Buying guides
Which one, for what you actually make
A hub compares everything in a family. A guide answers one question — a budget, a material, a garage that also holds a car — with a ranked shortlist and a reason for the order.
- Choosing a process
Your first welder: MIG, TIG or stick?
The three welding processes compared for a first machine: what each is good at, what each demands, and which one suits the work you actually have.
- By budget
The best welder under €200
What two hundred euros buys in 2026: the machines that are genuinely usable, the specification to check, and the corners that get cut at this price.
- By material
Welding aluminum: what you actually need
Aluminum needs alternating current or a spool gun, clean metal and more heat than steel. What that means for machine choice, wire and technique.
- Workshop power
What a 230 V supply will actually run
Duty cycle, breaker curves and the difference between a machine’s maximum current and what your socket can sustain.
- Plasma
Buying a plasma cutter: air first, amps second
Why compressed air quality decides plasma cut quality, how to read severance against clean-cut thickness, and what consumables really cost.
- Grinders
Your first angle grinder: three features
Restart protection, a brake and jam detection — what each prevents, which machines have them, and where they start appearing in the price ladder.
- Sharpening
A sharpening bench: dry, wet or belt
How to sharpen tools without drawing the temper: wheel choice, speed, water, and why the wheels supplied with a bench grinder are the first thing to replace.
- Cutting
Cutting steel to length: which machine
Abrasive chop saw, cold-cut saw, band saw or angle grinder — speed, edge quality, noise and cost per cut compared.
- Drilling
Drilling steel: speed, pressure, fluid
Why large bits need low speeds, what cutting fluid actually does, and the drill press specifications that decide what you can drill.
- Safety
Fume extraction on a budget
Welding fume is a Group 1 carcinogen. What capture distance means, what €100 buys, and where the professional equipment starts.
- Workshop
Setting up a welding bench
Fixture tables, magnets, clamps and the earth connection — how to hold work square while it shrinks, and why magnets are not clamps.
- Gas
Shielding gas: bottle, regulator, flow
Which gas for which process, how to set flow, why more gas is not better shielding, and the leak check that saves a cylinder.
Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.