Testing The Cheapest Mig Welder I Could Find

[@rodeastell3615]

A great little machine. However, I believe that with a £200 welder you would still produce better results than I could with one costing £2,000 😅😅

[@billsheehy1660]

I thought that was brilliant, people should be reminded that a decent bit of tuition will help so many people on their way to welding to an acceptable standard.

[@Urchfab]

Cheers mate.

[@iteerrex8166]

I was thinking of getting one for home use, and the question was, how cheap is good enough. Looks like even a very cheap one is very capable. I’d say a medium price should do very nicely for home/hobby purposes. Thank you for the demonstration.

[@Martin_IPL5990]

It's always a pleasure to watch your welding tutorials Matt, brilliant as always.

[@Urchfab]

Cheers mate.

[@Mr57blackbeauty]

Bloody hell boy you're a bit good with a welding torch👏👏👏👏👏

[@dav1dsm1th]

It's amazing (to me) what these small inverter welders can achieve on a single phase supply. Thanks for the videos.

[@lesbaty8919]

We bought a small inverter welder at work and it’s an awesome machine on a 13amp supply

[@Moonlightshadow-lq4fr]

I have a Clark weld 100E, it's just over 40 years old, is falling to bits, rusty wire and it does get me by. It has had a few thousand hours use too but it welds 4mm steel great and you can still get great results with 2mm. Struggles at 1mm. Saying that though I know you could weld brilliantly using it at 1mm. I have never used flux cored wire purely because it is more expensive and I get more or less free CO2. It uses selenium diodes to rectify the electrode it's that old :) I really have to buy a new one as the wires insulation is breaking apart inside the machine and just hearing the sound of all these new welders the arc makes so smoothly. I've been worried about replacing it as it's been so good for me over the years and I've been frightened to splash out 200-300 in fear of getting junk compared to my rusty box, but this video has convinced me to finally get a new one. Thanks:)

[@dennistwitchell8821]

First MIG welder I bought didn't even have a built in fan. Learned my lesson about going cheap in a hurry. I believe the inverter welders are much more capable than the original style for a much lower price.

[@anthonykinrade8642]

The very one I was thinking of buying, thanks!

[@89_triumph]

Thanks Matt. Would love to see a tig video with this little welder too.. I have one slightly bigger (155a) but still budget and would eventually like to tig weld turbo manifolds (sch 10) and sheet metal.. Thanks again.

[@adeh503]

I love welding and making up thing's on a hobby level, but would love to have just a tenth of this guys skill, he's an awesome tradesman

[@Urchfab]

Cheers mate.

[@geraldgooding7430]

A very good video explaining and showing what can be achieved with budget machine

[@xKmotx]

It's the artist, not the paint brush. 😉

[@nigelmellor9477]

Would be very interested in a review of the slightly larger/more expensive TGN150MAT machine if your friends at Xtreme Plasma could arrange for that to be possible.

[@deopersad2915]

Awesome Matt thank's 👍🏽🤙, but my budget welder is old but also has no gas mig welder use gaslis welding wire, it do's the job and cost over 300 in New Zealand we get ripped off with stuff here a good cheap one is about 500- 800 my good one that I used to own was 1400 it was just a mig but it had gas with it as well but had to sell year's ago , so you get better deal's over there 👍🏽

[@engjds]

After stick, MIG looks easy peezy.

[@rsbharley4766]

Great video with excellent info Matt. if buying a mig welder to cover most job would 200amp or 250amp be the way to go, also people tell me forget the mig and get a tig. It's doing my head in, thanks for sharing. Cheers

[@chriscoulthard4947]

Brilliant video. It is the wire feed that lets most cheap welders down, that one looks good. Shame you cant fit the 5kg rolls though.

[@xtremeplasma]

the next model up does

[@ifell3]

Stick and Tig with this.... I thought the stick and Tig required constant voltage or amps and the mig the other. So this switches over, if so that's a great buy!!

[@basilwatson1]

Maaàtee I bought a cheap Chinese mig .." hitbox" and it's great.... For general sticking stuff together.. I'm not sure I would try 12mm for 20min but 25 mm x 3 mm angle it's great ...

