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Well, it's time for me to buy a 220 MIG. What can you bunch of quasi-experts recommend? This is for garage work, but I want something good quality and reliable for a reasonable price.
I would go with a miller or a horbart if you can still find them. Miller makes both, and they are great. The only difference is a plastic bushing rather than a metal one. and you can replace it no problem once it wears out with a metal bushing. JMO
You're going to want something at least 175 / 185, but more is better. You really can't go wrong with red or blue (Lincoln or Miller), but Hobart makes a good machine also. I'm partial to Lincoln. They've always been rock hard reliable in the conditions we use them in. You don't need or really want any of the fancy stiching modes or the other fluff. I've had good luck buying equipment through Weiler Welding. They've beaten every price I've gotten locally by a good amount with shipping included in the quote. They're showing a Lincoln 200 for $1079 including regulator, hose, & shipping. All you need to do is add some wire & a gas bottle & you're good to go. They are in Ohio so no tax. My personal welder is the Lincoln 255 & I paid well over $1800 for it a few years back locally. Good luck & shop around.
IIRC hobart and miller are owned by the same company..any of the 3 mentioned are good machines. if you really want to drop some coin you can get a better deal. my uncle got a monster mig/tig combo and a plasma cutter as one big package through lincoln. dont know the deal, but i know hes a cheapskate so it had to be good.
my shop is filled with Miller. miller all the way. True Blue.
but I am not a brand loyalist.......
which is good, cause I kept an open mind when I test drove a lincoln in moab. (I do have one lincoln in the shop but never touched it)
I think the thing that seperates lincoln and miller at least in the 175 amp flavor is "more clicks" in the heat settings!
edit: read: lincoln beats miller in this regard!
even though miller has an infinitly adjustable wire feed setting, its the heat setting that I wish i had more "tuneability" on my home shop miller 172 challenger.
I understand the 172 is no longer available and has been replaced by the 175 (with reportedly smaller transformer) so maybe things have changed.
if I had to buy another welder for home use, I would pay more attention to that feature especially.
I agree with these guys, keep it blue. Miller makes the best welders. I always buy miller cuz I only plan on purchasing the welders one time. I have had good luck with Lincoln stick welders, but IMHO Miller Mig welders are the only ones to have.
$160 dollar difference between the Hobart 200amp and the Millermatic 210. Miller definitely has the higher duty cycle and max output but keep in mind there are esentially 160 or amps at listed duty cycle.
I was gong to get a lincoln Power Mig 200, had it ready to go with a price locked in locally, arrived to pick it up and found thaat the shop sold it and lincoln now was selling a 215 instead of the 200. I was going with Lincoln solely for price although the Miller seemed smother. Bitched enough that I got the MM210 for the quote on the Lincoln 200. I love the MM. It is a blast to work with.
I've had my Miller 130 for a couple of years and it's been rock solid. Great for the kind of fab that I've done in the past but really wish I'd jumped up to the 175 or 210 model ..........which I may in the near future cause a buddy is really interested in buying mine.
I've used Lincoln's, but Miller's never let me down.
I've got the Miller 175 (the new Challenger 172) and it an infinate heat settings. There are two models of the Lincoln 175, one has infinate heat and the other has the dial that clicks.
Mine hasn't had this problem yet, but I have seen many that do, is the lead or hose (don't know the correct name) is prone to picking up air leaks. Most of the people I know have switched to a tweako gun and have been happy.
Also I would love to jump to the 210. I don't burn much over 1/4" but this machine is a pain to even fudge a little. I can't get the wire speed to crank up enough. Even that 110v machine I borrowed would crank the wire out when needed.
Definately buy the bigger machine. Even the old Chalenger 185 was a good machine. Duty cycle is higher and they have a much better life.
Weiler Welding is my local store. I use them exclusively.
The main reason I went with my Lincoln 175 was portability. It's a pain loading up the 210 to take it somewhere. If it was only going to stay in my shop, I'd go 210. I don't think it matters if you go red or blue.
Just my 10 cents, At work I use a miller delta weld all day long we run 045 solid wire and these machines never budge a bit on performance. on the other hand we have a miller pulse machine( dont know the exact numbers) this machine has been nothing but problems the new edge gun gun that miller is so proud of has been a big headacke. constantly having problems with it.
For a home machine I had a miller 210 with the 15 a spolemate aluminum set up ( very nice to have just change the heat settings and go from steel to alum with no major time los or crazy lead changes). I have welded up to 1/2 in plate in a single pass when prped properly. I havent had a lot of experience with any other machines.
Is the 210 really worth DOUBLE the price of the 175?? I won't ever buy a 110v unit so I have been torn between the MM 175 and the 210.... I have a stick welder (old lincoln buzz box) that makes short work of heavier work, but a 210 mig would be real nice. I guess the biggest thing to me is what I could do with the extra $500-600 by getting the 175 (nice spool gun/alum setup, 80cubic oxy acetalyn setup, Jeep mods etc!) but It really wouldn't take much to sway me into the 210
Also I really want to save up for a nice Tig/stick setup in the future and I could put the extra $$ towards that, whadda yall think???
Don't go there..........oh well, I guess you already did.
"Other Tech" to me is other than XJ. I use my welder on my XJ, not some Bronco or Toy. As you probably saw, I got bounced over there, but I bitched!!
I've never gone to Other Tech, not once. I just happen to not be interested...don't have enough time to read this forum properly. I think we've come to have a couple too many forums..... but that's JMHO.
Richard,
Well, I'm certainly no welding expert - but Beez turned me on to the Hobart 175 (220 Volt version) and ranks at the top of the best advice I've received from him. I couldn't believe how easy it was to use. I love it! I got it from Ebay - a welding supply business was selling them there - $565 shipped! Miller's were also available on Ebay but were about $120 more.
Well, I defintely want infinite heat adjustment. I see that the Lincoln 175 Plus has it. I also wonder exactly what you get for spending the extra money on a 210 over a 175. I've welded just about my whole Jeep with a 220 Lincoln buzz box, including cracks in the sheetmetal. I could still fire it up for any really heavy stuff, but I don't know that I'll ever weld anything much heavier than 1/4", definitely not on my Jeep. I borrowed a friends 130 MIG to do most of my cage since it would have been even uglier if I'd welded the whole thing with my stick.
I am concerned with duty cycle, and it will just sit in the shop. I also want it to last a long time and do whatever I want it to do. Thing is, I just got an unexpected $850 (my wife's not looking, is she?) which I've decided to put towards a new welder. I need to decide if it's worth it to kick in the extra bucks for a 210 over a 175.
I've got the Miller 175 and I like it, but you would be able to tell from my booger welds!
The 210 is a great shop welder. You can weld all day on that welder and never have it click off. However, is it worth twice what the 175 is? I would say not for us. I have welded 5/16 and 3/8 without problems with the 175, I have yet to run into the duty cycle cutoff.
Now if you really get some $ windfall, get a TIG. Two of my friends just came into TIGs (a blue and a red) recently and I am so impressed at the level of control you have with a TIG. I am temted to just tack my cage together and take it to these guys to TIG precise beads and not have to worry about over heating the tube or splatter.
This is for garage work, but I want something good quality and reliable for a reasonable price.
