Welder Suggestions?

[Bent]

Originally Posted by Bent

I went this route a few years ago.

Yeah, neverminded. The 252 has gone up $1000 since I picked mine up.

Definitely would looking more along the lines of the 215 now.

[Anak]

What hasn't gone up?

Ain't Bidenflation great?

[milarson]

The best MIG welder I have ever used is the one I bought at a Sams club on sale for $550.
Its a 180 amp Century (American made, at least when I bought mine) with the cart 220v single phase, infinite heat and wire feed settings. Tweeco handpiece and line. Came with the gas setup, obviously.

I've used several Millers and several Lincolns and I prefer my Century MIG welder. It's the only welder I've used that I can dial it down to where I can weld most sheet metal without stopping and not blow any holes. Maybe my welder is out of the ordinary but I've sure been happy with it. A couple friends of mine have borrowed it who are experienced welders and they both wanted to buy these after using it. I just told them its not for sale.

[SlowXj]

The primeweld 180 has had my eye for a bit ... fairly cheap, but I keep eyeballing the hobart 240 as well since that should be a 40 year+ solution

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Phil]

My Millermatic 180 is almost as old as this thread and hasn’t ever given me trouble, for hobby use.

[techno1154]

My turn!

A Lincoln mig only, does it make a difference negatively where the positive lead is connected?

Looking at mine today after about 15 years and several spools of wire I noticed the + (positive) lead is connected to the ground clamp.

[Anak]

That would be how you would set it up for flux core.

Try reversing that and see if it doesn't work better for MIG.

[techno1154]

Originally Posted by Anak

That would be how you would set it up for flux core.

Try reversing that and see if it doesn't work better for MIG.

OK. Thanks. I guess it was setup based on the instructions in the manual. Now, I don't know where the manual is. All I have ever used is flux core. When I get to it today, I will try it the other way.

[Anak]

That is just one of the details when going back and forth between flux core and MIG--reverse the wires as needed.

For my machine it also usually means flipping the drive wheel and changing out the tip.