Thread: Hello and some advice please

I'd say the thickest section you'd be encountering is the slasher, which can have 10-12mm sections for the frame. Everything else there looks to be from 1.6 - 3mm, maybe 5mm at worst?

I think you're on the money with a ~180A welder - it'll do everything up to 5mm (with a bit more prep or root gap at the 5mm end) and the much thicker sections with lots of prep (veeing) and multiple passes.

To me a combo inverter stick/MIG is a bit of a no-brainer, and there's heaps of units to choose from (Lincoln, UniMIG, TokenTools etc.) all in what seems to be a reasonably competitive price range of around the $700 to $1,000 mark.

Most of the time you'll want to use MIG as it's easier, and is a life-saver for 2mm or thinner sections, but if the wind's blowing or you can't be arsed cleaning up the join properly, nothing beats stick for blasting through whatever crap and leaving a solid weld.

Yeah I agree, a combination Stick/MIG. I would prefer gas though any day for the MIG in the shed and use the Stick any time it's more practical. Stick will just work better in some applications, MIG in others, So good to have both.
Have fun with it all..

Thanks for the comments guys. Yeah I'd be surprised if I was welding stuff much over 5mm but could well be down at the 1mm stuff as well hence my thoughts on a mig. The combo units do seem like a good idea but I was kind of wondering if those units were trying to be all things to all people but not really being fantastic at any one thing.

Is there any advantage for a mig to be inverter as in a cigweld 175i type machine over a straigh mig like a Lincoln 180c? I realise there is the advantage that they can be a inverter stick/tig unit as well but what about just for the mig component?

Ian

I'll also vote for the MIG/Stick combo for use on a farm.

I went through the "which welder" dilemma recently and a straight MIG was ideal for me even though I'm a competent stick welder it's just that I haven't needed to stick weld in 10 years. But having said that I used to work as a maintenance person in a rural type position and the stick welder is very very handy for outside welding and dirty, oily, greasy, rusty farm equipment because you can just burn all the crap away.

Cheers

Justin

Thanks Justin

Just seems to me that there has to be a trade of on these combo machines. For around the same price (about a grand) you can have a brand name mig or a brand name combo. If the mig component of the combo was equally as good as the straight mig wouldn't everyone buy these for the 'just in case' scenario?

I've got a Cigweld 170 inverter welder which is nice and light but has enough grunt to push a 3.2 mil rod (after about 4 rods it takes a break) I got the Tig set-up with it and use that for stainless steel fabrication. (light frames and racking that I make for a local caterer). Mig is great for working with clean metal but if there's any oil or rust your better using a stick. In a nutshell, if you're doing light fabrication using new steel and you can set up out of the wind go for the stick-mig combo. Mig for indoors and stick for outdoors. Best of luck with your projects.

Originally Posted by Danger Mouse

Just seems to me that there has to be a trade of on these combo machines.

Both a MIG and stick welder are pretty much just a high-current DC supply, the fundmental difference is that stick requires a a constant-current supply, while MIG requires a constant-voltage supply. Thus the combo machines must incorporate both, and do both well.

I've had a UniMIG 165 combo machine for getting on 3 years or so, I use it with a 6kg CO2 beer gas bottle, which makes for a fiercer arc with more penetration, and not so good for very thin work (ie. car panels) but is brilliant for blasting through galvanising, which accounts for most of the new steel I work with. The small bottle means it also works very well as a portable machine, and I've used it to fabricate stuff for the farm both in the workshop and outside, and I can throw it and the bottle on the back of the ute take it wherever, which is quite a different kind of use to non-farm people, whose welder & bottle will never see the outside of their workshop or garage. Those people have things like dedicated circuits for their setup, which are all good and well, but not realistic if you have to weld elsewhere with the power that's available.

The one thing I can't do with it, and I can with my much smaller BOC 130 inverter stick unit, is sling it over my shoulder and climb a ladder and weld at heights, but that BOC unit only cost $350, making it a very affordable 2nd unit to have on hand for those jobs, or also set up in the workshop next to the MIG to make switching between stick and MIG even easier.

Originally Posted by RustyArc

The one thing I can't do with it, and I can with my much smaller BOC 130 inverter stick unit, is sling it over my shoulder and climb a ladder and weld at heights, but that BOC unit only cost $350, making it a very affordable 2nd unit to have on hand for those jobs, or also set up in the workshop next to the MIG to make switching between stick and MIG even easier.

I guess that is the other option. Buy two machines say a Lincoln 180c for $900 and a small inverter for around $300.

Any comments if that is a better setup compared to a 3in1 like the Cigweld 175i for a grand?

I am not worried about TIG so that's not entering my head at this stage - now if was also a plasma cutter then I would be swaying for a combo I think!

All great info so far and keen to hear anymore points of view.

Ian

Yeah if it were me I would have my MIG setup in the shed and a separate nice light inverter stick machine for out in the yard and when you need to attack some grungy metal.
You just have to consider your power source when out in the yard be it a good heavy long power cord which will only take you so far before losing power, or suitable generator which is usually a must in a rural environment anyway.

Nice little stick machine for sale: (not mine)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/KEMPPI-MI...item20c2243e23