Hi all,
I am not an experienced welder, but have been sticking things together several times a year for quite a long time. I currently use an old oil cooled transformer stick welder. I have done a 12 week course at a local college on MIG, but have not yet bought a MIG.
Rather than doing another course on TIG, I thought I would buy a welder and teach myself, and I see what looks to be a bargain SEALEY TIG 180s with a list price of £700 new on clearance at Sealey for £299, and various resellers selling them from around £260 upwards.
I cannot find any reviews on this welder... The Sealeys MIGs seem to get a good enough reputation, although there are a few haters out there. Is the Sealey 180S worth a punt do you think? I know it wont do aluminum, but I can upgrade later if I want to go down that path. But I don't want to buy something that makes life difficult and puts me off. Ideally I would shell out about a grand on an AC/DC R-Tech, but reckon the Sealey might be a good start and I can take it from there once I have learned a thing or two.
Next question is more general.. There seem to be a lot of welders that use a 13A 240v supply, that claim to have 150+amp output (eg the R-Tech 180/181 migs). Is this possible? I read somewhere that with 13A in you would be limited to around 130A weld. The Sealey TIG does state in the manual it needs 32A for full power. So - if I run (any welder) on a 13A plug, will everything work, but just blow fuses when I crank it up? Or will it annoyingly blow fuses all the time.....
Cheers
Alan
I am not an experienced welder, but have been sticking things together several times a year for quite a long time. I currently use an old oil cooled transformer stick welder. I have done a 12 week course at a local college on MIG, but have not yet bought a MIG.
Rather than doing another course on TIG, I thought I would buy a welder and teach myself, and I see what looks to be a bargain SEALEY TIG 180s with a list price of £700 new on clearance at Sealey for £299, and various resellers selling them from around £260 upwards.
I cannot find any reviews on this welder... The Sealeys MIGs seem to get a good enough reputation, although there are a few haters out there. Is the Sealey 180S worth a punt do you think? I know it wont do aluminum, but I can upgrade later if I want to go down that path. But I don't want to buy something that makes life difficult and puts me off. Ideally I would shell out about a grand on an AC/DC R-Tech, but reckon the Sealey might be a good start and I can take it from there once I have learned a thing or two.
Next question is more general.. There seem to be a lot of welders that use a 13A 240v supply, that claim to have 150+amp output (eg the R-Tech 180/181 migs). Is this possible? I read somewhere that with 13A in you would be limited to around 130A weld. The Sealey TIG does state in the manual it needs 32A for full power. So - if I run (any welder) on a 13A plug, will everything work, but just blow fuses when I crank it up? Or will it annoyingly blow fuses all the time.....
Cheers
Alan