Hi James,
Buy the biggest you can afford. The manufacturers always seem to over
rate their specifications for capacity. I would be supprised if you can
make a decent weld on 5mm mild steel with a 100 Amp MIG.
I have a 130 Amp for home use and find it's suitable for most things.
You'll be using .6 and .8 wire for most jobs and won't really need the
bigger stuff with a small MIG. Most of the small MIGs come with a hand
held sheild. Buy a full face mask. You'll need both hands until you're
pretty good.
As someone has pointed out, don't use the small bottles - they don't
last long...
More importantly, use a decent sheilding gas. Since you're in the UK,
you should have a local BOC gases shop. Use an Argon-CO2 blend. It gives
MUCH better results than CO2. Argosheild 51 is a common one. It's more
expensive, but worth it IMHO.
Make sure it has varible wire speed and that the trigger controls both
gas flow and power. Some tips are live all the time....
Hope this helps
Peter Cebalo
73 Spitfire Mk IV
Auckland New Zealand
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