Sip150 Welder From The '90's... Worth A Punt?

[Stu 18]

Hi all,

 

Looking for a bit of advice, a mate of mine at work is moving house soon and has unearthed his old SIP 150 welder, he bought it new in the 90's but it hasnt been used for the last 10 years or more, comes with two decent size gas bottles (probably empty) and the torch, leads etc.

 

Any idea what its worth? Are they any good more to the point? I've got a little Clarke Pro 90 at the moment which really struggles with thicker gauge stuff, so was wondering if its worth a cheeky offer on this SIP..

 

Anyone got one/used one or know what its worth?

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I'd get round his house armed with some steel plate and a throwaway bottle of gas have a go with it, you'll soon see if its worth getting or not.

[johniban 59 1 Cars]

i have a supermig 150 its pretty good and was only about £150 welds 2mm no problem!

 

im sure the sip stuff is halfords own make bit cheaper quality, get onto the mig welding forum and do some research

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

Ive got a sip 130 turbo (means its got a fan) migmate. Its about the cheapest gashest chinese welder you can get but you can get them to do some decent work replacing the wire feed plastic liner for a steel one.

 

Duty cycle with the fan is approx 20 minutes. So if you are using it to weld girders on a hot day expect it to cut out a lot, generally they can give continuous work but the torch on these welders are horendous always fouling up on the tip, even with a switched live head, ive had mine since year 2k and just welded up someones front end on here with it...

 

[Stu 18]

Thanks for the input gents

 

I dunno how to value it, not sure if the gas bottles are pub bottles in which case they're useless now as no-one will refill them...

 

It a toss up between converting my little 90 amp clarke to 'proper' gas bottle (i.e. not disposable) or buy this one and run the risk of having to invest in a new bottle, knowing i'll have the reg etc..

 

Whats it worth any ideas?

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

I bought a SiP 130T for £50 some years ago, and that had been overhauled with new gubbins. Only thing not replaced was the feed-liner. I've read in places a cheap option is to use net curtain holder (but I'm dubious about that).

 

The seller had finished building a kit car, so wanted rid. I ended up with two masks (handheld type though), couple of clamps, gauntlets, couple of replacement bottles, books on welding, spare tips and spare wire.

 

Used it anger only a few times, but seems to be more than ample for general car stuff.

 

I'm s*ite at welding by the way...

Edited September 24, 2014 by Alan_M