Just a heads up that lidl have an inverter stick welder in for £35 and cored wire, £6 for 2
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Lidl stick welder and fluxed wire
- Thread starter Rynner
- Start date
That might be too tempting to resist.
I managed to resist the plasma cutter they had recently. (Mostly because I've no real use for it)
I managed to resist the plasma cutter they had recently. (Mostly because I've no real use for it)
Just as well, I seem to recall seeing that it needed a 16amp supply.
I know lidl have had some surprisingly decent stuff at times, but I'd be wary. If it's cheap then there must be a reason. I'm not the best welder, by a long stretch, but a stick that struggles to get started or only runs for a moment before a five minute cool would be annoying as hell. Fine if it's just going to sit until an emergency, but a mid range one has served me pretty well.
As for cored wire, it doesn't matter how expensive that garbage is. I've never once had a pleasant experience with the stuff. Last time I tried using it on the landy it worked better as a cutter than a welder and I gave up and used the stick, upside down, and still did a better job. I spent 18 months trying to use the damned stuff, spent a lot on various brands, and got nowhere. Gave up and got normal wire and gas and did better in five minutes. I'd only use cored wire if I particularly hated myself that day.
As for cored wire, it doesn't matter how expensive that garbage is. I've never once had a pleasant experience with the stuff. Last time I tried using it on the landy it worked better as a cutter than a welder and I gave up and used the stick, upside down, and still did a better job. I spent 18 months trying to use the damned stuff, spent a lot on various brands, and got nowhere. Gave up and got normal wire and gas and did better in five minutes. I'd only use cored wire if I particularly hated myself that day.
The cored wire goes into their parkside welder which doesn't work with gas, at lidl, when available, it is over 60% lower in price than screwfix,
I wouldn't go to lidl if I was a professional welder for my tools, as a hobbyist I am fine with their hobbyist/diy aimed welders and get things that are beyond my skills welded up by a competent welder,
I initially thought that when I bought my cheap lidl mig it would be no good and fail,
18 months later and it's still going strong,
The weight is a godsend as I cannot manage the weight of my Clarke,
I wouldn't go to lidl if I was a professional welder for my tools, as a hobbyist I am fine with their hobbyist/diy aimed welders and get things that are beyond my skills welded up by a competent welder,
I initially thought that when I bought my cheap lidl mig it would be no good and fail,
18 months later and it's still going strong,
The weight is a godsend as I cannot manage the weight of my Clarke,
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It’s the weight of my Sealey that started me looking around for an inverter mig . The Sealey had given me great service for 10 years and still works well. I’ve only had to replace the mig wire liner .
I have one of these...
Rarely use it though, but it's handy as it will run off the Genny. Very lightweight.
I usually use the mig, a Clarke 135te which is getting on for 30 years old now. Weighs a ton!
Rarely use it though, but it's handy as it will run off the Genny. Very lightweight.
I usually use the mig, a Clarke 135te which is getting on for 30 years old now. Weighs a ton!
Could you let me know what genny you can run it off,
I have a fairly good Honda genny but my neighbour says the inverter stick welder and my mig would break it so i have been reluctant to try, if it was just the welder that may blow I would risk it.
I have a fairly good Honda genny but my neighbour says the inverter stick welder and my mig would break it so i have been reluctant to try, if it was just the welder that may blow I would risk it.
jenks69
Big Landy Fan
I have both Lidl welders flux core and stick - both units rock! I went from never welding to doing footwells and chassis repairs. I am ok with both units and many of my welds have passed MOTs. I've made a few things and find both units have their merits and pitfalls. You defo get what you pay for but I love mine and wouldn't dream of upgrading or changing unless one of them broke and was uneconomical to repair.
Same here, that's why I posted the heads up,
Whatever folk's views on them they do give a 'good bang for the buck', so light and compact also.
Whatever folk's views on them they do give a 'good bang for the buck', so light and compact also.
It's an old Lister/Petter 8kva. Anything less than that would struggle.
We used to use a big welder that ran off the PTO on the tractor, that was a brute!
Tjanks, I thought it may be something that big, I have a 2.5kva so won't risk it,
The way I look at it Lidl want you to buy their stuff. If it was total cr@p you won't buy another of their products.
Their tools usually have two or three years warranty. Not rated for commercial use obviously though.
robwlondon
Posting Guru
I was in Lidl today. Had a look for the welder out of interest, found a huge bar of Toblerone for £4.50p so bought that instead 
Some of the stuff can be good, I had an angle grinder from them that lasted two years of some near daily use. I just look at things as a trade off, they still have their mark up to put on otherwise it's not worth selling, so either they got it cheap, or they made it cheap.
If they got it cheap then it probably skipped all but the most basic quality control and it's buyers luck, it may be fine, or they were refused from someone else's order etc.
If they make it cheap then they do something that makes it cheap. Like cheap phones, they may well function well enough but they are cheap because the batteries are usually useless.
So on something like a welder, the duty cycle or power is a logical corner to cut. Makes it lighter and cheaper on materials. Doesn't mean it's useless, but it's worth weighing up the sacrifice. If it's going to be used for light work in favourable conditions then it's a fair shout. But with wire, the sacrifices can't come from good places. I always found the stuff really hot and erratic, less so with bigger brands but still not great. I found a lot of imperfections when cutting the welds as I practised with the stuff, the cheaper it got the worse it got. I have used it to do repairs a couple of times, but I won't do it again.
I often think of these things in comparison to my oldest guitar. It's a cheap Chinese £90 bargain basement thing I bought to see if I liked playing acoustic. That was 20 years ago and it's survived rattling around in land rover frequently, living in the woods for years under tarps and around open fires, been rained on and dropped, a hard life by any measure. Yet, it's still my favourite and I've played more expensive ones and found them worse. Sometimes it just goes together right and it can be great and I'm glad I took that chance over spending hundreds.
S3Steve
Offroader
I have an old Oxford unit that can run 150 Amps continuous, the downside of which is that it weighs 166kg without the leads
Really puts a smile on my face when I turn it on and it emits an ominous 50Hz mains hum, it must be older than the Land Rover?
Yeah, I had an old lump too, a dry one but still plenty heavy. On the other hand it started rods like striking a match, unlike my smaller one, which works grand once it's running but starting is finiky for some reason. I never used it in anger though, I was given it, had a play with it and then sold it as the lighter one is easier to live with overall. I really miss my mig/gas set up though, it's been with my brother for a long while now so I'm left with the stick, and I'm not great with it unless it's thick stuff.
Parkside tools are generally good in my experience.
The brand is a German one and I tend to trust products from Germany (even if they are actually made in China!) as their quality control is usually better then many other countries.
The brand is a German one and I tend to trust products from Germany (even if they are actually made in China!) as their quality control is usually better then many other countries.