Gas
Shielding gas is the least visible part of a weld and the easiest to get wrong. The three things that matter are the mixture, the flow rate, and whether the system leaks — and the last one costs people a full cylinder more often than any other mistake.
Shielding gas is the least visible part of a weld and the easiest to get wrong. The three things that matter are the mixture, the flow rate, and whether the system leaks — and the last one costs people a full cylinder more often than any other mistake.
200 A · synergic · gas and gasless · €330
The synergic 200 A inverter that most German workshops end up with, and the cheapest machine here with a genuinely adjustable inductance.
Best for: A first serious MIG that will still be adequate after two years of use
≈ 330 €
160 A · 230 V single phase · Euro torch connector · €505
A French-built trolley machine with a Euro connector and a 40 W feed motor — bought for the feed quality rather than for its headline current.
Best for: Someone who intends to keep the machine ten years and wants standard consumables
≈ £690 / 505 €
Around 8 to 12 l/min for MIG with a standard nozzle, often less for TIG with a gas lens. More is not better: beyond a certain flow the shield becomes turbulent and pulls air in, producing porosity that looks exactly like too little gas — which is why people then turn it up further and make it worse.
Soapy water on every joint, cylinder open, torch closed. Bubbles mean a leak. It takes two minutes and it is the difference between a cylinder lasting months and emptying itself overnight. Do it every time a connection is disturbed.
Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
Welders and plasma cutters swing by a hundred euros or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
