model that had found the best. Ideally I would like to stay under $500 but I also know you get what you pay for.

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Cheers

Dave

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1964 998cc Cooper
1971 Mini K x 2
1972 Clubman GT

Hey - I recently bought a Bossweld MIG 186. From Gas Weld. For I think $400 ish (I'd have to check). Here is the link to the product website.

http://www.dynaweld.com.au/mig-welding- ... g-186.html

FYI the product for some reason is not on the GasWeld website.

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Build thread for Supercharged 1275 1967 Deluxe Resto
Build thread for Mini ute conversion 998cc Turbo

Ditto. I got the exact same. I havent fired it up yet though (due to time and my plans needed approving).

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1963 850 - laid up
1970 Morris mini K van - eating up the kms!

Ever get déjà vu braad?

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Build thread for Supercharged 1275 1967 Deluxe Resto
Build thread for Mini ute conversion 998cc Turbo

I have a SIP gas/gasless welder.
I find it OK to use. I run it on a higher setting than you might expect.
I use it with Gas. Didn't like the finish/flux removal with gasless.

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Find a job you love and you will never have to go to work !

I've had an SIP gas gasless thing for a few years now and it has never worked properly, neither did my brother in laws. It is utterly the worst piece of junk that I have ever used. I even gave it to the welders at my wifes work to try and fix but it still didn't work properly. I have been looking at welders for my next project. Make sure that your chosen machine goes down low enough to weld thin metal. The Boss machine mentioned above I felt didn't go down low enough neither did the BOC one mentioned above, if I remember correctly. I looked at CIGweld and seem to remember it not going low enough either. The only machine that did was the Lincoln Electric Powermig 180c that goes down to 30 amps. But it is about $900. I spoke with one of the welders at my wifes work about it all and he said go with any big brand name at your local welding place and spend as much as you can afford. He said to avoid machines with digital displays, like the BOC machine above, because when you use gasless outside in the sun the display heats up and goes blank then stuffs your welding settings up. This happened to a friend of his. I'm interested to hear what the people above think to their Boss machines, they go down to 59amps.

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TOO MANY MINIS AND NOT ENOUGH TIME

I have an ozito one that goes down to 40 amps but the drive is a little sketchy. Works ok but anything less than setting 8/9 (of 10) the wire doesn't feed the pool quickly enough. And the gun leaks shielding gas which is annoying me to death.

I've learnt my lesson on cheap welders. As they say "Pay now and don't pay later".

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TOO MANY MINIS AND NOT ENOUGH TIME

Try this page it's a pretty good source of info. http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/buying.htm The section ' How many amps minimum' is pretty informative.

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TOO MANY MINIS AND NOT ENOUGH TIME

I run a 25? year old Kemppi 150A Super Kempomat. Torch is a genuine Binzel MB15.
Made in Finland... has no fan, coz up there it's too cold to need one!

[puts welding engineer's hat on]
@69K1100...
Pull the gun's liner out, soak it in a tub of thinners then blow all the crap out. Or go buy a new liner, they are cheap & don't last forever.
Also, make sure the feed rolls are wiped clean, and have a gap between them with the wire in. If no gap, they have had it and won't grip the wire to feed properly.

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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.

Thanks for the replys guys, I will keep looking into it all and see how I go. My nephew cleaned it out but mostly the torch. But I will try again

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Cheers

Dave

Hi just purchased Cigweld 135. Gas and gasless from supercheap for $299 on promo. The unit can get down to 30 odd amps for thin metal. Has 4 amp settings and wire speed adjust.

175 cig transmig, very nice machine

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SPO41 Mk2 Cooper S very original
1993 R32 Nissan Skyline GTR

With any MIG machine, the switch positions are for volts, not amps. Wire feed rate = amps. Double the wire speed, and you (basically) double the amps.
Voltage controls the arc length, and also affects the mode of metal transfer across the arc. Low voltage = `short arc' transfer, high voltage = `spray arc' transfer (if your machine is big enough...)
The machine holds the set voltage (which is why they are called constant voltage) and varies the output amps to maintain the arc length.

Go down in wire diameter eg from 0.9 to 0.8, and the amps will be less, at the same wire speed.
Clear as mud???

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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.