MIG welder for novice

Jason Future Oncology wrote: »

I'm looking to pick up a decent MIG welder for between 300 - 500 euro, closer to 300 would be ideal, but if the extra cost can be justified I can stretch.

I've welding experience mig, arc, gas, mostly arc which I really liked and wasn't bad at, but it's been 10 years since I've done any, so my skill level is basically 0.

My first project will be making a barrel BBQ 😎

I've read that as a novice I'm probably better off with a gas MIG welder

So could someone point me in the direction of a reliable, affordable, MIG welder?

You won't get a decent MIG welder for that kind of money but you will get one that "would do",
Have you factored in the price of consumables for the MIG welder? Bottle of gas, tips, wire, regulators, etc, they don't be long adding up.

Anyway google RTech welding in the UK, affordable machines aimed at almost any budget and a decent customer support if anything goes south on the machine. I've read a lot of good things about them.

I'll also say a MIG setup will cost you a good bit more that a stick setup by the time you factor in gas, and you also won't really learn about welding using just a MIG, i know its fast and convinient but stick welding has a lot of pros too.

I'd have a lot more knowledge of stick and TIG machines than i would MIG machines being honest, but that one looks fine, good duty cycle for the price which is usually a decent indicator.

In addition to the machine you linked, you'd need a bottle of gas E100-E300, wire spool E35, gloves E15, shield E50, to be ready to weld.( It seems to come with hose and regulator, but i doubt it comes with spare tips and nozzles, only a couple of euro each but handy to have lying around)
As mentioned above gas re-fills are around the E100 mark, if you're buying a bottle + gas outright, you're looking north of E300, places like BOC do rental on bottles but i've no idea what rental would be, rental only makes sense if you're going to be doing a lot of welding, you could spend as much setting yourself up with consumables as you do on the machine itself!