hey guys im looking at buying a mig welder one that i can use gas and gasless thinking of buying a cigweld as thats all i have ever used and havnt had any trouble but was looking on ebay and there a few on there? has anyone bought one off ebay and is good quality and does decent welds? looking at spending between 250-550

Might be worth having a look at Unimig. Not sure if they go that cheap but the big ones are only around the $1000 mark and really good for the price (until my Staffy ate the gun lead).

Save a bit more and buy a decent one CIGweld yes or Lincoln. Alot of those cheap ebay ones are pure rubbish.

agree with andy, your better off saving for that bit longer and getting something that will last.. alot of the ebay ones you cant buy parts for so they are pretty much a disposable unit.

imho i would never buy a gasless mig, you can never get the same welds as a proper mig welder i dont care what anyone says.. but thats me

i agree with wardy gasless are #OOPS#, its very hard to get a nice weld and when you do it will usually be riddled with porosity plus that flux cored wire is #OOPS# and cost a bit to i think

In welding with a wire feed using flux core I have had reasonable results. You end up with a weld that looks like it was done with a stick welder. Chip the flux barrier off and brush with a wire brush and it should look just fine. The advantage of it is if you need to weld outdoors as there is almost no day that is still enough to not blow the gas shield away. Then you get a real mess and porosity. Make sure that you switch the polarity when welding with the flux core wire.

I agree that the Ebay wire feed welders are suspect. As was suggested earlier, save a bit longer and get a Lincoln or a Miller. Hobart makes a nice unit as well. There are others that will work but as was suggested, parts may be a bit of a problem.

money spent onm a half-decent mig & using gas will translate into much better results

Just bought this off eBay. ($650 2nd Hand)

There's a CIGWELD there too if you're in Melbourne

Attach file:

---

  WIA 215s.jpg (39.84 KB)

heres my setup i love it wouldnt go anythin different its cigweld 130turbo running on gas and i wouldnt look back cost me 450 trolly and wire included everythin but gas bottle. . iv used gassless for ages and gasless should have never been invented gas #OOPS#s all over gasless final!!!

Attach file:

---

  welder.jpg (61.21 KB)


  welder2.jpg (48.07 KB)

is gas just easier to weld with? or are the welds stronger?

see i got a gasless for non structual repairs (Panel etc) and couldnt care how the weld looks, as long as they hold strength wise. (mrs wont let me get gas anyway in the back yard with the kids)Also as i have no garage or enclosed space, not much point with gas set up.

oxy was good fun but not practical at all for me.

i know levey has had success with gasless, thats why i took welding course, to learn the basics, and he didnt laugh when wurzel asked about gas less, just said theres a trick to it and he would show us.

i heard the hobarts were ok from panel beater, he rated them more than the cig welds.