I would advise against any of the "hobby" type welders on the SH market, there can be gems but all too often they are being sold as they are not up to the job.

If SH then get a really good branded machine that spares are available for still(I had a Telwin 100 fitted a fan myself and that thing was 10yrs old when I had it 13yrs ago and the boy who has it now can still get spares!).

If it suits you, get one you can use gas-less also, flux cored wire has it's place, but it is dirty horrid stuff to use

Spend as much as you can on a good one, it will last and may well earn you money in the future if you get good enough with it

An automatic welding mask will help tons too, especially if you have to hold a piece and tack it in place, also cannot stress the need for decent leather gloves enough!!! They needn't be the 10mm thick fur lined gauntlets but just a decent all leather work glove, those little balls of spatter that land between your fingers and burn the soft fleshy bit between, also, a leather welders apron is worth it's weight in gold for cutting with a grinder and welding in funny angles where you can't always guess the spatter direction.

Oh god that d1 took some hammering by that tree :-/
Diesel what makes would you recomend?
Is 300-400 too little price for a new one?

90maniac said:

Oh god that d1 took some hammering by that tree :-/
Diesel what makes would you recomend?
Is 300-400 too little price for a new one?

Click to expand...

Bob on in my opinion, look at

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/151te-turbo-mig-welder

This one is going to replace my current machine once I have gotten past the next safety test in February. State of the art and it will do everything you need and probably tons more that you dont

Telwin Technomig 150 Dual Synergic MIG Welding Machine

90maniac said:

Oh god that d1 took some hammering by that tree :-/
Diesel what makes would you recomend?
Is 300-400 too little price for a new one?

Click to expand...

We have two Oerlikon welders, both semi-industrial but both work as long as you need without breaking down.

The MIG is a 250A unit, the TIG is a 200A unit. Both are single-phase input, but you need 32A for the big one and 16A for the TIG.

We use a full-size Coogar mix on the MIG and Albee rent-free Argon on the TIG.

The newer inverter stuff is nice and light, but like so many Chinese manufactured products, they are not reliable and you see so many for sale on ebay.

We paid £250 for the 250A MIG and £400 for the 200A TIG. Gas extra.

Personally, I'd always try to get a good industrial unit secondhand, they are always in demand and often don't fetch much as most don't need the output.

Both of ours are adjustable from low amps to their full output.

Of the two, the MIG has done sterling work on our Landies and other stuff.

The other point with MIG is the wire reel size. 15kg reels are cheap per kilo compared with the smaller ones, we keeo three sizes and nozzles to suit.

Peter

90maniac said:

Oh god that d1 took some hammering by that tree :-/

Click to expand...

Yes just a bit, the bird is still not forgiven.

My welder was £236 I think and then I got a helmet and bottle for another £140 so £400 is about right.