Mig welder advice please!

[tetsu0san]

Hi all

I currently have a SIP Migmate 130 which originally was a hobby-type welder but has been converted to a Euro Torch to make it more of an industrial type of welder. Today I have just been offered a virtually unused Ferm 180 welder which although is not a Euro Torch is more heavy duty than my SIP one, and I like the look of it.

Anyway, I have heard of SIP but I have not heard of Ferm, so has anyone had any experience of them and are they any good? Should I stick with what I have or should I take up the offer of the Ferm welder and sell on my SIP one?

Cheers

 

[major truma 2]

fern ,are budget brand
if your only useing it for a few hours a time ,once a weekend ,it should be ok ,
its not the type of mig u would want if you were welding 4or five hours a day ,but saying that the sip it either ,

 

[listerdiesel]

If you only do occasional welding, the smaller types are sort of OK but often are a compromise between price and being able to do a decent job.

We've had a few of the smaller ones, rubbish, unfortunately, most common faults were wire feeder and internal rectifier.

When we had enough of those, we looked for a 'proper' MIG welder and picked up an Oerlikon 250A job from an industrial machinery site in Manchester, West Point Machine Tools.

Chalk and cheese compared to the small ones, lovely to use and we have a full size bottle of CooGar gas on it which lasts a hell of a lot longer than the smaller ones.

It isn't used daily or anything like that, but when we do any welding, it's there ready to go.

Needs a 32A supply, which we have at the workshop.

You get better value with a good secondhand industrial machine than with a new low-power one.

Peter

 

[tetsu0san]

This welder is not new and I don't think it has been used so I thought it would be slightly better than the one I have. It's just that I have not heard of Ferm before.

It will only be occasional welding but I get a little frustrated with my SIP. The Ferm has more adjustment which might make it easier.

 

[Pikey]

Ferm are super cheap and crap. Main problem is the minimum setting is about 50Amp so you can't weld thin stuff with em & the wire feed is useless.

 

[darrenaroberts]

Plenty of advice on Mig Welding Forum.....also been a member there for years.... some guys on there - what they don't know isn't worth knowing....

 

[the_wolf]

Plenty of advice on Mig Welding Forum.....also been a member there for years.... some guys on there - what they don't know isn't worth knowing....

+1. I found it invaluable when I was learning

 

[kes86]

+2 very good forum.