11 of these at Bundamba. Bossweld Mig starter kit has Electric Helmet, apron, gloves, wire and hammer. Couldn't see a link on the Bunnings page it's been reduced from $299. I'm wanting to learn some welding and was wondering some opinions on this for a beginner? looks like it takes a 10 amp plug which is what I want
That machine has no provision for gas, so if you are happy working with flux core only, it would likely be fine. 100 amps is also pretty low, really depends on what you want to weld.
Hi Brendan i would probably just be doing some 25 and 50mm RHS and some rebar for trellises and that sort of thing.
just be doing some 25 and 50mm
It's more the thickness, more amps equals more penetration. You'd have to look up what sort of thickness you can weld with that much current to see if it will suit. As pointed out, the duty cycle is shocking at higher amperage, so if you are doing any semi decent amount of work, you'll be spending more time watching it cool down than welding.
Makes it pretty much useless for aluminium even if you can get the teflon liner. It's rated 100 amps @ 20% duty cycle, which sounds passable for a home hobbyist MMAW welder but fairly lame for a constant wirefeed unti. Its 100% duty cycle rating is 50 amps and 60% 68amps, so I'd rate it as an 80amp welder - handy for sticking on a gate hinge or panel work but I'd be wary about considering it for anything structural.
For this price you can get a fairly robust and far more versatile multi-polarity MMAW [stick] welder capable of running kobes and 601* rods that can stick your back-up trailer to the clothes line…
If this unit suits your needs [ and it will for many] there are second hand units available for $188.10 here [ no relation]:
https://www.bobthewelder.com.au/M100-Gasless-MIG-Inverter-We…
It's 100% useless for aluminium. Good point on the duty cycle.
It's more the thickness i.e up to 4mm steel
Hmm - the standard way of welding plate [>4mm] it to grind the edge @ 60 degrees then leave a 0.5 to 1mm root gap. This is whether you are working 5mm or 25mm steel - the limiting factor being the amperage you can pump in to counteract the heat transfer in the material and lowering the numer of heating > cooling cycles as you complete the weld. Flux-core offers advantages in side-wall penetration and deposit rate but root penetration is lower compared to gas-shielded MIG.
I think users would be risking failure if they were trying to do single-run jobs on the thicker materials but for most "domestic" jobs pre-heating, treating it as a really long 2.5mm "stick" and paying particular attention to the root-run would give a passable job.
Then again, if you have and are fiddling with an Oxy bottle anyway then you may as well go for a unit with gas shiedling anyway - you can still use your flux-core wire outside in a breeze and have the advantage of being able to swtich liner, wire and gas for aluminium work as well.
![[QLD] Bossweld M100 Mig Welder Starter Kit $249 (Save $50) @ Bunnings Bundamba](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/95/599695.jpg?h=7e0fa740)
https://www.bunnings.com.au/bossweld-100a-m100-gasless-mig-i…
This link seems to be the welder without the kit.