Welders

[Iain]

I realise that this is not wood related but you may be able to offer some assistance.
I have been following a US post on welders and I have decided that I may just do an upgrade.
I am currently using a hobby type arc welder and my technique results in looking like flock of geese flew over the job.
Question.
I have looked at gas and gasless welders and I believe that they are easier to use than an arc welder, please correct me on this if I am wrong, I have found two machines that I like, one is a CIGWELD and the other a RYOBI.
They are very similar and operate gas or gasless.
I prefer the Ryobi as it has a cartridge that fits inside the unit and for me this would make sense as I am not stuck with leasing a BOC argon torpedo for a year. I do not do a lot of welding.
Any opinions on the Ryobi?
Also afetr an opinion on the gasless wire welder as the difference in price is about $200.00. The Ryobi and the Cigweld are about the same price, $680.00 give or take a couple of bucks, for the gas/gasless unit.
Any other options or products that are worth looking at. I am only fixing gates etc and anything else that breaks around the place or the horses bend with their big A's.
Any opinions welcome.

[Rod Smith]

G'day Iain
I know nothing about welders, but would like to get one day for the odd trailer fix up etc. I saw ryobi arc welders on sale and the local hardware store and picked up a brochure. I showed it to a mate (ex toolmaker) and he immediately looked for the duty period (can't remember the proper name, but it means how long you can use it for before letting it cool dowm). The times were pretty crap, so check that side of it out.
Cheers
Rod

[Iain]

Thanks Rod, I have since found out that the Ryobi is made in Italy like a lot of welders but I will certainly look at the duty period.
Thought I would have had a few more responses but obviously Neil can't weld .
Could try using yellow glue instead!

[RETIRED]

Gooday Iain.

I am not much good at writing down all the differences but if you want really good and honest opinion from them that use them all the time and supply as well, phone:

Westernport Engineering on 5996 6256 and ask for Steve Kent. He has approved this BTW.

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Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"

[Roger Peine]

G'day Iain.
Bottom line is... gasless MIG welding? Don't go there. They will produce welds as good as your flock of geese. Gasless MIG is a misnomer in any case...
(MIG = Metal inert gas)Spend a wee bit more and get something like a "DUE" pronounced duey, don't touch SIP (Crap)and Cigweld aren't as good as they may of been.. Most of these use ally wire in the transformer.. Don't go there...

[RETIRED]

Gooday.

Roger is right on the money.

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Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"

[brettdel]

morning gents - regarding the use of gasless wire I have to disagree - best thing ever invented for the handyman. I've been using one for the past 6 years and reckon for light gauge work its the one of the best things I've ever spent money on in the workshop (right up there with the super jaws ), no stuffing around with bottles of gas.

At the time I had a one off job and just wanted something cheap and nasty so ended up with a SIP due to the cheapo price and availability of spares - had the thing 6 years and have used it on everything from car bodies to trussess, tend to grab it before I drag the old stick welder out, and to my surprise it never given one bit of trouble.

I've just finished a shower recess made from 0.9mm aluminium checker plate with the SIP and disposable bottles of argon. At the start I thought that there is no way that the unit would be suitable for the job but decided to give it a go anyway - worked well if you remember to reverse your leads .

Couple of things I did learn - disposable bottles of gas is a bloody expensive way to buy gas - but for one off jobs...... SIP supply both large and small regulators with the welder. And remember to reverse your leads when using gas .

brett

[Gino]

Iain, I'll keep this short.

I found Gas easyer to use than Arc but Hiring the bottle I didn't like. Mig for me was too expensive.
So Arc was the most practical in terms of cost of the unit and I don't have to hire a bottle for it.
I did a course at a Tech school which cost some ridiculas price of a few dollors and now my work don't look like birds have shitted all over it. And if you want it for gates etc this in my opinion would be perfect.
If I could justified or afforerd Mig I would have gone for that as it is more versatile for reasons that others have already mentioned.
I wish you luck on your decision

regards

Gino

[STEPHEN MILLER]

I have both a CIG arc welder and a SIP gas/
gasless mig .Gasless may be cost effective but it does not produce the quality look of using gas more cleaning up with gasless as well.Disposable bottles last if you remember to take of the regulator at the end of use.The SIP mig seems pretty good mate has one as well and built trailers etc and is still going strong.
Only catch with small Migs not much good when you get over steel 3mm thick so along comes trusty arc welder .
Another catch with Migs if you are going to do any welding out in the open and there is a bit of wind good by gas or gasless because wind blows gas or flux produced gas as in gasless away and weld looks worse than if a seagull had passed overhead
Hope this helps or confuses the issue even more
Steve

[Glen Bridger]

Hi guys,
the duty period which was disscussed earlier is actually called the "Duty Cycle" (its not the work place push-bike).
The duty cycle is the time the welder can be used (for actual welding) in a five minute period. This duty cycle is expressed as a Percentage/Current figure.
For example; 25% at 100 Amps - this equates to one minute 15 seconds of actual welding at 100 Amps in five minutes.
If you lower the Amps the duty cycle increases.
The only difference between gas and gasless welding (apart from a gas bottle) is the polarity of the hand piece and the work eg. neg and positive
One thing to remember with gasless Mig wire is that it is Hydroscopic, its absorbs water from the atmosphere. This will degrade the quality of the welds.
I also herad that the SIP welder are near impossible to get spare parts for (especially the hand piece), but someone else said thats not the case, might be worth a look.
One machine worth a look at is the WIA150G, it is a gas/gasless welder and is a very well built.

Cheers,
Glen.