heads up lidl special again Arc Welder

[Jaeger_S2k]

Because, the supermarkets stick to what they do best - shifting boxes. I prefer that. I don't need or seek advice from some salesman. There's better advice here, for a start. Aldi and Lidl offer high quality products at very low prices.

If a welding supplies outlet sold high quality bread at a good price, then I'd consider buying bread from them (ref a comment above). But they wouldn't. The places I've visited have charged sky-high prices for rods, welding units and everything else I asked about. Someone here even suggested a rip-off is to be expected until they 'get to know you'. What a way to operate. I saw simple inverters which looked pretty similar to my Wolf inverter, quality and facilities wise. My Wolf inverter cost about £50 when I bought it. I think the welding supplies place was asking for about £200. They'd have you believe their inverter is superior or they offer better service if something goes wrong. You bet - they'd be delighted to fill in a service form for repair work at £75 per hour, or something.

There's so many condescending, arrogant, delusional, unrealistic and unfair comments from both your posts, I will not attempt to correct or convince you of them.

You have obviously convinced yourself you're right. Don't take this personally George it is not an attack on you but in your notating of your thoughts and views.

This is a shame George as it's my second post, about something you've typed and it again negates what you've written, thought or believe, it's just that you write in such an authoritative way that you could be mistaken by others to be correct even though you are in this, and the previous post on oil, to be quite wrong.

This post isn't an attempt to convince you to my way of thinking or to argue with you. I think that would be a waste of time.

Having worked hard, given blood (real blood), sweat (real sweat) and tears (real tears) for over 17 years as an independent retailer I have through those years come to recognise (I can spot people who follow your kind of thinking from 100 yards in an airport check in desk queue) that we independents cannot please all of the people all of the time.

There are some people who will never be our customers.

There are some people we never want to be our customers.

There are many people who will never reach a level acceptable to become one of our customers.

There are some people who believe that you can make the 'same' item in China, of the same quality, to last as long and have support, guarantee and replacement parts and after sales service that goes with it.

That's naive and an unrealistic view of the world.

I'm pleased to say that we actively discouraged your type of custom from our shop by never ever offering good, great, bad or indifferent bread at any price.
We preferred as it wasn't our line of business nor expertise to leave that to our fellow independent, the baker.

I can only imagine what one fellow forum member (and an independent Welding Suppler) must be feeling about such utter nonsense being posted on an open and public forum.
I know I feel extremely frustrated and disappointed (and even angered, but not with you) seeing this kind of twaddle being exchanged in a reasonably well written manor is sad as it almost gives it credibility that it so woefully does not deserve.

I'm all for a bargain, like most people until I know I really want to follow a particular route/hobby etc, I keep my exposure to a minimum, but when I buy crap I know it's crap (that's where we differ).

When I want good quality, reliability, expertise, backup, advice (from experience), guarantee (some of which will be personal) service and that nice feeling of knowing that I'm helping to keep that fountain of all the above around to supply the same of all the above to others who want it I know I will not be putting my pound in neither Aldi, Lidl nor eBays tills.

However my way of thinking and shopping carries with it a kind of "double edged sword" and that is I will only ever meet people who agree with my way of thinking and shopping and I will sadly never ever meet anyone who follows your way of thinking and shopping, and I like meeting people.

 

[GeorgeB]

There's so many condescending, arrogant, delusional, unrealistic and unfair comments from both your posts, I will not attempt to correct or convince you of them.

The last time we 'crossed swords' - on the engine oil for Oxford welders issue - I wasn't too keen on your response, so I responded. My response was measured, I thought, but it was deleted. I'm not too keen on what you've written here but I hope it's not deleted. I rest my case. I didn't realise you are a trader. I can provide evidence, backup, proof or whatever for all the points I make. Caveat Emptor.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I'd prefer to buy a welding machine from a supermarket, rather than from a welding supplies outlet.

How many times have we had people on here who've bought a machine purely on price without knowing anything whatsoever about it to then find it's an absolute load of rubbish or not suitable for their purpose? Box movers tend to know absolutely 3 parts of sod all about their products which is why this happens!

Because, the supermarkets stick to what they do best - shifting boxes. I prefer that. I don't need or seek advice from some salesman.

See above!

