welder
- Thread starter TM155
- Start date
I have an old air cooled welder that has been around for years and it saw a lot of use until I bought an inverter . It now sees VERY little use. The inverter is super handy and will work no bother off a standard 13amp socket and extension lead.
Unless 99% your work is workshop based, the inverter is a no brainer
Unless 99% your work is workshop based, the inverter is a no brainer
Hesston4860s
Member
If only for workshop use i would go for oxford or pickhill oil cooled
Last edited:
J
Joe
Guest
Not sure if this is good value for a new one.....
http://www.myrak.com/details.php?id=1919
Cheaper option :001_unsure:
http://www.myrak.com/details.php?id=1949
TM155
Well-Known Member
wel i tink it will have to be an arc...eh dont really have a budget..say max€500..it will be run off a heavy duty socket...wud perfer an oil cooled 1 but i was told they are not made anymore :confused1: ...i have found a used 200 amp air cooled welder locally, will be goin to have a look within the nxt week, its €280 :001_unsure:
snowcat
Well-Known Member
Inverter Inverter Inverter, did I mention inverter, so much nicer than the hernia that is an oil cooled, rectifier or buzz box......
150amps is £300-£500 overhere from a decent mfr...... any of the big brands will see you well....
sold a Lathe to Wexford today could have boxed you an oil cooled up in the crate:whistling:
150amps is £300-£500 overhere from a decent mfr...... any of the big brands will see you well....
sold a Lathe to Wexford today could have boxed you an oil cooled up in the crate:whistling:
H
Hillybill
Guest
invertors imo and i have tried them are utter crap oil cooled are exelent mig`s are better dont touch a shitty invertor
J
Joe
Guest
invertors imo and i have tried them are utter crap oil cooled are exelent mig`s are better dont touch a shitty invertor
Utter shit invertors are
Utter shit invertors are
I agree totally. If i was buying one again, I would buy one that is capable of working safely off a generator - Im told they are available. VERY handy for that repair down the field!
H
Hillybill
Guest
I have tried two and they are utter crap ! oxford oil cooled are great stick welders but migs are bad to beat i will never have a invertor again,there a school boys toy !
snowcat
Well-Known Member
Thats why all professional welders use them id guess
....Oil cooled are excellent machines they have there place, but are quite frankly old technology....The apps between stick MIG/MAG to and TIG are all diffrent... they all have uses faults and uses.... Codings are written job specific and state the PROCESS... In a repair situation MMA is generaly more suited...
pretty much all new equipment sold is Inverter based, which includes TIGs MIG/MAG plants and MMA... CV MIG/MAG plants are becoming less and less common, I have actually just trilled one of the latest double pulsed MIG/MAG plants and the control on transfer modes is amazing giving results which are only possible with a TIG, Theres also a system launched by Lincoln called STT this can weld 3/4 gaps in one pass in spray transfer, try that with a standard CV machine....
I suspect the brands you tried were low end..... and 2 machines is knowt on the grand scheme, this is my job to know and use this equipment, you have with respect a limited prospective, a serious shop uses this tech day in day out....
H
Hillybill
Guest
All pro welders dont use them cos im a pro welder and im telling you invertors are f***in sh1t !! fit only for school boys learning or the bin !
snowcat
Well-Known Member
Maybe you could try constructing a sentence without swearing the English language has lots of adjectives suited to this task. It maybe helpful to the O/P to describe the Industry's and processes you've worked in, which machines you tried and why you didn't like them.....
Personally I like Lorch equipment or Fronius, All there machines are generator safe and all offer basic scratch D/C TIG, 150amps is around £400, from either brand, both are 3 year warranted and have a guaranteed drop Hight..1m off the Lorch I think..
I think the new generation of machines will Run cellulose Rods, but unless your working 6G stovepipe it doesn't really apply...
Theres other brands on the market and if push comes to shove theres little between the major players, Lincoln, Kemmpi etc...
bottom basic usable machines are things like your Telwins Seallys etc, Light Industrial rather than proper Industry Machines, they all come out the same plant in Itally and are badged to suit..
