I tell everyone this - its worth asking at your local welding suppliers if they've any exchanged units or units that have been sent for repair and left once the cost has came back to fix.

I'm not one for scrounging but I found a 10yr old Lincoln Electric 180 at a reclamation yard inside, paid £30 for it, lumped it home to find a new component on the board had been installed incorrectly and a wire was trapped earthing the board causing it to constantly trip.

My dads garage had a break in years ago and their good welder was stolen, the insurance replaced it with a 170 Clarke. I hate all things Clarke but I simply cant fault that welder. When I was 16 I got a Clarke 135T as a present and it wasn't too bad either (but not as good as its older brother)

Jordan