Hi - for anyone who knows something about welders, what type is this in upcoming Aldi Specials?
https://www.aldi.com.au/special-buys/special-buys-sat-3-augu…
It says it's a "gasless inverter MIG arc welder". I always thought MIG welders and arc welders were two different types. Is their description wrong or is it some sort of multi-function welder (very cheap though)? Or am I wrong in my understanding?
Thanks for any advice…
Arc welding is constant current.
MIG welding is constant voltage.
Different designs. No easy way to do both on one machine. That is why multi-process machines are so expensive.
MIG welding is just a type of arc welding. You can have CC or CV arc welding
A lot of machines will do arc welding in addition to their main function/s.
MIG does use an arc, and is easier than old-style arc welding. Their description is correct.
You just need special wire for the cheap gasless MIG welders.
Needs inner-shield or flux core wire. All welding requires a flux, so it’s either the gas in the case of MIG or flux cored in the case of “gasless”.
MIG stands for Metal Inert Gas, so technically, these are not “MIG”, they are FCAW, MIG is known as GMAW.
If you look at the picture, the top left has the three cabled parts. The top one is the MIG torch, the bottom clip-style thing is the earth clamp, the one in the middle is a holder for a stick-style electrode. So it's a multi-function device.
As I understand it (credentials: I own a mig welder and have even used it a couple of times), MIG and TIG are the more complex systems, and if you build a device that has everything needed for one of those, then it's basically got everything needed to act as a stick welder as well, so you just need to bolt on an extra connector or two, maybe a switch, chuck an electrode holder into the box and now its a MIG/stick welder.
Thanks everyone - makes sense now.
I would answer your questions but I don't want to sound like an oxy moron.
You seem like a bright spark.