welders...

[ericfx1984]

My brother in law and I have been sharing a Lincoln Weld-Pak 3200HD welder for around 7 years, basically it is the largest 110v welder out there which will run up to 135 amps... but you can really ell it is not up to larger jobs...

I am tired of having to get a hold of him and drive 1 and a half hours every time I need to use it

as a result I am looking into a Chicago Electric 97503

http://www.harborfreight.com/weldin...0-amp-230-volt-mig-and-flux-welder-97503.html

it is a 230v (single phase) on sale for $199.99, and my garage is prewired for 230v

the duty cycle looks decent

and I like the idea of going to 230v

any reason NOT to go to this unit

 

[Lowrange2]

You'd be better off driving an hour and a half...

The problem is between the "www." and the ".com" in your link there.

I bought one like that at a flea market a while back. It had obviously been repaired several times but I figured for 20 bucks it was worth a try. I ran about a 3 inch long bead and lost power...

I could have had 18 double cheese burgers, some fries and a tea from McDonald's for that bill!

 

[ericfx1984]

good to know

 

[90 waggy]

i weld for a living and can honestly say that hobart and weldmark are good machines that are reasonably priced. unless you weld 1/8" or less go with a 230 volt machine.

 

[techno1154]

Did someone mention Lincoln? :eyes:

I have the ProCore100 for a few years and it have worked flawless. It is only 110 volt which was all I had available at the time. I tried before I bought it but could not swing the 220 volt where I was living.

Whatever you do go for the 220 volt unless you want to weld auto body panels.

 

[xcm]

i used to bounce off the duty cycle of my lincoln 100 and not really notice till i looked back at the welds.... you might want to take duty cycle into consideration if you tend to run n gun. you'll notice it going from a higher end machine back down to a cheapie. 20% is NOT a decent rating... thats what my basic, straight off the shelf, weldpak 100 nascar edition had.

220v is nice for axles... but ive seen some awesome DOM tubing welding with a regular ole 110v craftsman. its all in getting the best performance from the 110v though. it IS nice being able to turn down a 220v welder for sheetmetal, my snapon goes down to 3 out of 11 for 16g.

 

[WebDog]

I was using the Hobart 140 for a while doing all sorts of projects. I have since upgraded to a Miller 211 and really notice how much cleaner the welds are with the extra power.

If you can find a used Hobart 140 or Miller 135 I would go that route if you can, they can be had for 300-400 depending on condition and how lucky you are.

 

[Mosephus]

I was using the Hobart 140 for a while doing all sorts of projects. I have since upgraded to a Miller 211 and really notice how much cleaner the welds are with the extra power.

If you can find a used Hobart 140 or Miller 135 I would go that route if you can, they can be had for 300-400 depending on condition and how lucky you are.

Ditto, I bought a used 140 years ago and it's worked great (other than a faulty trigger) ever since.

 

[redneckboarder]

any input on a miller regency 250 with an S-22A feeder? im getting one for a song this weekend.

 

[Matthew Currie]

I have the Miller 135, and within its capabilities, it's a joy to use. Of course it's a 110 volt machine, and for big stuff I use a stick, but for what it's good at, I don't think you could do better. There's something to be said for the portability of a 110 welder. I upgraded a few years ago from an older Hobart 90 (95? I forget), which was also very good, but it wasn't blue. I gave that to my son, and he uses it with flux core quite successfully.

Hobart and Miller are owned by the same company these days, and the Hobarts I've seen certainly show their parentage. It might be worth looking at them. I gather that they may not use quite as high quality innards, and usually use stepped transformer-tap controls, rather than continuous. I do like the continuous settings on the Miller, even though I don't need the fine adjustment often. I certainly wouldn't want to be put to the test very often, but when I got the Miller, just for grins, I welded a butt seam on a coffee can.

Of course Millers are expensive, but if I saw a good deal on a used one, or even a not-too-terrible deal, I'd get it before I got a new one from Horrible Freight.

 

[ericfx1984]

well I ended up getting the Chicago Electric Dual Mig 151

first thing I did was made a 25ft 'garden hose' thick extension cord with nema l14-30 twist lock on one end, and a 50 amp stove connector on the other

picked up the cord clearance at lowes, came with the Nema l14-30


so the welder uses nema L14-30 male

the extension cord uses nema l14-30 female, and a 50 amp 3 prong range MALE range plug...

the wall is a 50 amp female range plug...



it has WAY more power than my old Lincoln hd3200 which claimed it was capable of 135 amp... lol but it can only do 90 amp @ 20% duty cycle...

well I can tell you this... the CE 151 has way more power... I think if I wanted to I could burn through 1/4" steel...

just playing around with it I was able to get a nice deep smooth penetration... this is something my old welder could not do... anything over 3/16 on my lincoln required mapp torch preheating... lol

also the transformer in the CE 151 is HUGE!


I also upgraded the fan, the issue is that the stock fan sits 2" from the intake... so I installed a 120mm 230v, 110CFM ball bearing fan, $16 locally purchased, made a big difference on internal temps and arc stability...

also added a better ground clamp... only have about $215 tied up in this thing

 

[xcm]

booooo 20%.... lets see some welds!

 

[RCP Phx]

booooo 20%.... lets see some welds!

Why, he'll fake them anyway!Still haven't even seen his LA pics yet!

 

[ericfx1984]

booooo 20%.... lets see some welds!

that's 20% at full tilt... I will try to get some pics up in the next day or so as I get a little more used to this welder

but so far I am impressed

ALSO most people say they are getting closer to 30% duty cycle @ full tilt

some report 40-50% after the new fan... but the fact is these numbers can and will vary from machine to machine and a nice freezing cold air temp will help raise duty cycle as well

I doubt the fan will do that much but who knows, either way, I will live will 20% if that is what I get stuck with

 

[ericfx1984]

Why, he'll fake them anyway!Still haven't even seen his LA pics yet!

oh it's you again... how do you fake a weld? is that like trick photography? or like hollywood makeup, but for metal?

you know you keep showing up in my threads, then bashing me, in grade school kids did that cause they 'liked' other kids... so what is it, do you have a hard on for me?

as for the mid arm swap, whiteXJ98, says he has not had the time to meet up with my buddy, it's not really my problem that you grew up in some crap hole ghetto town where no one could be taken at their word...

 

[ericfx1984]

well I am convinced that it is a rebadged older model Clarke, the gun is the same and exchangeable, the feed system is the same, the internals are similar to modern Clarke welders, the cheap wire brush/chiiping hammer is the same, and even the cheap hand held face shield is the same as what they give you when you buy a clarke welder package

 

[ericfx1984]

Why, he'll fake them anyway!Still haven't even seen his LA pics yet!

further more I would just ignore you... but from time to time you actually have something useful to say... heres an idea, why don;t you quit sniffing my bung hole and go turn some wrenches... :confused1

 

[ericfx1984]

well I still need to get used to this thing... and this is only on flux core... but here are some pics... certainly not the best

wish I was better at photoshop... joking :wave:

 

[ericfx1984]

Whats the matter RCP_Phx? nothing more to say?

 

[ericfx1984]

Whats the matter RCP_Phx? nothing more to say?

finally you are silent