types and brands of welders in use

Hi All
looking at purchasing a welding unit in can weld mig,tig and mma but have only used top grade welding packs at work etc. so looking for a little advice on what everybody is using. links below are my two favoured machine both are capable of 4mm + steel thickness and conversion for aluminium mig wire compatible, here's the catch I have never migged aluminium only tig welded but ac tigs are very expensive so mig could be a good solution. any help will be greatly appreciated

http://www.thewelderswarehouse.com/W...-iMig-165.html
http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/weldi...R-Tech_IMIG180

I use this cheap AC/DC TIG

http://www.lasexpert.nl/TIG220P

What's your budget? I picked up a cheap chinese tig/arc welder off ebay a long while back for around £500. Same as this one.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4IN1-AC-DC...item25a5b69897

Although that pack is better because it has the foot pedal which I've been meaning to get for mine. Used it on titanium and steel, haven't needed aluminium welding but have no doubt it would do the job.

Top end £400 ish I just worry about how good multi use units really are, I think a mig or mms is best for robots as the material is thick, unless you want to weld thin titanium etc

Mma predictive text

Unless I'm mistaken, I thought MIG had a relatively poor penetration? From my own experience with TIG I've never had issue getting a deep weld on thick material.

Thing is, how often are you actually going to be using the unit? Could always check out gumtree to see if there are any industrial type machines available for cheap?

Mig can have good penetration, but then you're going for pulse mig. Not the simplest nor cheapest way to get it done.

In any case, Garry's multi use machine is in effect the same as what I have, but with a bit more tubing and a switch.
In the end it's one Chinese firm making a few variants of the same powerboard.

I like my cheap Chinese AC/DC TIG. But if I had the work for it, I would go Kemppi. (think Rolls Royce for welding equipment)

I do like tigs but for ease and weld required mig is ideal, fast,fills holes easily,good penetration on 4mm no problem,compact and runs easily on co2, bout I really do like mms welding but not ideal for tack welding or filling robot holes.

+1 for the 220P welder. Got one of my own and bought several for my workplace too, they're abysmally made when you look inside of them, however, they just refuse to die despite any amount of abuse. The everlast welders are much nicer for a little bit more money mind you. Also they come factory set at too low of a power - the adjustment is very easy, take a look on the robowars forum where there's a write up - when corrected they are crazy powerful!

They weld Aluminium fine, the only major control is balance for AC. No frequency setting or any other fanciness.

Only chinese made Mig i've enjoyed using is this - Apparently it's a rebranded miller or something, perhaps you can find it relabelled? was about 400 pounds. There's a smaller 150 amp version for 250 or so that would easy do 4mm. Have done 10mm with full penetration using spray transfer on the 180 :)

http://www.bocworldofwelding.com.au/..._rgb_black.jpg