Thread: Repco Welder sale

Could you give us a link please? I searched their 60% off sale and can't find those welders....

I just went to their website and searched the online catalogue.They only had a few welders listed, the two I mentioned earlier among them. I am going there today. If anything useful comes of it i will post an update. Their advertising states 60% off all welders .

After a store visit and subsequent phone call to customer service, I have confirmed that the welders listed in their online catalogue are on sale at 60% off even though some are not listed in the sale flyer. The bad news is that they are house brand welders with very scant details available so far. The brand name is Mech Pro and the counter sales guy told me they are supplied and manufactured by Euroquip. He didn't seem too sure if that was right but he did say they are made in china. The customer service guy was very helpful and has promised to email me spec sheets for the 150 amp gas/gasless mig ($270)and the 140 amp inverter arc/ tig welder($220) as soon as he can contact the distributor, probably not until Monday. If anyone has any experience with these welders it would be great to get some opinions. If they have decent specs the prices seem pretty good to me.

Be aware - check out the duty cycle of any welder that you are looking at. 150 amp max units would have a duty cycle of approx 10%, which means that you can only weld 6mins out of 60mins continually, at 100 amp would probably be 25% = 15 out of 60 !!!!!
You would be better going for a larger unit, if you are looking at doing any sort of lengthy welding periods.
Also check out serviceability of the units, local repair centres, are parts readily available??????
My brother had a SIP, only for a short time, it went in the bin!!!! it was a pig to get a good weld out of it, as it had switches to control the settings, no fine tuning, it was gasless, porous looking welds, so it was only good for thin material 3mm max!!!! short duty cycle also.
Mig is a better way to go for car body repairs, not arc???? Tig is OK, if you know what you are doing, it has a learning curve, remember also gas cylinder rentals about $150 - $200 per year plus consumable gas $$$. Unless you go for piddly little cylinders or gasless.
Cheap does not represent value,
Kryn

Thanks Kryn. It turns out the welders are not SIP they are Mech Pro which is the Repco house brand according to the customer service guy. He sent me a limited spec sheet which gives only the barest info. I am going to pass on these and get a smootharc 130. Its an extra $90 or so but they have a good duty cycle and plenty of good reports. I will wait a while for a mig unit.I think I will get more use from the stick welder.MPWMIG 150 Welder Specifications Jan 2013.pdfMPWINV140 Welder Specifications Jan 2013.pdf These are the spec sheets I got from Repco for the inverter and mig.

Originally Posted by raypat

Thanks Kryn. It turns out the welders are not SIP they are Mech Pro which is the Repco house brand according to the customer service guy. He sent me a limited spec sheet which gives only the barest info. I am going to pass on these and get a smootharc 130. Its an extra $90 or so but they have a good duty cycle and plenty of good reports. I will wait a while for a mig unit.I think I will get more use from the stick welder.MPWMIG 150 Welder Specifications Jan 2013.pdfMPWINV140 Welder Specifications Jan 2013.pdf These are the spec sheets I got from Repco for the inverter and mig.

I think you just made a very wise choice.

I'll never forget the very first welder I ever bought, was a SIP. I ended up returning it because I seemed to be able to weld for one minute then wait ten while the cutout switch was cooling. The duty cycle is a HUGE consideration and the SIP machine was my education in that area.

Personally any welding machine manufacturer that says there machine is 130 amps for example, yet that machine can only weld at that for a minute, is just p*ssing me off by wasting my time. I don't even look at SIP any more because of my experience. They're effectively rating a smaller (cheaper) machine at a higher output, but of course it can't keep it up for any useful period of time. A 100 amp welder could give 500 amps for a very short time (duty cycle). Mobs like this are just misleading people into thinking they're getting the same size welder machine for less money.