New Welder

fawlty towers

Hi All,

Looking for a new welder for around the farm. No welder here before so a bit of a novice and looking for advice on what best would suit. After reading the other threads these seem to be some of the options:

http://www.caulfieldindustrial.com/esab-buddy-arc-180-amp-inverter-welder-package-with-gloves-electrodes-and-automatic-welding-helmet/p-e15452pd.html

http://www.caulfieldindustrial.com/esab-buddy-arc-180-amp-inverter-stick--tig-welder/p-e13489pd.html

http://www.wholesaleweldingsupplies.ie/index.php?route=product/product&path=45_69_649&product_id=1330

http://www.wholesaleweldingsupplies.ie/index.php?route=product/product&path=45_69_649&product_id=997

Anyone care to give their opinions on which one to get, which is best value etc.

Are there other available?

What are these companies like to deal with etc

TIA

SuperTortoise

Never used them but they are decent brands, ESAB more so.
They should be plenty big enough for farm work, 3.2mm soft rods you'll never burn at more than ~130 amps the machines are rated for 160/180 amps so you should be fine.
The ESAB machine has a higher duty cycle which means you can weld for longer without the machine overheating, but bear in mind both machines have a ~30 duty cycle at max amperage which means you'll only be welding 3 minutes out of every ten but you'll rarely if ever need to go that high.

Is the ESAB worth 50 euro more? probably not, i'll try and have a look for other sellers and post back if i find anything decent.

Good luck!

dunlopwellies

I have a parweld xti 161DV Inverter welder. Bought about 4 years ago from local supplier.
Absolutely massive machine. Have done loads of work with it and never any problems. Would weld all day without cutting out.
Would defiantly recommend it to anyone.