Thomas77GR Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 hi they are on ebay for £160 plus all you need to start welding (wire, mask, gas) it says they are non live torch..and they sell well however would like to ask if anyone on here has had any experience with them, are they good value for money? also there are two models, 135A and 140A, there is a £20 difference (the 135A more expensive), why should there be such difference when I'd imagine the 140A would be better? lowest setting is at 30A so i'd imagine they'd both be ok for car diy? i'm on a budget hence the dilemma! cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason b Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Never used one, and imho with welders you get what you pay for.... I've had an old clarke 150te that I use with a proper size gas bottle - but if I get another one it will have a euro torch and good wire feed (a portamig if I can scrape together the money) - if you are decent at electronics and bodging wires feed mechanisms (I am fairly competant at both) then a cheap welder is usable when it starts to go wrong. But most hobby welders will struggle with wire feed issues. I can honestly say it is worth saving and getting a good welder as it is a lifetime tool if bought right. Regardless, if you are going to buy a cheap one you will still need a regulator and a big size bottle as those small bottles are super expensive - even more so if you are learning. On that note, if you are learning it will take a lot longer with a crappy machine... www.mig-welding.co.uk is a great place for advice etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opel2000 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) Never used one, and imho with welders you get what you pay for.... I've had an old clarke 150te that I use with a proper size gas bottle - but if I get another one it will have a euro torch and good wire feed (a portamig if I can scrape together the money) - if you are decent at electronics and bodging wires feed mechanisms (I am fairly competant at both) then a cheap welder is usable when it starts to go wrong. But most hobby welders will struggle with wire feed issues. I can honestly say it is worth saving and getting a good welder as it is a lifetime tool if bought right. Regardless, if you are going to buy a cheap one you will still need a regulator and a big size bottle as those small bottles are super expensive - even more so if you are learning. On that note, if you are learning it will take a lot longer with a crappy machine... www.mig-welding.co.uk is a great place for advice etc. Will totally echo the above post. However when i first read the topic description "Wolf Mig Welders Question are they good value for money?" I was going to say NO! as they struggle to hold the torch in their paws He He. Seriously though I will say that I have never had an issue with the small CO2 disposable bottles, I've always found they last long enough to do what I neeed top do on a car, but I've always had one in reserve in case I ran out half way through a repair. I've always weighed it up that it would work out more expensive for me to get a proper bottle o' gas Final thing I'll say is.......... Quite impressed with the wire feed off of the Clark welders but you will need a larger spool of wire as the small spools are shocking due to the wire trying to spiral out of the torch tip and creating a wandering arc, the bigger spools don't tend to do this so much. Edited February 10, 2011 by opel2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason b Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) All depends on the quantity of welding required. Only the OP can answer that. I used to use small bottles when I was learning... but then I built a peugeot rally car and had the welder out more often to fit the cage etc. suddenly it was a lot lot cheaper to get a big bottle (just don't go to BOC - there are lots of independants who won't charge yearly or extra fees) - also the regulators are better. The new clarkes seem to have good wire feed but mine is some 15 years old now and needs to be babied along as it evidently had a hard life before. My advice is to think carefully, as saving £100 immediately may not pay off in the long run. Especially if you're doing a full restoration as you'll quickly grow tired of the little foibles that cheaper welders throw into the mix. (by the way, this advice is coming from a 23yo who bought a second hand clarke welder 3 years ago for £75 when he was a poor student, so I understand the need for budget) Edited February 10, 2011 by Jason b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 All depends on the quantity of welding required. Only the OP can answer that. I used to use small bottles when I was learning... but then I built a peugeot rally car and had the welder out more often to fit the cage etc. suddenly it was a lot lot cheaper to get a big bottle (just don't go to BOC - there are lots of independants who won't charge yearly or extra fees) - also the regulators are better. The new clarkes seem to have good wire feed but mine is some 15 years old now and