The places I've visited have charged sky-high prices for rods, welding units and everything else I asked about. Someone here even suggested a rip-off is to be expected until they 'get to know you'. What a way to operate. I saw simple inverters which looked pretty similar to my Wolf inverter, quality and facilities wise. My Wolf inverter cost about £50 when I bought it. I think the welding supplies place was asking for about £200. They'd have you believe their inverter is superior or they offer better service if something goes wrong. You bet - they'd be delighted to fill in a service form for repair work at £75 per hour, or something.

They are in business George, they don't have the buying power of major chains and are just trying to make a decent living. I don't know what you do for a living but put yourself in their shoes for a minute, most don't have the luxury of being able to pile it high and sell it cheap.

The last time we 'crossed swords' - on the engine oil for Oxford welders issue - I wasn't too keen on your response, so I responded. My response was measured, I thought, but it was deleted. I'm not too keen on what you've written here but I hope it's not deleted. I rest my case. I didn't realise you are a trader. I can provide evidence, backup, proof or whatever for all the points I make. Caveat Emptor.

You may want to consider changing your user name to Zorro as it seems you will always be crossing swords with someone.
Your supermarket quote is borderline trolling in my opinion, you knew it would provoke a reaction which is why you said it.

I'm keen to keep this thread from being locked so please can everyone think carefully about their responses?

 

[GeorgeB]

How many times have we had people on here who've bought a machine purely on price without knowing anything whatsoever about it to then find it's an absolute load of rubbish or not suitable for their purpose? Your supermarket quote is borderline trolling in my opinion, you knew it would provoke a reaction which is why you said it.
I'm keen to keep this thread from being locked so please can everyone think carefully about their responses?

This is SO unfair! I sincerely hope you don't close down every thread just because there's an interesting debate for once. As I said, I haven't yet seen the Lidl welder but I have bought plenty of hardware items from Lidl before, and have seldom been disappointed. My hunch is that it's generically similar to the other low-price, dead simple, arc welders which I have. They all work a treat and I doubt if the Lidl welder will disappoint, as long as people understand that it's not a £600 Portamig or £2400 Lorch. I expect it will join metal together in a similar fashion, though. Let's not lose sight of the objective here - joining metal. I don't buy welding machines to admire them sitting in the shed, looking impressive.

My reference to supermarkets followed on from arcequip's comment earlier. I'm sure his reference wasn't trolling and neither is mine. I mean it when I say I don't trust welding supplies outlets. Or is it that I'm not only ripped off by them, but not allowed to compain about it, or report what happened, later? My 'allegiance' is primarily to other DIYers, especially those who may be short of cash and who seek to get the maximum welding power for limited money.

Finally, if you read back, you'll see that, whilst I was critical of welding supplies outlets, I didn't launch a personal attack on anyone. Someone else opended a personal attack on me and then you analysed my inputs, sort of blaming me. Typical!

 

[Wozzaaah]

If you feel someone has launched a personal attack then either PM Malcolm or one of us mods or simply hit the report post button, that's what it's there for.

 

[Haze]

back ON TOPIC then guys

 

[TechnicAl]

I can see Georges point but if we all went down the same path we would lose a lot of experience and knowledge.
For example all the Butchers have gone, replaced by the Supermarket. Try to buy anything unusual or get any advice now.

 

[Archie]

This is SO unfair! I sincerely hope you don't close down every thread just because there's an interesting debate for once.

George, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is deeply uninterested in having this debate (or any similar to it) yet again.

 

[ian of fev]

the best thing my bro did after i told him NOT to buy one of these cheap arc welders after it blew up in front of him was not to bin it but to use it as a door wedge nowt like recycling lol

 

[GeorgeB]

George, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is deeply uninterested in having this debate (or any similar to it) yet again.

Then why comment?! I don't visit the fan forums of pop artists who I don't like, just to say I'm uninterested and to ask them to refrain from discussion. Neither do I read the sports pages of newspapers or certain sections of this forum. Cheap arc welders interest me and we had a half-decent discussion going on here, on a new angle, including reports from Germany. If nobody wanted to discuss Lidl welders, it wouldn't have got as far as 4 or 5 pages.

Now we've been hounded out and almost barred from any sensible discussion by several posts designed to disrupt. You win.

 

[Archie]

Because a debate requires two sides of reasoned argument, George. Not two sides yelling the same points at each other over and over again. I could, for example, have pointed out for the umpteenth time that comparisons between a buzz box and an AC/DC TIG welder are invalid but as you'd probably have ignored me as you have in the past and carried on ranting about '£2500 Lorch' welders I thought I'd not bother.