[@bobsyeruncle4841]

nice clean weld

[@davidrayner2831]

Looks like a nice little lightweight MiG for the hobbyist/ weekend user… I’m a none professional and currently working on a classic car, welding metal between 0.8 and 1.2. Would you choose this or is there an alternative you could suggest 👍

[@patriotkieler9750]

I would really like it if you could do a test on the Uweld Welder. They claim to be able to aluminum. The welder appears to be really cheap for that capability. Uweld 250A MIG Welder,6 in 1 Gas MIG/Gasless Flux Core/Stick/Lift TIG/Spot Weld/Spool Gun Compatible Aluminum Welding Machine Large LED Display 110V/220V Multi Process Welder (6in 1 MIG Welder 250A)

[@jayinmi3706]

Lately a lot of channels I follow here in North America have been getting welders from companies like Arc Captain and such to try. I;d love to see what you could do with one of those.

[@reTool462]

Excellent video Matt. Any chance of doing one for a cheap Tig? Cheers

[@leslieaustin151]

Great video , great demo, thanks. Les

[@mfwwhelan7561]

Hi Matt, Very interesting video. I was impressed by the beautiful herring bone pattern you achieved with the fillet welds. Could you explain what type of torch/hand movement you used to achieve this? Thanks, Mike

[@joseywales3789]

It's easier to do.... Than to say! What I mean by that, it's easier for you to understand what is happening with the weld..... When you've got the torch in your hand. The main thing that you need to understand is penetration, the heat of the arc needs to melt into both of the parent metals that you're trying to bond together. The pattern of the weld is a byproduct of a good penetrated weld. Back and forward, curly w's and walking the cup...all produce different patterns of weld, but that's just the cosmetics of the weld. A cold weld or non- penetration weld could look brilliant but is very weak and a brilliant weld could penetrate into the parent metals but look like bubblegum! The art of good welding is consistency, constant distance of the torch to the weld, constant speed of the torch moving, consistent wire feed for the amps but it can't be taught by saying..... It needs to be taught by doing!

[@watsonwatson8051]

Brilliant episode, enjoyed that a lot

[@andyluckman9238]

Definitely interested to hear a flux core point of view

[@murrayedington]

Lidl recently had 120A flux cored MIG welder for £99.99 - our local branch had a couple left last week. I have a workshop full of old tat as it is, so had to give it a miss. Tempted!

[@rjordans]

I have one, quite happy with it too. Nice and quick to grab and stick bits of steel together. I mostly used it for putting together some workbenches and storage from aware tube, worked great for that. Being a cored MIG welder it does give a lot of smoke though so something to use in a well ventilated area!

[@molsky13]

Hi matt what was it like welding with flux core ?

[@possle]

So a £400 branded mig welder should be well up to the job of restoring a classic car and some other jobs?

[@ashc5728]

I had a couple of cheap MIG units, and they worked fora few hours before starting to have issues, and being an amateur welder my experience made it hard to tell what was issue with me vs the machine. I binned the unit and bought a unit that was about twice the cost, and its operated consistently for the past 4 years. The cheap units are not worth it.

[@chrispickard3337]

Love the intro!!

[@stuartwilliams2693]

Hi Matt, what gas are you using and what is the story around the polarity please mate?

[@canalboating]

Lovely welds,

[@kramer26]

Nice demo. I'm in the market for a decent little hobby welder, would probably spend a bit more, up to say £500, that could do TIG as well. Would be great to see how this machine performed with a TIG torch attached, and whether it can do AC for aluminium too...? What would be your recommendations/suggestions? Cheers

[@Urchfab]

I will be doing a comparison video with 3 £500 machines in a few weeks 👍

[@tompayne4945]

@1:16 blimey, is that the Wife? 🎉

[@slimshady6718]

Would you do one on cheap tig welders that could weld aluminium? To say 6mm thick I would gladly pay a few hundred quid for one but wouldn’t know where to look

[@Urchfab]

I’ll see what I can do 👍

[@MartinMcMartin]

I have seen first hand that a very competent welder can get good results from a shit machine. A newby on a shit machine however, gets bird splatter for welds. If you can learn on a good machine first it will always be a benefit.

[@williamholmes9129]

Would it help if you had to weld something a bit to thick for the machine would bit help if ground a 45deg fillet? Good info as a decent starter welder, not so sure a budget ebay one would be so smooth

[@catcaptain6023]

Similar experience, quickly ran out of wire speed...

