Malcom,
The arc welder for $150 is a cheapie that barely works. I have one that
I bought on sale for $75 in a clearance sale of returned goods. The only
success that I've been able to get out of it is by using 1/16" rods. I
can't hold a steady arc with the larger sizes. You can't weld sheet
metal with this unit. It will burn right through. It is OK for working
on heavier steel like 1/8" or 1/4".
The MIG welder that I know of at CTC is a flux weld only unit. It
doesn't have the gas adapter or else it is an extra. Check this out
carefully. I have not tried flux welding but from friends that have it
works great but is more work to clean up the flux after welding. The
clean up is easier than the arc weld flux as it is not as hard. For nice
clean welds go for the MIG gas outfit. I bought a Lincoln and ended up
paying close to $1000 after all the pieces were added up. The gas is
relatively cheap and I rent the cylinder for about $55 a year.
Costco also has a Lincoln MIG welder but it doesn't have the gas
adapter. Check out Home Depot as well as they carry the both flux and
MIG units.
I chose the Lincoln for quality, reliablity, servicability, and longer
term resale value.
Hope this helps. You can contact me if you have any more questions but
I'm not a welder, just an amateur weekend "toy" fixer.
Vic Whitmore
76 Triumph Spitfire
Thornhill, Ontario
Malcolm Walker wrote:
>
> Canadian Tire has a sale on MIG welders this week.
>
> Has anyone ever bought one from them? The two machines in question are
> both 115V, 70A units... one is a wire-feed and the other uses flux-wrapped
> wire.
>
> I'd like to know experiences and advice... most pressing of course- will
> they weld sheet metal without wrecking it?
>
> The cheap one is $150 cdn. Features appear to be spartan. It's got a big
> knob on the front and a switch, little else. It's red.
>
> The nicer one (I am thinking of this one...) is $350. It's got a smaller
> picture in the flyer but it looks like there are more controls on the box
> and it's a wire-feed. I don't know where/how the gas is supplied. The
> flyer blurb says "With electronic wire speed control. Requires no gas
> regulator to weld. Runs on 115V input power. Welds up to 3/16" steel".
>
> Please respond ASAP, the sale ends this sunday (15th)
>
> thanks,
> -Malcolm
|