 

[GeorgeB]

Because a debate requires two sides of reasoned argument, George. Not two sides yelling the same points at each other over and over again. I could, for example, have pointed out for the umpteenth time that comparisons between a buzz box and an AC/DC TIG welder are invalid but as you'd probably have ignored me as you have in the past and carried on ranting about '£2500 Lorch' welders I thought I'd not bother.

Reasoned argument? Who are you to judge? I didn't start this thread but it's interesting as a new brand and source of arc welder in the UK. This had never been discussed here before. It seems better than endless repeats of the same old questions and answers on MIG welders but you don't complain about that. Or the chat room type, one line banter complained about in the context of potential forum improvements.

I made no comparison between a buzz box and an AC/DC TIG welder so I don't know where you got that idea from. All I said is that you CAN'T expect the same performance.

At the end of the day, you and others have succeeded in disrupting and almost closing down this discussion for reasons which I can only guess at. Normal forum rules and standards of moderation were even waived with the same objective in mind, I assume.

 

[Archie]

They all work a treat and I doubt if the Lidl welder will disappoint, as long as people understand that it's not a £600 Portamig or £2400 Lorch. I expect it will join metal together in a similar fashion, though. Let's not lose sight of the objective here - joining metal. I don't buy welding machines to admire them sitting in the shed, looking impressive.

Reasoned argument? Who are you to judge? I didn't start this thread but it's interesting as a new brand and source of arc welder in the UK. This had never been discussed here before. It seems better than endless repeats of the same old questions and answers on MIG welders but you don't complain about that. Or the chat room type, one line banter complained about in the context of potential forum improvements.

I made no comparison between a buzz box and an AC/DC TIG welder so I don't know where you got that idea from. All I said is that you CAN'T expect the same performance.

At the end of the day, you and others have succeeded in disrupting and almost closing down this discussion for reasons which I can only guess at. Normal forum rules and standards of moderation were even waived with the same objective in mind, I assume.

I refer you, George, to the above quote. You clearly refer to a Lidl buzz box, a £600 Portamig (a MIG welder) and a £2400 Lorch (an AC/DC TIG). How are these relevant comparisons?

I agree that there are many questions that are asked repeatedly on the forum. I can only assume that the reason people continue to answer these is because they derive some satisfaction from giving advice to those who wish to listen.

I also acknowledge that insubstantial one-line replies have been the subject of some discussion. However, these have been largely eliminated of late by the new chat room.

As for suggesting that there is some sort of conspiracy to hush this thread up which includes complicit moderators..... I hardly need point out how absurd and totally unfounded that is.

 

[malcolm]

Normal forum rules and standards of moderation were even waived with the same objective in mind, I assume.

I find that very insulting. The forum benefits from light handed moderation, but with some members this does not appear to be the right approach. Here's some reading for everyone:

• To help understand the rules here's a link to a fun informational video - how to behave on the internet.
• Be nice to everyone else on the forum
• Winding up other members (trolling) - Don't do it on any account. If it looks like you are deliberately trying to wind people up you'll quickly end up on the naughty step.
• Please respect the wishes of moderators or admin. Moderating is not an easy job, so please don't make it worse by challenging moderators decisions.
• Replies to posts should be interesting and useful to the thread owner
• This is a discussion forum not an argument forum. Other members will be trying to help you with their posts, so please don't belittle their contribution.

And one especially for George:
If you must promote buying cheap welders that are unlikely to weld to any reasonable standard than a single post would be fine. Don't take over a thread and argue it to death with all comers. See a fun informational video - how to behave on the internet - and ask yourself if any of that might apply to you.

 

[Shiro]

So, did anyone get one then? My local store has 4 in stock and at £40.00 I am tempted to get one just to stick some tools together till I can afford something better.

 

[Ian T]

I got one and never arc welded in me life but at least I have got something to learn with and I did not understand the last three pages anyway

Used to have an Einhall mig about 13 years ago and it was fantastic

Regards

Ian

 

[Tom_M]

Got a JCB 24L compressor from B&Q for £30. Not up to much if you are using compressors for serious work, but for part timers like me it's ok.

 

[chrisg3103]

anyone considering buying one might want a read here - http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=8971
seems a fair enough product test!