needs to be babied along as it evidently had a hard life before. My advice is to think carefully, as saving £100 immediately may not pay off in the long run. Especially if you're doing a full restoration as you'll quickly grow tired of the little foibles that cheaper welders throw into the mix. (by the way, this advice is coming from a 23yo who bought a second hand clarke welder 3 years ago for £75 when he was a poor student, so I understand the need for budget) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) Can't comment on the clark as i have never used one but i have had a snap on 130 amp mig now for about 15 years, i use it with a pub co2 bottle and reg, bottles are £13.50 to exchange and the dual reg was about £25.00, shows bottle pressure and delivery rate, never had a problem with it at all and it gets used a lot both at home and at work.It came with a 1 kilo roll of wire but i use a 5 kilo roll of 0.6 mm wire. The snap on 130 is a rebadged "cebora" mig welder, never heard of them before but it works really well, with good quality weld on anything from car sill/body repair up to about 3mm plate, ideal on land rover chassis repairs. I have used it on the fabrication of trailer chassis and tipper bodies, welds 4mm steel if you take your time and let the welder cool a bit, if you keep going at it then it cuts out to cool after about ten minutes welding (it has an internal fan so cools quite quickly) as said before you get what you pay for, a good second hand snap on (or cebora) might be worth a look at but see it working first, hope that helps Check out e-bay item number260733994448 thats the same as mine, small and portable but works really well, ye the handles do break, spoke to my dealer years ago and he said it was a known fault with them, screw a piece of 1/2 square box to the handle and problem solved, thers a hole either end of the handle, cheers John Edited February 10, 2011 by johnboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manta3000 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 havent got a wolf mig,but purchased a wolf compressor,value for money,+would buy again,they are also on the shopping channel on sky i think,so might even be cheaper still got mine on ebay,cant remember seller though,but sure it was just link to shopping channel anyway,cause u could just phone +pay no problems +had it 3yrs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantadoc Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 snap on 130 amp mig now for about 15 years, Same welder, 24 years. Has had 2 switches and a steel liner. Upgraded to big real. Setting 1 MIN is playing up now but 1 MAX is OK if you weld quick. Although the Snap MIG is supposed to be good because of an industrial contactor, and I cannot vouch for the qulity of the internals of others, it appears that a load of similar, if not identical welders were available under: Cebora Clarke Taskmaster BOC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas77GR Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 ok thanks for the informative posts. I thought it sounded like a bargain with the mask and other ancillaries thrown in as these cost a fair bit of bob to buy alone. Not looking to build a car from the wheels up or full resto.. just small bits here and there, I figured it will cost me around £200 to get the jobs done by a garage so why not buy the whole caboodle. I haven't seen any second hand wolf migs for sale which would tell me they aren't half bad. I wish I could afford a clarke or similar.. anyway.. if you can suggest an alternative place to look for bargain migs please let me know I've done a wee bit of welding in the past (again on the manta) so i'm a novice and appreciate the issues with the wire feed.. However I also wanted to ask.. why do I need to buy a regulator? Don't these migs have them inbuilt???? thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 (edited) The regulator that we are mentioning in the replys is for the gas bottle, you will have a very basic one for the throw away bottles or a better one for the pub bottles or boc bottles. The regulator in the mig itself will be to regulate the wire feed. You can get gasless migs that have a fluxed core in the wire itself so no need for seperate gas bottles or regulators, not used one myself so can't comment but i have heard people say they are no good, perhaps someone on here has used a gasless mig and can help?? personally i prefer to use a gas bottle. cheers John Edited February 11, 2011 by johnboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason b Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 The mask looks like a handheld one so its useless for mig imho, a proper mask will free up both hands and make it much easier. Also the lack of second hand ones doesnt indicate much tbh.... could also indicate that they are so cheap that when people get annoyed with them they throw them away. The choice is up to you really, but I would hold out for a second hand good welder rather than buy a new budget one.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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