H
Hillybill
Guest
Worked in the real world ! have OWEND a good few welders ,OWNED a inverter and THREW IT AWAY CANT EVEN REMEMBER THE MAKE IT WAS GREEN ? as for swearing i swear in real life and i can tell you there was some swearing at that thing ! mig is sutable for almost everythig you would find on a farm im more practical than technical and i would never recomend a invertor to anyone if a farmer wants to weld a mig will do everything they will be able to do, a invertor wont I like murex migs but they are all the same now just in a differant box
tinman
Very Senior Member
it was a pity i didnt know that before i wound up the genny on my one
,it fizzled, hummed for a bit and then had a hamlet.
ya live n learn.
Mine is actually a Telwin!
Works well though and no problems yet!
Next one will be one of the better brands you mentioned though. There has been a few times that a generator friendly one would have been very useful
Ritchie
Active Member
Most inverters are genarator friendly but you need a genarator of atleast 8kva according to the litreture, I know they dont need that much to start and very little to run but it's the stability of a big genny that they need otherwise you'v got crisp circuit boards.
Mine is a New Arc 160 wired into a 16 amp socket, no problems with 4mm rods at 140 amps.
Ritchie
Mine is a New Arc 160 wired into a 16 amp socket, no problems with 4mm rods at 140 amps.
Ritchie
snowcat
Well-Known Member
Worked plenty in the real world myself, have used inverters on everything to a 5 minute top pocket job, onto pressure pipe and even for temporary and Permanant repairs to Cargo ships all with a Marine surveyor and inspector breathing heavy on kromer..... there very capable of producing a weld that will meet the most stringent tests within the industry....
there is no real difference in structural strength between MMA (with a 70x electrode) and MIG/MAG however, for repair work within a farm situation IMHO MMA reigns supreme....
Why?
Many farms have small underpowered MIG/MAG plants, In dip transfer on thick section these will create two problems cold lap and poor penetration, even a small MMA and PROPER prep, a stringer bead technique can be used to weld thick sections on a semi automated process this is not so posible...
For decent High pen High deposit welds out of a C/V MIG/MAG plant it is far better to run in spray, to achieve this thought a amperage Range several wire sizes need to be used, also for hot joints up hand a flux cored may be better, then a metal cored to give "bite" on highly stressed points with little weld... Spray transfer also needs manipulation to weld in 1G or F (Flat)...
How many farms would carry 9 or ten wire just for M/S, thats without buying Nickel wire (£1000 for 15KG) to weld a bit of Cast maybe S/S or a dissimilar, all in all to hold the consumables for service welding could cost £1000s equivalent with a stick couple of hundred quid...
Theres also the rusty dirty metal, that often gets little or no prep on farms, even Mill scale on new material can effect heat input on a MIG by 20%, stick is far far more tolarant.....
Theres also the outside factor which lends itself both to the lack of shielding gas and secondly to the portability factor of MMA...
I use all processes and really only favors them to the suitability of the job, but my above reasons would always push those repair welding with only the cheque book for one process in the direction of Stick....
Mine is actually a Telwin!
Works well though and no problems yet!
Next one will be one of the better brands you mentioned though. There has been a few times that a generator friendly one would have been very useful
You can run them through a computer type spike cerpressor, did this for years in the 90s on an early Cebora..
As I said Telwins are fine, they work, are upto EU Regs and offer warantys and backup, Chinese ebay jobs do not.....
H
Hillybill
Guest
Seems to me you live in fantasy land I could take you to 4 large enginering factorys in the borders alone making things from postdrivers to tesco super markets trailers truck bodies sheds you name it ! all done with mig welders not a stick in sight all the men will turn there nose up at invertors some of these people are turning over millions of pounds and are widely regarded as very very good so i think they know what there doing you are over technical i bet most here havent a clue what you on about most of the time
J
Joe
Guest
I dont understand all this talk about inverter and stick welders . Every fabricator and engineere I know only uses mig , every farm with a good workshop I know only uses mig , every one I know only uses mig . I only use mig . I have a stick and an inverter and never use them . I like to have a stick just in case but as for the inverter I could chuck it out I hate the thing an absoulte toy and waste of money .