Osaka Mini-max 125 Inverter Welder

peanut

peanut

XS650 enthusiast & inveterate tinkerer
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Has anyone used one of these tiny portable Mini Inverter Welders ?

I needed a small arc welder for the occasional welding of plate steel or anything too thick for my Mig welder . Looking around ,everyone seemed to be recommending an Inverter Welder rather than the traditional Arc Welder.

Although twice the price I thought I'd take a chance and ordered one up for £90.00 (about $145.00):thumbsup:

I am blown away with how powerful this thing is even though it is only 4" wide 6" high and 8" long !:eek:

Ok I'll admit my welding technique is pants and I used the wrong size electodes (2.5mm) but it still managed to weld a reasonable seam on 5mm galvanised plate steel .

I'm lovin this thing. It takes up no room in the shed or car and is extremely portable coming in its own little carry case.

Warning ..do not weld metal with a galvanised coating as I did :doh:
Although I ground off the galv to bare metal , you need to wear proper breathing aparatus to weld this stuff as it is extremely dangerous. It gives off a highly toxic vapour which can make you extremely ill . called Galv Flu the symptoms are apparently very similar to the Flu and very unpleasant by all accounts.

I welded holding my breath for the whole weld and then ran down the garden to get a breath of fresh air .:D
 
That's very impressive for such a small welder. Doesn't have the typical splatterbox sound. You put down a nice weld bead, hope you got full penetration. You have a definite advantage with your utilities being at 230 volt (I believe). Over here, typical 115v-120v service would be hard pressed to get that kind of performance. The UK site offering that welder shows it configured for 230 volt, so may not be offered here.

One habitual trick I use to get a weld started is to first scratch the welding rod on the concrete floor, like sweeping the floor, grinds a clean tip for starting. Of course, this doesn't work on a wooden deck.

I looked-up Osaki, and found this:
OsakiChair.jpg

NOW I'm interested! So, 'scuse me while I get distracted...
 
no I don't think I got very good penetratation to be honest.:wink2:

I hadn't anticipated needing to weld 5mm when I bought the welder. I had purchased 2.5mm box tube to do the job but then subsequently found a proprietary 5mm channel system for supporting electrical and plumbing services in buildings which was extremely cheap and already had holes and slots .:thumbsup:

The metal is too thick for both the task and the welder but as I can apply 8" of weld around the T bracket I'm sure it will be adequate for the load I shall be applying .

Its a carrier for my 1964 LAmbretta scooter which co-incidentally weighs the same as I do :( That helps me keep the project in perspective so that I don't over-engineer the thing too much.

I could have hired a powerful welder to do the job but at $80 a day plus a 30 mile hike to pick it up I figured this little fella would do the job and not cost too much .
 
looks like its available from harbor freight :thumbsup:

can you buy helicopters at Harbor freight ?:laugh:
 
Galvanizing isn't extremely toxic or dangerous. Just don't stand where you are directly inhaling the fumes. If you do feel sick afterwards, drink milk. Gets rid of the symptoms.
 
Metal Wizard Machine said:
Galvanizing isn't extremely toxic or dangerous. Just don't stand where you are directly inhaling the fumes. If you do feel sick afterwards, drink milk. Gets rid of the symptoms.
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I don't know where you read that but I'm afraid it is sheer nonsense :doh: Drinking milk has no proven effect on welding fume fever symptoms

How could drinking milk effect what you have breathed in through your lungs into your bloodstream ???

http://www.hse.gov.uk/welding/illness.htm
 
Old school welding trick.

WTF would I know though?

I only do metal work for a living, used to be an ironworker, have worked in shoos that welded latge galvanized piping and have a degree in melting metal and manufacturing. Lol

It probably works in the same way taking aspirn through your stomache can reduce headaches. Bodies process things.
 
Or you could just learn to not stand where you're huffing welding fumes.

