Welder question

[Tony 260Z]

Hi all,

I've been toying with the idea of buying myself an entry-level welder for a while and spotted this while browsing the Halfrauds website. Anyone tried one or know anything about the SIP Weldmate T130P welder?

SIP Weldmate T130P Welder from Halfords Price £259.99

Thanks,

Tony

 

[jay28]

Hi Tony,

I have one almost exactly like that.......I havent used it much but its fine for light work.

What are you going to weld?

 

[datty240Z]

You ought to find out what type of gas bottles it takes. If its the small disposable ones they work out rather expensive and don't last too long. Maybe thats OK if its only a little bit of tinkering you'll be doing. If you intend to get a bit more serious you'd be better off with a proper regulator and larger refillable bottles. Argon (BOC Argoshield) is the best gas to weld with and gives a much neater weld. You have to hire the bottle for a yearly fee and you have to pay for the refill also but it will last for a long time.

 

[datty240Z]

Not that sure that Halfrauds would be the cheapest place either. Probably better off at a motor factors.

 

[jay28]

Mine uses the small gas bottles.........But I got a large bottle of Argon from work and I use that. Not sure about the UK but here you have to rent the large bottles and it works out very expensive, not worth it if your only tinkering about.

I used the small bottles for a long time, they are fine if your just going to be welding all day.

 

[twoforty]

I have one like that, it's ok but it has been back 3 times and the 3rd time the thick cable with the wire feed inside melted and came away from the main unit...also the trigger plays up now and then. I'd buy a Miller next time .... Miller - MIG Welders, GMAW Wire Welding Equipment its a real pain waiting for halfords to fix it..they won't replace it.

 

[bongo]

I have one, out of the box it suffered from the same wire feed issues that all SIPs suffer from.

They are good welders but you need to swap over the liner for a steel one. That is the main cause of problems, overheating, poor feed etc as they use a cheap and nasty plastic liner.

You can get them much cheaper than that if you shop around. I used the torch & liner from an old draper welder, much better than the SIP one, and the upgrade cost was minimal.

If you know anyone in the pub trade get a bottle of pub gas from them, it is C02 and works out about a tenner for a bottle refill, which will last you a whole resto pretty much!

 

[zedhead240]

The first welder i had was a SIP 100 but the wire feed was very jerky so welding was hard work with very poor results so i bought a Clark 150 TE for £250 ish which was a vast improvement and also had the option of changing the polarities so you could use gasless wire (No bottle worries).
The only trouble with gasless is the wire costs more .

 

[Zed2k]

I had a 130turbo SIP mig at first, but wire feed was iffy, and now have a 180 turbo model, welds loads better than the smaller unit I got it for £350 delivered on a special offer I came across on the net.I would buy the biggest you can get as it will work alot better.

 

[Russ]

I got a Butters AMT 1800 mig for about £350 ish, and the guy chucked in a bunch of accessories/wire etc for that price. Would thoroughly recommend Butters welders, I know they're made abroad now I think but mine welds really nicely, doesn't have any wire feed issues, and the same model serves as the main mig welder for the bodyshop I use (hence why I chose it).

I bought it in person from these guys

eBay UK Shop - Splatter Welding Supplies: WELDING MACHINES, GAS CUTTING WELDING

as they're on my estate anyway If you're gonna buy one might be worth giving them a bell see what price they can do. I bought my welding mask from Grahams Machinery (Sales), picked up a Hobart hood for about £80.

The little disposable bottles are ok, depends how much welding you're planning to do. If it's the odd bit of fabricating and the odd car repair they're perfectly adequate and cheap enough that you get a fair few for the price of renting/filling a proper bottle

 

[Tony 260Z]

Thanks folks, I was just thinking of some patching and maybe chassis work one day (although anything at all tricky I'd leave to an expert!). Gist of above seems to be that SIP are good welders but often have wire feed gremlins, buy a more peowerful model if possible, and move near a pub

Hmmm... good food for thought!