Welder - which one for car bodywork?

[WouldbWelder]

Right, I'm doing a course at a college and want to get my own one - a MIG set-up.

Which would be the best one amp-wise for car bodywork? I need it to run off a domestic supply so can't have anything too big.

Any thoughts anyone please?

There's a SIP migmate 105 and there's also a 150 - the 150 would be my choice in any ideal world - but do I need one THAT powerful?

The 150 is the biggest one I can have and then it's three-phase electrics. Would the 105 do? Not sure whether they do a 130?

Which welders have you all got?

[steve_d]

I would go for the 150.
But then I would say that because I have one myself.
A smaller one will do car body but you will soon find you want to weld something bigger and will regret the marginal difference in price. You may even make up the difference by being careful where you buy it.
If your doing much work then get a bigger bottle and regulator.

Steve

[GreenV8S]

For bodywork I would have thought that the minimum current spec would be more important than the maximum. You probably want it to go down to 30A or even lower if possible.

[MikeyT]

I'm after one of these as well - and the 150 works as low as 25amps which is good ...

Steve, are you running that off a normal domestic supply? A local sparky said I may need some thicker electric cabling to my garage to avoid blowing all sorts of things ... but I'd rather not.

[pies]

Got a 150 here and it works fine of 13amp supply

[steve_d]

The 150 works fine on a normal 13amp circuit.
However, if your electrician has identified that the bell flex running to your garage is less than suitable I would take his word for it and upgrade. The chances are that there will be other demands on your garage supply whilst you are welding and an overload could cause a fire. I suspect this is what your electrician is referring to.

Take care.
Steve

[WouldBWelder]

Thanks guys - I'm going for a Clarke 160 ...

The SIP ones have trouble with the wire feed cos the mechanism is cheap so I'm told (by a lot of sources, not just a guy in the pub etc).