Any benefit of gasless welding?

[BTM_FDR]

Does anyone use a gasless welder on their OSF?? if so, what are the pros and cons?? Thanks

[colr6]

For thin metal your better off with gas. Gas-less is more apt for 1mm and above you will prob blow more holes in your body work than before you started.

[BTM_FDR]

Haha okay mate cheers, looking to buy a new welder and most of the ones coming up are gasless/gas but you need to buy a gas conversion kit extra... make life easy don't they!! What welder do you use? Or would you recommend? Thanks

[colr6]

I use an Esab but prior to this unit have used the Clarke 185 turbo welders. There on the cheaper side of welders but can't complain about the reliability and welding you could do with them. The last Clarke one I had lasted 15 years so got my monies worth out of it.

[BTM_FDR]

Sick man, I see Clarke stuff looks pretty affordable... I currently have a sealey supermig 150 v2... but it's dying slowely!

 

Thanks for your input Col, as ever :L haha

[Vista]

A couple of responses on our Twitter feed for you

[jas]

U dont really need any more than a 130 mig for cars,my 130 mig from machine mart works better than my big  sealey one.

[BTM_FDR]

Thanks for that Vista, helpful as I don't 'do' social media haha

 

Thanks Jas, it seems the lower the ampage, the cheaper the welder in most cases.

 

I'm not trying to be a cheapscate, just finding my options

 

Gnar

[HotRodMatt]

I've had a Clarke 151T for what must be over ten years now. Been absolutely fine and used on body and rollcage work.

[jas]

murex migs  i have found to be one off the best.

[colr6]

murex migs  i have found to be one off the best.

Think a lot depends on your budget plus the amount of work your going to be doing. If on more of a commercial basis then you need to up the quality of the equipment, but I think for pound spent in relation to DIY needs the cheaper mig Clarke/sealy will suffice and produce good results. Paying 2k for a welder doesn't automatically mean good welding. Like the saying me thinks horses for courses.

[BTM_FDR]

Thanks col, I'm a boat builder by trade so a welder only comes in handy with DIY, I think a Clarke or another Sealey will be on the cards

[Tackleberry]

Just bought a Hawk Mig 150 from flea bay... £149 delivered in 24 hours. It is the gasless/gas one probably new version of yours...

[mk2ratter]

Clarke / sealey both good hobby welders for the money. Stay clear of gasless you can't set them up anywhere near as crisp as gas, and buy one a little bit bigger than you think you need so it's not running flat out all day, and there will always be that bigger job turn up like gate falling of inges or next door wanting something welding every time he sees you sat having 5 minutes with a cuppa

[eeb43]

buy the biggest and best mig you can afford and get proper gas not crap pub gas if you never need a 200 amp mig the duty cycle will be better anyway so bigger is better and make sure your extension leads are suitable for higher amperage not b/q specials