Super Moderator
I've use a number of welders quite a bit and some friends of mine have a
wrought iron shop and it really depends on what you getting... if you're going to get a 120 volt unit for light home use, wire feed welding, some aluminum then I'd put miller and hobart above lincoln. I have a millermatic 130xp for the house, its a fairly cheap 120v unit that does all the light stuff i want it to do. Plus you can get an aluminum gun and hose for it and change wire spools to weld aluminum. The hobart handler is in some respects even better for the light home user. With either i would make sure you bought a bottle and got rid of the flux core wire and used a co2 blend gas and regular wire spools instead. Better welds, and easier to use instead of the flux core wire. And don't let them sell you the argon bottle, use the co2 blend instead, you won't notice any difference in the weld quality and the co2 bottle lasts about 10 times longer since co2 is stored as a compressed liquid and the argon is only stored as a gas, you can fit a lot more co2 in the same size bottle. If you're going to get a 230volt welder then i would get the millermatic 210 above all the others for a general purpose wire feed mig. I would also spend the money and get the best welding helmet you can afford. I personally prefer the jackson auto darkening ones. I wouldn't buy anything but an autodarkening anymore.
And another useful item is a can of the antispatter welding spray to keep spatter from building up on the gun and on the work surface. If spatter buiilds up on the gun then you'll have problems with the feed spool.
Originally Posted by Curt Anderson
Major Contributor
If I had had a bit more $$$, I would have without a doubt got the Hobart Handler 130...but the Lincoln MIG PAK 10 was $150 less and I've still been quite happy with it...
The next thing I get is a Miller or Hobart 230V TIG, but that's a ways off for now...
Cheers,
Duey
Big, Big Time Poster
Basically, life is weird. After reading all these posts and asking for recommendations to buy a MIG welder for myself, one of my engineers brought in a Hobart Handler 180 after lunch today. Brand new, fresh in the box. He had bought it a year or so ago and never unpacked it. We're going to get a gas tank and set it up in one of our shops. It appears that the unit is made by Miller as there are Miller logos on the handle.
Curt.
Green Beret Special Ops
I have the Millermatic 150 amp deal,
seems to be quite versitile for only 150 amps, I can burn through 1/4 inch if I mess up big time, plenty of heat for anything automotive... At least thats what I think it was, have to look tommorrow.
95 E34 530I V2.37
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Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy
5-10 Grand Master
i've been trying to find the unit that finch talks about in the book that lets you use a ac/dc buzz box as a tig power supply but have been generally unsuccessful, anybody got any ideas? i have a big bad ass monkey wards ac/dc buzz box that's atleast as bad as the lincoln's we had in trade school it would be cool to be able to get more use outta it if i could tig with it
all america wants is cold beer warm cat and a place to take a poop with a door on it
Major Contributor
Winfred, I know Miller makes convertor/HF units to convert arc to TIG's...the Miller HF-251 is one particular model...they're not cheap though! The main problem is control of the arc's shunt...you might have to make your own actuator for the arc's shunt, otherwise you won't have any current control and starting the arc will also be a bear. You can buidl your own TIG though...get the plans at http://www.diytigwelder.com/
The TIG .pdf (free e-copy, hard copy is $25) by Miller is one of the best free things you can get! http://www.millerwelds.com/education/TIGhandbook/
Cheers,
Duey
5-10 Grand Master
cool thanks ill check it out
all america wants is cold beer warm cat and a place to take a poop with a door on it
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