I'm not saying they can't make you sick, but you have a inhale a hell of a lot more than people think. I used to weld heavy wall 2' diameter pipe that was dipped. I would sand minimally and weld it up. Ran seams 10 hours a day and never once got sick from it. But I placed myself where I didn't inhale it and made sure we had some adequate ventilation.

It's like people who think doing small stainless welds are gonna give you cancer because of the small amount of chromium.
 
BTW- the milk thing is just what I've been told by people in the trade long before I was even born. Never had any fume illness, like I said. But I do know a lot of old timers swear up and down it works.
 
Galvanizing , understand the risks and proper filtration methods or don't weld it . Simple enough ? Now move on .
I prefer mother's milk . It's a curious obsession from being denied breast feeding as a child .

~kop
 
kopcicle said:
Galvanizing , understand the risks and proper filtration methods or don't weld it . Simple enough ? Now move on .
I prefer mother's milk . It's a curious obsession from being denied breast feeding as a child
~kop
Click to expand...

Amazing how far this thread has ranged and is still (mostly) on track.
peanut, here's what your source says:-
Don't believe the stories about drinking milk before welding. It does not prevent you getting metal fume fever.
No mention about whether drinking milk afterwards eases the symptoms or not.
kop, could you post a photo of your milk delivery system?
<edit> FWIW my niece breast-fed her eldest boy until he was 4 years old.
Do you suppose that he was more traumatized by that experience than you were by breast milk denial?
And I reckon that welders smoke inside their helmets because they suppose that tobacco smoke is less harmful than welding fumes.
 
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No one said it prevents anything.

I simply stated what I've been told by welders who have been in their craft since before many of us were around..

Milk helps reduce the symptoms that you can get from inhaling too much airborn zinc.

Either way, you have to inhale a lot of zinc to feel any symptoms and smart people don't stand where they're huffing fumes to begin with.
 
On a funny side note: I worked with a guy in the ironworkers union who had a double cartridge respirator that he wore when he was burning rods, and he had a hole in the middle of it so he could have a smoke while he was wearing it.

Stupid is as stupid does I suppose.

(Most people who I know that worry aboit fume inhalation smoke a pack a day and have no qualms with that. Kind of funny to me...)
 
Hi Wiz,
you don't get addicted to working with noxious fumes but you can sure get hooked on nicotine.
Oddly, smoking is about the only nasty habit I never took to.
 
Are these the little welders that you could make a scratch start tig welder out of it? I thought that I read that somewhere.
 
bergoff said:
Are these the little welders that you could make a scratch start tig welder out of it? I thought that I read that somewhere.
Click to expand...

Hi bergoff,
in the sense that if you have a big enough bilge pump you don't need a boat, the unit puts out enough D.C. power to weld with so, yes.
But you will also need an argon tank, a gas flow regulator, a gas delivery hose a tungsten stinger and (I'm not sure about the details) some kinda high frequency thingie to weld aluminum with.
I reckon by the time you cobbled all that lot together it'd be better to go buy a real TIG machine.
 
It's a misconception that you absolutely need a HF box. You don't. Lift or scratch start is every bit as capable of arc starting. All HF does is allows you to ignite without contacting the workpiece.

One thing you do need to consider in a case like using one of these for a scratch tig is polarity. You've got a choice of straight and reversed dc, which is fine for most ferrous metals, but will be problematic on nonferrous materials.

You *can* tig aluminum, for example, on dc instead of the preferred ac...but your settings and prep work have to be perfect.

Once you add the costs of all the other items that fredintoon listed you're looking at $450.00 or so for decent stuff (that's with a used torch and buying a few collets and collet bodies, cups, tungstens, etc.)

Just save up and spend $1000.00 and get a used TIG welder that has a/c and hf start on it. You'll be happier you did.

One of the best things about TIG is the ability to adjust amps and input heat while on the pass...scratch start removes that from the equation. If you're gonna scratch start it you might as well just stick weld it.
 
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