BOC Smootharc 175 Multi-Process BOC175MULTI

Complete garbage – Have a cig weld 185 for nearly 20 year's no trouble got the box to save space have had 2 main boards replaced under warranty still won't start or maintain a clean arc complete garbage going back to old faithful Show details

Boc welders – Having owned older boc machines i thought this may have been a good buy.Boy was i wrong ,this thing struggled to hold a arc on 2.5mm rod before the heat up light started flashing which is about the only thing on this machine that actually worked well.BOC have really dropped the ball on all of later machines with most of them fit for the rubbish bin.Dont waste your money. Show details

Terrible welder – Cannot adjust wire speed. Long post gas flow which eats gas and cannot be adjusted. Had problems with handpiece. What a piece of junk Show details

Crap – Still on first role of wire, main board fried, out of warranty. Always been in shed covered since new. Cost more too repair than too replace it. Would not buy another boc welder.

Ongoing fault in gas supply control. No support from BOC – Had issues with gas not stopping on release of trigger from day one. Returned to place of purchase, sent away for repair under warranty. About 1 month past warranty expiration problem repeated and with the good support from supplier on my behalf was fixed again( under sufferance) by BOC nominated repairer. Problem has reoccurred again approx. 12… Read more

months later.. At this point should point out home use only, have used 1x5kg roll of wire and about 5% of the second roll only since purchase, Rang BOC who displayed a complete lack of interest in this being faulty again and in my opinion "not fit for purpose". This will probably end up in the hands of consumer affairs.

Waste of money – Purchased for my husband who is an experienced welder as a Christmas gift, the greatest waste of money :( Have tried calling BOC...no reply!! It has caused me much sadness. Living on a cattle station, a good welder is vital. You have no idea how disappointed I am :(

Does the job – I have used it to build a canopy for myself worked well. However the gas went quicker then I thought so have a look at your gas line that came with it as upon a closer inspection of the line it had started to perish the entire length and it has never spent any length of time outside always in the shed . So replaced that. I don't like the post gas… Read more

use but that's how it is. And now I don't use boc bottles so no more rent . Would of liked the instructions to have included some better setting information as if they say it's for those less experienced then some may need more information about setting it for each type of material.

What a disappointment, should of got a UNI MIG – I purchased this mig tig stick. I should of walked away when they made a lame excuse about not giving me demonstration. I thought BOC it will be ok. I was so wrong. Firstly post gas flow cannot be adjusted. Makes sense of course BOC sell gas. Stated 175amps ... Nope must be a missprint there. When l called BOC about its poor performance they… Read more

didn't want to know me. After several calls all l got was BOC some rubbish about the manufacturer. My advice don't buy anything from a company such as BOC their main interest is in expensive gas sales. Not product quality or warranty or post sales service. Steer clear of the Smootharc 175 Multi.

Decent machine for the price – I've had this machine for approx. 3 years now, and it sees regular use, although not a lot of heavy work. I've only put about 4 rolls of gas less wire through it, and a few packets of electrodes. As a mig it handles smaller stuf quite well, particularly good for RHS and pipe, as it'll burn through gal and leave a decent weld, however can get a bit… Read more

of spatter depending on what you're trying to weld. 175 amps is not a lot for a mig, but cranked up to the max I've put down a decent fillet on 8-10mm mild steel, anything more than that and it'd probably struggle a bit. On the plus side 175 amps for an electrode is enough for a pretty wide range of use. On anything more than say 12mm you may have to do multi layer welds, but with 3.2 rods thats probably going to be required on any welder. I use this machine for odd jobs and for the odd paid job, and has performed quite well, hasn't ever overheated, and has even been run in MMA mode of a generator, although it would not be recommended to do this more than you really had to- doesn't like it much. I haven't got a gas bottle, so have't run solid mig wire in it, and have not used the tig function either. For around $900 mark its not bad value, and for most people after a versatile machine to handle those odd jobs, and with the option of running solid wires for mild steel and stainless, it should make most jobs easy. It is especially handy on thicker steel where you can tack weld with the mig function, then lay bigger welds with the stick mode, as the gasless wire isn't overly cheap compared to electrodes.