I just bought my first MIG, EWM Picomig 180 puls

[ttoks]

I started out in my thread over in the MIG TIG stick and oxy-fuel section looking for a replacement for my old Unimig 160 Arc II and landed on an EWM pico 160 puls, nice little 9.5 pound stick/TIG machine, but I got to thinking that a small MIG might actually be the way to go as long as I could find a supply of .035 gas shielded flux core wire to go with it, dual shield is like stick afterall, you can weld anything with small wire it just takes more passes, but is much much faster than stick.

This is for a highly mobile repair setup i've been putting together, I don't have a huge truck to store everything in so there's no engine drive (wouldn't fit), i've got a small 9KVA gas powered generator, E sized oxy/LPG set, and E sized bottle C25 and a small tool box with with my grinders, consumables, mag base drill, power and gas leads in it.


I ended up getting a great deal on the machine as this model is being replaced with a 200 amp model next year, these normally retail for about $4'000 AUD, I got it for $2100, its a pulse on pulse MIG with programs for mild steel, nickel, silicon bronze, various aluminium, as well as straight GMAW for all of the above, E71t-11 self shield and E71t-1c/1m dual shield and a heap more that aren't listed on the door panel, I tested it out with steel and self shield and so far I haven't been able to manually set the machine better than the programs which is a surprise to me, I normally don't go for the programs in a machine.







Comes with a pretty good quality gun that takes standard consumables, although it's alot shorter than i'd like, this will probably end up being the aluminium gun and I'll get a 15 foot 200 amp Tweco that takes the same consumables for everything else.



I like that it comes with a self shield nozzle to protect the head though, I gave it a try and of course forgot to switch the polarity so caked it in spatter.



I am VERY impressed with the wire drive system, it's made of machined aluminium and steel plates, steel drive wheel and steel gears, I've seen 500 amp machines with less robust drive systems than this.



and I had to get the opinion of the youngest welder in the family, not sure if he approves or not yet, he's got to learn to talk to tell me.



Once I get some gun time I might post up a proper review, first real test is this friday on a job so will see how it go's.

[Munkul]

Very nice indeed. did you go for this instead of the MMA set, or is this as-well-as?

I love seeing a hefty wire feeder mechanism. Might just be me, but it seems that the better built the feeder is, the better the machine runs in general. That feeder looks better quality than 90% of MIG sets on the market!
I also like that they put an inch button in the case.

I suppose it'll do everything including MMA? meaning only one machine needed with the old MMA set as backup?

It'll be interesting to see what it's like on pulse mig aluminium. The fullsize phoenix machines look great.

[ttoks]

Very nice indeed. did you go for this instead of the MMA set, or is this as-well-as?

I love seeing a hefty wire feeder mechanism. Might just be me, but it seems that the better built the feeder is, the better the machine runs in general. That feeder looks better quality than 90% of MIG sets on the market!
I also like that they put an inch button in the case.

I suppose it'll do everything including MMA? meaning only one machine needed with the old MMA set as backup?

It'll be interesting to see what it's like on pulse mig aluminium. The fullsize phoenix machines look great.

for the time being this is an instead of option, I'd still like to get the pico160 at some point as there are times where the weight (or lack thereof) of the stick/tig only machine makes it the best option, but yeah this does everything the pico 160 does including the TIG and stick pulse so this is my all in one with the old Unimig as a backup, I wasn't expecting to go for a MIG but finding a source of dual shield that this machine will run was what tipped me over the edge with it.

[Woznme]

Ewm make excellent power sources so you've made a really good purchase.
I wasn't aware that c25 was available in oz.

[ttoks]

Ewm make excellent power sources so you've made a really good purchase.
I wasn't aware that c25 was available in oz.

I'd never even heard of them until a week ago, but after doing some research I quickly realised that they're held in the same standing as Fronius, and I have a massive amount of respect for Fronius machines, the price normally matches as well however I got this for about half price, I never would have gone for it if it wasn't for the massive discount I got on it over MSRP.

BOC call's it Argoshield 52, but it is just 25% Co2 argon balance, Argoshield universal is 18% Coz argon balance, argoshield light is 5% Co2, 2% oxygen and argon balance.

[Woznme]

Been a boc account holder for 20 years but had no idea about the 52.

Makes no difference to me I suppose, l use either universal or light. I did use a STT machine a couple of years ago, it might have come in handy then.

[ttoks]

Been a boc account holder for 20 years but had no idea about the 52.

Makes no difference to me I suppose, l use either universal or light. I did use a STT machine a couple of years ago, it might have come in handy then.

I only use have it because most gas shield is only good with either C25 or 100% Co2, and I'd rather use C25 than Co2, being able to use dual shield is kind of a make for break for me, I'd much rather use argoshield light for MIG as it sprays properly, you need 36 volts to spray with .9 wire with c25 haha.

I use solid wire for short circuit, and if it's heavy enough to warrant turning it up enough to get out of short circuit with the solid wire I'll just switch over to the .9mm dual shield sof or me the argoshield 52 works well, if I ever got into heavy fabrication in a workshop (no idea why I would, there's no money in it unless you have a dozen blokes working for you) then I'd probably run Argoshield metal cored which is just C10.