Thread: WHich Welder?

They all weld great but the BOC has better duty cycle and isn't much of a "tool box" welder like the Unimig or CIG machines. I've had the BOC welder for a while now and have also had the chance to weld with the others and the BOC really is a smoother welder. The CIG is a good deal though if you can get the toolbox kit with the hard case and TIG torch.

worked in an engineering shop about 10 years back in Adelaide, they used mainly unimigs and wia's, won't say too much but, put it this way, i would never think about buying or advising anyone to buy the unimig. i don't want to get sued so i won't tell you what i really think about the unimig machines they had but i recon that probably says enough.the wia's were good machines and they even had a single phase boc 170 we use to drag around and don't ever recall having any problems with it.

about 15 years back i came across a dinousaur of a mig, an old hobart, man that thing was huge, about the size of a mini, the fan on the fack looked like a jet engine and you just couldn't kill it, spent many 12 hours shifts carbon arc air gouging and doing build up with it and it just would't die. i recently looked at the hobart in the states and it looks good (single phase), only problem i found was it had a 50 amp plug? not sure if that was a typo or just a yank thing?

also used cig's years back for gouging and hard facing, these too were big old machines that i never had any problems with, use to tharsh the guts out of them too, flat out hard facing over 12 hour shift during shut downs.

so i guess what im saying is i would avoid the unimig, unless they have improved there machines by 1000% but i doubt it..

Given that all the brands in question, including WIA (I understand), now sell Chinese-made machines, I think general brand experience from 10 years ago isn't that relevant, except, perhaps in terms of the brand's after-sales support.

Although again, given the machine design is completelty different - they're all inverters now rather than the much simpler transformer machines, even how after-sales support, warranty and long-term servicability works has changed. A $350 BOC 130 dies after a few years, do you bother getting it fixed (and be without a welder for a few weeks) or just go buy another?

For the record my BOC 130 is 3.5 years old now and shows no sign of dying. That said, it only gets used once in a while. I kind of assumed the CIG 130 was virtually identical, and had always admired the carry case it came with, but haven't actually used it - therfore it's interesting to hear that the BOC welds smoother than the CIG.

I have got a Unimig Procraft 240 and a UniTig 200 and they are both great machines.

In the past I have also purchased 3-phase UniMigs for an engineering shop I ran.

At the place I currently work, our boilermakers use some Uni gear, and even though it is not completely bulletproof (neither is the Lincoln gear), they can get it repaired easily and quickly (this is the primary reason I bought Uni welders for my own garage).

For home use, they are priced well, seems to have adequate features, and most importantly for me you can get them repaired if required. Also, if you call their Sydney phone number you can speak to a real live Aussie. Hence I look at these welders as an investment in my sanity and my shed.