The welder selection decisions?

I have no experience with this brand, but this looks promising on a budget:

www.ebay.co.uk

Sherman® MIG 200 Speedy Welder IGBT Inverter 200A GAS GASLESS Welding FCAW ARC | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sherman® MIG 200 Speedy Welder IGBT Inverter 200A GAS GASLESS Welding FCAW ARC at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!
www.ebay.co.uk

To explain why:

"Euro Torch" connection. Basically industry standard connection for torches, meaning you can remove and indeed swap/upgrade easily. The cheap machines the to have proprietary torches just hanging out the front.

Metal feed roller assembly. Rigidity matters here, it goes a long way to making smooth running, long lived assembly.

Continuously adjustable feed and voltage. I don't like the machines with buttons/ranges. They're never where you want them.

Din connection for grounding (same rational as the torch).

Overall, it looks like a nice machine. I'll try and dig up some decent reviews.
 
Aaron_W said:
I have never even heard of that brand, but the specs are quite good. 498 pounds (don't know how to do the symbol) = $662 which puts it at a little less expensive than a Hobart 190 or Lincoln 180 which would be likely candidates for a decent under $1000 240v MIG welder over here.
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Firstly .. Duh! I messed up on the "$" symbol, but OK, you did get that I meant $662. Sorry about that. I have now edited it now to read correctly.
For me, the $ sign is Shift+4. The £ sign is Shift+3
- - - - - - - - -

I believe both Hobart and Lincoln are available in UK, and I may look them up.
The R-Tech is the one @Lo-Fi has, and recommends. Also, he has experience of regretting buying a multi-machine. There may be some wisdom in having a design devoted to doing one thing well!
 
Lo-Fi said:
I have no experience with this brand, but this looks promising on a budget:

www.ebay.co.uk

Sherman® MIG 200 Speedy Welder IGBT Inverter 200A GAS GASLESS Welding FCAW ARC | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sherman® MIG 200 Speedy Welder IGBT Inverter 200A GAS GASLESS Welding FCAW ARC at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!
www.ebay.co.uk

To explain why:

"Euro Torch" connection. Basically industry standard connection for torches, meaning you can remove and indeed swap/upgrade easily. The cheap machines the to have proprietary torches just hanging out the front.

Metal feed roller assembly. Rigidity matters here, it goes a long way to making smooth running, long lived assembly.

Continuously adjustable feed and voltage. I don't like the machines with buttons/ranges. They're never where you want them.

Din connection for grounding (same rational as the torch).

Overall, it looks like a nice machine. I'll try and dig up some decent reviews.
Click to expand...

When I use that eBay link, I see the other ones that people who viewed it also viewed, and we find stuff.
One is just the very same welder but for £299, or $397.84, because it includes additional stuff --> Here

More interesting is same brand, for £329 ($438.54). The picture reveals it's Polish.
It seems to be switchable MIG or TIG or MMA up to 200A with some sort of automatic current control.
It has "2T" and "4T" under "inching", but somebody will have to explain that to me.
Gas or "Gasless" choice.
It claims "The welder has built-in automatic HOT START and ANTI STICK functions". I don't know if that means RF ignition.
It claims a memory for 20 sets of settings.
It claims "The device allows you to connect a spool gun (SG) to a mini wire feeder and a D100 coil made of steel or colored wire"

I don't know how you post the links with the as you do, so I resort to something more deliberate.
The translation is "Synergic Automatic Polarity Welding Machine"

--> USA link for eBay Sherman @ $438.54 Free International Shipping

--> UK link for eBay Sherman @ £329 Free Shipping
Sherman MIG 200HD.png

For the price, it looks yummy, and with the free shipping, is good for our USA pals as well, so long as they use their 220V connection.
I know you regretted buying a multi-function machine, but this one does everything except sweep up and tidy the shop after.

CAUTION Re: MAX POWER CONSUMPTION!
MIG 33A, MMA 33A and TIG 24A
I know it says "max", and actual current will much depend on what you set it to, and it could be less, but values like that would have me need to be sure the house circuit breaker could handle it!

Now that I have seen this, I guess current consumption is something one has to check out on all of these that we discuss
 
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I don't actually own that R-Tech, but suggested one for a mate who was looking to get into welding, as it's what I was going to buy before I got tempted by the Tecarc multi I have! In my naivety, I'd not realised that the Tecarc is DC only, the pedal support is pretty poor, and it's a right faff to swap between modes. Having used his R-Tech and realised my multis limitations, I realised I'd spent about £400 more than I needed to and should have put toward s proper TIG. Which I've now bought anyway... A pro welder who comes to the railway also turned up with one of those R-Tech units and loves it. Goes everywhere with him as his portable machine. If I did it all again, I'd go right to that R-Tech.

Do a bit of digging into that Sherman I've linked to, though, it might just be the ticket as a lower budget alternative. Like I said, no experience, but it checks some boxes on paper :)

Another thing worth mentioning: power supply. You can run on a 13A UK plug up to about 130 welding amps. Anything more and you need to swap to a 16A commando socket or you'll need shares in a company making fuses. My welder's all have commando plugs and I've got short adaptor leads with 3 pin plugs for when I want to plug into a regular supply when not in my shop. Realistically, I rarely go above 100 amps or so on my MIG, for which the domestic plug is fine. However... If you're ever going to run on an extension, the commando plugs take far larger gauge wire than a domestic 3 pin can. Helps hugely not dropping voltage down a long run.

Hope this is helpful!
 
Lol, cross posted! That eBay machine is looking tempting, I'll give it that.

2T and 4T refer to how the pedal works. Either straight on/off or with amperage control with amperage ramp up and down.

Hot start and anti stick are basically using the TIG high frequency tricks in stick mode to help prevent a dead short, no arc and red hot electrodes. Stuff classic arc welders do not do.
 
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Lo-Fi said:
Lol, cross posted! That eBay machine is looking tempting, I'll give it that.
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OK - Got that. The R-Tech MIG 180 only needs a 16Amp connection. More efficient??
Also, I am running 10mm2 SWA cable out to the shop outbuilding.
 
Yeah, I'm surprised they're asking for 33A!! My 180A machine only wants 16A at full chat. Maybe they're quoting figures for 110V operation?

10mm sq is what I'm running to my shed too. You won't have any issues with that :D
 
Maybe European amps are different than this side of the pond, but my 180 amp tig at max will trip a 50 amp breaker on 220 v. Its transformer technology but can't see that would matter.
The welder you linked to is DC tig, with scratch start, you need high frequency ac for aluminum.

Greg
 
f350ca said:
Maybe European amps are different than this side of the pond, but my 180 amp tig at max will trip a 50 amp breaker on 220 v. Its transformer technology but can't see that would matter.
The welder you linked to is DC tig, with scratch start, you need high frequency ac for aluminum.

Greg
Click to expand...

Inverter machines seem to draw less power than transformer machines. Per the manual my Miller 220 only draws 22.4A running TIG @ 210A and 27.2A running MIG @200A.
 
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