Dual purpose mig welders

[Big Uli]

what is the deal with the dual purpose mig welders?
do you need to buy extra accessory for the gas welding or can you just connect a gas bottle and get going.
i'm going to make a iron fence for the garden to get practice and a lot of the more affordable welder on flea bay are dual purpose

[SteveRedd]

I assume you mean gas and gasless......don't bother with a gasless and make sure you get one with a decent ampage...130 or above really...165 plus is best as once you get into it you will want to do more than the welder is capable of...if the price is too high get a stick welder...very cheap and underrated...and learn to use it properly

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/arc-tutorial.htm

[morrag]

Those are very sensible comments Mr.R and a well handled, reasonable quality stick welder is indeed a very useful piece of kit, and infinitely more versitile than a poor quality MIG set, so its worth considering, Morrag

[haggis]

If you can afford to spend say £250 on a welder buy a decent one at £350, Cheap welders are just that.......Cheap
Get a recognised make like cebora, Lincoln, Lorch Butters etc etc
If it comes from China just remember that so do the parts to mend it WHEN it breaks not IF

[morrag]

Now thems really are prophetic words when it comes to gear of dubious parentage! like I have already said, check out 'stick' sets, with practice you will be pleasantly surprised what is acheivable. Plenty of time to move on to Mig later, when profficient with a 'stick'.....Morrag

[Cabman77]

Gasless MIGs can work fine but they only seem to work properly if you use a metal liner. For some reason the cored wire won`t run correctly in a teflon liner.