Recommend me a mig welder magical rot zapper ray-gun. Now Epic Rebuild!

[Des]

My old mig is over 20 years old, it's had a hard life and in spite of looking pretty rough it still works as well as it ever did, but it never was a great one. I don't do much welding these days so I suppose it makes sense to now get a decent machine, if I persist with the old one I'll be too tempted to bat the remaining flakey paint from the bodywork and stick on a pineapple.

So what's hot and what's not these days? Are Sip and Clarke still players or have they become merely names applied to Chinese tat? What technological advances will I enjoy? Light weight and compact inverter equipped gear? DMF? Adblue? Ipod dock? 

[catsinthewelder]

I've heard fairly dreadful things about SIP build quality mostly to do with the wire feed,  Clarkes seem be as good as they were by virtue of not changing very much.

 

If I had proper money to spend I'd get a Portamig from here http://www.weldequip.com/mig-welders.htm as they get a very good writeup (on his own forum admittedly).

[Ratdat]

I had a Clarke and it served me well for over a decade. The only thing I disliked about it was the wire feed roller which had serated grooves to grip the wire. Unfortunately, this meant if the wire fused itself to the tip it couldn't just slip in the roller easily leading it to kink between the rollers and liner. If you got the roller tension just perfectly set it'd be okay but it was proper sensitive in that respect. Otherwise it was a good machine.

 

I now have a Portamig. I haven't used it all that much yet but it seems okay ...but not as OMGOMGAMAZING as the comments would lead you to believe. It is capable of some very small low power welds which is handy. So far, I would say it was really any better than the Clarke but maybe once I've really put it to work properly it'll show it's worth.

 

For the record, I have only ever used two SIP welders. Both were shit.

[dave21478]

Avoid SIP at all costs - they are ok...ish, but ultimately frustrating and you find you are splitting your concentration between actually welding and cajoling the machine to work reliably.

I had two over the years because I am dumb, dont learn my lessons and too tight to pay a lot of money. You could be welding away quite happily and suddenly it decides to vary or stutter the wire feed, turning your efforts to shit. I ended up modifying the last one with new wire feed motor and speed controller, which was an improvement but it still wasnt great.

 

I binned it and now have a Clarke, which is less powerful, but overall a much more pleasant and reliable thing to use.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I agee with the 'SIP welders are shite' school of thought, defo give them a miss.

[twosmoke300]

Cerbora / snap on not great either . Clarke ok

[filthyjohn]

I took the plunge a few years ago and got a Portamig 185. Had to wait 6 weeks for delivery as they're built to order. It's a bloody wonderful thing though. If you turn it all the way down you can literally weld two steel drinks cans together, and if you turn it all the way up you can butt weld 5mm steel.

It has NEVER had a wire feed tangle issue, the worst thing was a bit of a jerky feed after my mig wire went a bit rusty.

Probably the best thing from a car bodywork perspective is the duty cycle, you can run it on middle settings for as long as you like, even at OMG TOP JUICE it's something like 35%.

 

Pricey though.

[danthecapriman]

I've got a Clarke 151TE, really happy with it. They seem a good balance between price and quality. I've used mine mainly for car bodywork and it copes well, even when spot welding. It's perfectly ok on thicker metal aswell though.

I can only echo the comments about sip, the ones I've used in the past were all shit, no where near as good as the Clarke welders. You end up spending more time fixing them than using them!

[mat_the_cat]

I've got a Clarke 151TE

 

I had one of these too, for 10 years until it got pinched. No problems welding with it, but the relay on the control PCB failed a couple of years ago. Under £3 for a new one so can't complain. To replace it I bought a Sealey Supermig 150, for the main reason that when mine failed, that's what I hired to finish the job and was impressed with it. The wire feed felt a little smoother, and the whole thing felt slightly better built. Part of that might have been due to the fact it was a newer machine, but if it could stand up to hire use then it couldn't be that bad.

 

I reckon you wouldn't go wrong with either - depends whether you prefer blue or red!

[Des]

Thanks for that chaps, I'd have assumed Sip to have been decent, and it turns out it's a Sealey that I have.

 

 

Looking as rough as a badgers arse, but now I wonder if I should give it a once over, clean it up, maybe treat it to a new liner and torch, give all the electrical connections a scrape, maybe get another 20 years out of it.

[HMC]

This thread reminds me of Des' classic quote regarding something to do with MIG welding and badgers. I'm

sure it's on somebody's signature.

[fordperv]

i have a clarke 135te, its spot on for what i use it for

[Dave_Q]

I've got a Clarke 151 as well and its done me well for the fairly occasional use it gets. Worked out cheaper to buy a gas/gasless one and a regulator seperately.

 

If buying Clarke hold out for a vat free event at machine mart, I paid less than 200 for mine.

 

By all accounts a portamig is a far better machine but you'd hope so at triple the price!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[mouseflakes]

Switching from SIP 'Topmig' 150 to Clarke 151 a few years ago was like a revelation.

 

Best use I got from my old SIP machine was when I cut the outer panels up to use in some repairs on an XM.

 

Avoid SIP I'd say.

[drum]

I had the topmig wire feed fun * too. Now have an esab 150 which is gr9.

[Des]

I've bought a new torch for the old welder, mend and make do, fuck you and die consumerist pleb throwaway society, so I embarked on a mega awesome Mig Welder Makeover, started with this old donk,

 

 

Off with the lid, some old bodges here, gas pipe bridged with bits of vac advance tubing and earth cable nadgered together with repair washers,

 

 

 

Then tapped out the worst of the commensurate with age carpark dings and threw on a smear of vactan, while waiting for it to go off I gave thought to the colour, dare I be so bold as to stray from the standard shade? A rummage in the garage turned up some 20 year old Hammerite silver grey, Taxi black, Leyland white, Carplan aluminum, but I pussed out and settled for a hue close to original called Datsun fuck me I gave them the paint code, the chassis number and even brought along the petrol flap and the protanopic cunts did a mix that would shame Ray fucking Charles.

 

 

Tried it out and it seemed a lot better, no need to fiddle with the settings.

 

 

 

[Minimad5]

Good work that man !

Always great to see stuff get fixed, not binned.

[Dippy]

Great effort unless spending big money you were unlikely to get much of an improvement on your set running as it should and think of all the shite you can buy with the money saved 

[castros_bro]

 Ear mate that's the same as the Mightymig I persuaded someone to become part owner with me in 1986 and, after several incarnations like the pub CO2 botttle addition, it is still working.  Mine does have a couple of large PC style fans fitted internally which help keep the temperature down.

[New POD]

I have a bottom of the range Clarke gasless mig.  You lot will probably laugh, but it cost me £40 and has provided me with decent welds on the sills of a cavalier.