Which Welder?

[grepin]

Just wonder if anyone has had any experience/knowledge on welders out there at the moment.

Just after a home handy man style. In the past have only used arc welders but know there are mig and tig versions around. Now I dont want to deal with gas bottles so gasless migs have caught my interest. What are the pros and cons when I can get a arc welder for $100 and a gasless mig will be $400 worth. Can it still do aluminium.

Thanks

[GTRgeoff]

You don't want much. You'll need to pay at least $700 retail for a decent handy gas/gasless. Gasless welds are crap so get the gas bottle. It will do ally and stainless but you need pure Argon for them and Argoshield blend for mild and other steels.

[Craved]

i have a gasless and gas based welder .. was bout $550 and it can use either small 400mm high gas canisters (single use) and normal gas bottles and gasless wire.

atm im just using gasless wire which is good for using the unit as a portable... can have bottles for nice proper welding in the shed

[mad082]

to do aluminium, you need aluminium wire instead of steel wire. don't know if the gas is different for alloy, only know the wire is.

[R33S2]

Its been a while since I welded ali but I think you need pure argon, and no, a gasless wont weld ali. In the industry no one use arc welders any more because they are a pain in the ass, we either use mig, tig or inverters. Inverters are the best in my opinion as you can use rods or set them up for tig, but to weld ali with tig you need a square wave unit which are very expensive (4k). If you set up a steel mig welder to weld ali you must remember that ali wire is very soft and bends easily thus getting caught up in the wheels that push the wire, a dedicated ali mig uses the push/pull system with driven wheels in the hand piece that pull wire up to it.

[Bliksem]

I think you'll find you will need to pay for a license for the gas on a mig. So unless your doing a fair bit of welding it probably won't be worth it. Might be best to get the arc welder. Personally I think a nice weld on an arc comes out better looking than a mig anyway

[mad082]

my brother-in-law uses gas on a mig without any licence.

[R33S2]

I m not sure on this either but nowadays I think you pay for the gas and hire of the bottle, so if you have it for a year without using it you still pay for just having it.

[Craved]

I m not sure on this either but nowadays I think you pay for the gas and hire of the bottle, so if you have it for a year without using it you still pay for just having it.

thats spot on ...

with the welder i use... you get small canisters fo gas that are single use... good for the not so often welding.. and can run the gasless wire as well, and be able to hook up a proper small sized bottle for big jobs ..

[Bliksem]

Ahh there u go... I'm a bit out of date.

[Bl4cK32]

Gasless is Mog not mig

Gassless is only for very light welding stuff ie 1 or 2mm steel or wire. My uncle had one, and it was useless to use...u need still or no wind at all.

Mig for home would be any of these : http://www.welding.com.au/products-listing...?iCategoryID=63 (as they are single phase) they require a 15 kg roll of wire too (it can go rusty which is useless) if u dont use it all

Gas bottles are rented per year ^ and u have to buy gas. They can do aluminium as said which requires ally wire.

then theres tips, nozzles, etc which add to costs .

Tig can do anyhting u want, but costs $$$$

[GTRgeoff]

Nice enough welders but the smallest needs 15 Amp plug so it's not really portable or a direct plug in until you get a 15A outlet installed.

Once more, the Ally and stainless needs pure argon but mild steel uses Argoshield blend.

Go to BOC and talk to a salesman, they'll put you straight.

Oh and for a TIG to do ally would be over 4K.

[Bl4cK32]

I am a little biased as i like WIA welders (made in Aus) and have used em for a long time. Never had problems with them, unlike the cig welders etc...