[@BillyBob-uc9zp]

Weld don Mr 😎

[@gwc4020]

Interesting.

[@MARTINA-gc3tq]

Wow….it comes from the manufacturer with a gas leak and you breeze over it.

[@ianfoster6907]

can't watch this vid. seems to copy so many other youtubers. came to watch a welding vid, talk talk talk weld speeded up, talk talk talk what's the point, take a look at fitzee's fabrications to see how it's done🙂

[@seanhammon6639]

Very impressive!

[@thebrothers3971]

I have a Clarke 90 mig I bought a few years ago. No voltage indication just switches 1/2 and min/max. Nothing in between. And a wire speed dial. I did see somewhere a way you can find the voltage of the fixed settings using a multimeter. I must add what a fine job Matt did in showing us what can be done with an entry welder.

[@StuTubed]

I have a Clarke 135TE with the same voltage selector switches. As a beginner it's really hard to learn on because every welding tutorial assumes a fine adjustable voltage control dial. Honestly I don't understand why Clarke make them like that. It doesn't help that the manual labels those switches as current control too.

[@muzzthegreat]

@@StuTubed Yeah , I've got a 'decastar' 135E - 135Amps x 18 Volts = 2,430Watts which explains the limit in some countries on a single-phase. The 1/2 Min/Max switches are a cheap way to control the voltage: they directly click windings on-or-off in the transformer; doing a 'snazzy' dial is a lot more expensive. [it's an autotransformer or variac then] I've not found the switches to limiting; considering that the range is about 18 to 32 volts [? I think, can't remember], Four steps is fine-enough. I always find that the fine-ness in the speed/current dial fixes most; and all the rest is in the hands of the person; Position, Angle, Drag, Push, Weave, Orientation. Practice, not numbers on a dial.

[@johnmccarthy6451]

Good video to watch.. I'm starting out myself (& I've an old Millermatic MIG welder).. I've got to start on your, "Welding and fabrication how to tutorials" too. Yet I'm waiting on a earth clamp to come in as mine's knackered..

[@acengineer737]

I’ve found recently that seeing what I’m welding is a problem. Once I strike an arc I find it difficult to see what I’m welding. Not sure if it’s my mask or the background lighting

[@becko1969]

I’ve seen some shocking results from an expensive machine... if you can’t weld then the price of the machine won’t make a difference

[@UKDrew]

Awesome vid.. Looks like a great lil unit... Really would be cool if you could show it on Tig as well . Im after a new one myself..

[@TheSuprahuman]

What are the odds, just looking at cheap welders on Amazon and this video pops up. Great stuff 😃👍

[@troyboy4345]

Solid video for us non pros .... thnx pal !

[@markwilliams3153]

I was going along the M5 towards the Avonmouth bridge and went past your van with your car on the trailer behind, I was going to toot out as I went past but there was too many cars there ... I wished I'd seen your car on the track, nice to of seen you tho

[@Urchfab]

Nice to meet you kinda 😂 Next time mate. Cheers 🍻

[@Diffwrecker]

0.8mm wire?

[@ronald1968]

I would recommend that when doing what you might call 'welding for dummies' type videos its worth pointing out that your earth clamp should be on what you're welding..obviously in your case its clamped to the welding bench.... but some may not understand that.....

[@danstewart8218]

Many years ago I bought a sip weldmate and it was an effing disgrace, (the wire feed was like a geriatric pushing with blunt pliers) what you can get now for similar money is crazy. Great welding Matt.;D

[@dirtysteve7866]

there are cheaper mig machines, flux core, no gas, no tig, no stick

[@cozifpv2069]

I have been thinking about getting a small welder to do some rust repairs on my ep3 at home. It's good to know you can get a small cheap welder that works.

[@billywhizz98]

Incredible welding skills Matt

[@Urchfab]

Cheers mate.

[@beezo2560]

Honest review. Thanks for the video.

[@rosshannemann7772]

Matt that little welder will be great trackside

[@trevorjarvis3021]

Brilliant video Matt.👍

[@gost9396]

[@bigsquatchsasfoot1964]

Great vid thanks 🙏 your welding skills are impressive. It’s nice to see that you can actually achieve good and very except-able results on a machine that cheap thanks again 👍

[@nicbriers9547]

Just thought I'd add the first comment......😛