Unimig mini mig kmm180 opinions

[Mozzmanau]

Hi everyone. I'm looking at buying one of these welders and am wanting to hear from anyone who owns one. Im looking to use it for some small jobs such as making coffee tables and other small welding jobs. Won't be welding above 3-5 mm.

Id like to hear how your going with it in both gas and gasless mode and what your general opinions of the welder are. I've done a lot of research on the welder but can't find any real demonstration videos or opinions of actual owners.

I'm not interested in hearing from people who say that you need to spend $10000's to get a decent weld or that gasless welders are terrible etc etc. I've heard enough if that to last me a lifetime. I don't want to weld the Sydney harbour bridge. I'd really like to hear from people who actually own one.

Look forward to hearing from you guys and thanks.

Mozz

[Jekyll and Hyde]

A mate of mine has one, it welds very smoothly (this is with gas, can't comment on gasless), plenty of grunt. With a little encouragement from me, he managed to get some quite decent beads down within a hour or two, with no previous experience.

Personally I think given the price you can pick them up for, they're hands down the best small welder for the occasional home user. Transformer based, no fancy electronics, not much to go wrong at all. And I've seen them on sale in tool places for under $400 on occasion, with a few extras, so shop around.

Incidentally, there is actually a welding sub forum here, the question may get more responses there - not sure how many of the welding guys check the main area.

[jatt]

I have 2 Unimig units.

One is a 240. The other (cant remember exact model without going into the shed) is a small 3 combo unit, as in mig, stick and TIG.

Both have Binzal torches that I can unscrew and interchange if needed. Parts for torches are everywhere, so dont think I will be caught short in that dept anytime soon.

Have run nothing but gasless on both units, and look its fine for what you plan doing with it.

Both units had to go to the repairers whilst still under warranty. The 240 had a loose connection, no harm done and was fixed locally. The other let the smoke out, was sent away for repair and promptly shat itself again upon its return. I insisted they left the unit for more than 5 seconds, as I believed from the symptoms it showed, that it was a thermal fault.

Touch ..... both units havent misbehaved again since and are performing their duties quite well in the shop.

[Mozzmanau]

Thanks for the reply. Has been really helpful. I have been looking around at prices and found they have recently give up since the dollar went down but I can still get them got around $420.

If I do get one I'll get one of those disposable bottles of gas and use that. Will have to do what your mate did with his and get one of my mates around to get me welding properly though lol.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Mozzmanau]

Thanks for your feedback. Good to hear they did end up fixing the problems though. I guess that can happen with anything. Nothing worse than bad after sales service.

Glad to hear it works well with gasless as that's the first thing I will be trying. Will probably get a disposable bottle after that for the prettier work if gasless isnt neat enough.

Thanks again.

[Acco]

Will probably get a disposable bottle after that for the prettier work if gasless isnt neat enough.

Just be aware that disposable don't give you a lot of welding time, from what I've heard, anywhere between 10mins to 30mins

[Mozzmanau]

Incidentally, there is actually a welding sub forum here, the question may get more responses there - not sure how many of the welding guys check the main area.

I'll look for that sub forum. Thought I'd posted it in the right spot doh

[Mozzmanau]

Just be aware that disposable don't give you a lot of welding time, from what I've heard, anywhere between 10mins to 30mins

Wow is that all? That's pretty bad. I'll give gasless a go first and just use those when absolutely necessary. Pitty I have to buy the special regulator for them too. The one that comes with the unimig doesn't fit the small bottles.

[Grahame Collins]

If you get 20 minutes of arc time with a disposable cylinder you will do very well.Welding time depends on the cylinder capacity in litres and the cylinder pressure that the argon is stored at.
Say $40 for a cylinder and nearly that for a small brass regulator. Thats $80 on top of the original cost of the Unimig machine. A 5kg spool ( Suits the KMMM180 ) of Cigweld fluxcore is somewhere between $75 and $90 dependent on where you buy. Also check out the the threads on swap and go cylinders of sheilding gas if you want to go gas sheilded- Seems to apply in the southern states only at the moment -so might not apply to you.

For the little you pay the small transformer based unit is a value for money unit but just won't be as versatile as higher cost machine.

For instance, if going the fluxcore route consider that fluxcore ( gasless) is very sensitive to the arc voltage setting.
On larger machines this is infinitely variable but on this model Unimig there are perhaps 5 click step voltage settings which can't be guaranteed to hit the sweet spot for that spot on weld.

Conversely I have run a 3 in 1 unit where the voltage setting was variable and on 21 volts the weld appearance was excellent but on 20 and 22 volts not so good.

Hope it helps

Grahame

[Mozzmanau]

Hope it helps

Grahame

Hi Grahame

Thanks for that. I also have another restriction which is why I'm not really interested in anything larger than the kmm180 and that is that I only have a 10 amp power point on old 50 - 60 year old wiring. So I won't be able to weld above 120 - 140 amps. In going to be buying a adaptor that will only allow the machine to use 10amps. Anything above that will trip the fuse in the box. Can't afford to get an electrician in at the moment.

From what your saying though it looks like I'd be better off using gas. Even the disposable ones would be better as I only have to buy the regulator once. I have looked at the swap and go cylinders but there's no one doing it in Victoria yet but total tools are going to be starting it soon. Was talking to a guy there about it a couple of weeks back and he saying they will be charging about $300 for the bottle and then about $100 for the swap. Seemed a bit pricey to me. I think just tools will be doing it too if they haven't started already.

Thanks for the tip. If I do use gas I guess I'll probably sane money in the end and get a better weld.

[Stustoys]

but there's no one doing it in Victoria yet but total tools are going to be starting it soon. Was talking to a guy there about it a couple of weeks back and he saying they will be charging about $300 for the bottle and then about $100 for the swap. Seemed a bit pricey to me.

Where in Vic? I've just bought a cylinder from Gasweld in Dandenong. Of course cost depends on bottle size.

http://www.gasweld.com.au/catalogue/docs/speedgas.pdf

If you think thats pricey.... dont even bother talking to BOC.

Stuart

[Toggy]

Renting bottles is even pricier. 'E' size from BOC about $200 per year; plus rises every year. Total Tools in Mornington had purchase/swap bottles about 3 weeks ago.
Argon, mig mix and oxy.

Ken

[Mozzmanau]

Where in Vic? I've just bought a cylinder from Gasweld in Dandenong. Of course cost depends on bottle size.

http://www.gasweld.com.au/catalogue/docs/speedgas.pdf

If you think thats pricey.... dont even bother talking to BOC.

Stuart

Hi Stuart

I actually found a few places today that do it. Some Total Tools, All tools and a couple of others.

Thanks for the links

[Jekyll and Hyde]

Where in Vic? I've just bought a cylinder from Gasweld in Dandenong. Of course cost depends on bottle size.

http://www.gasweld.com.au/catalogue/docs/speedgas.pdf

If you think thats pricey.... dont even bother talking to BOC.

Stuart

Wow - their 'first bottle' prices have gone up a fair whack! I bought my E sizes for $460 just last year, now $530. Inflation really is a bitch... At least the fills haven't really changed.

[Stustoys]

Wow - their 'first bottle' prices have gone up a fair whack! I bought my E sizes for $460 just last year,

Rub it in way dont you... a lesson in procrastination for me
Still the price works out to 2 years rent + 1 fill. At the rate I've been using gas lately I'll be $400 in front next time I need a fill, which I may very well spend on a bottle of Argon and then I can get a TIG lol

Stuart