Mig welder recommendations?

Jim,
You can use either, but hte gas will do a LOT better. The flux core wire makes a lot of splatter, which is easy to clean off of something that you can grind, but sheet metal is pretty delicate and you cannot grind on it very much. I wouldn't even think of running flux core on sheet metal, but it can be done, just messy. That is the big advantage of using shielding gas in MIG welding, the gas isolates the weld arc from the air, and there is no splatter or crud to clean up, so you end up with a nice clean weld.

Bill
 
JimT":3mhxfwd7 said:
I have a question about migs too. I have been thinking about buying one.

To weld sheet metal (like 1/16" or smaller) I have heard you need to stay with the gas model. What are your experiences with welding sheet metal? Does the flux core wire work well or would I need to use the gas with solid wire?
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If I were welding a lot of thin sheet metal, myself, I'd look at a TIG welder. They are starting to make more affordable units now.
 
Thanks Rick and Bill. The welding I do will be hobby welding but the no splatter route sound like the best way to go.
 
ricky racer":2c5lyeck said:
JimT":2c5lyeck said:
I have a question about migs too. I have been thinking about buying one.

To weld sheet metal (like 1/16" or smaller) I have heard you need to stay with the gas model. What are your experiences with welding sheet metal? Does the flux core wire work well or would I need to use the gas with solid wire?
Click to expand...

If I were welding a lot of thin sheet metal, myself, I'd look at a TIG welder. They are starting to make more affordable units now.
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YUP WHAT HE SAID!! Thin stuff!! GET A TIG!
 
As a welder service Tech. I would suggest the Lincoln SP140 115v or SP180 230v or Powermig 140c 115v or Powermig 180c 230v. The SP models use a tapped voltage control range switch,
the Powermigs use a potentiometer voltage for finer control. Both work well. All of these come with drive rolls for .023 - .045 wire dia. as well as a sample sool of 70S6 and gassless flux cored wire. These machines use Tweco style gun gun parts available at many hardware stores, which is good when you need a tip on sunday afternoon and the welding supply is closed. Miller/ Hobart machine come through the shop at about 4:1 over Lincoln. 15 yrs. ago ago I would have bought Miller, today it is the Lincoln. If you can find one of the old Hobart made Handler 120 or 150's cheap enough, these were the best made of any.

Just my opinion, Thanks Bob
 
I went cheap and bought a Harbor Freight 90 amp flux wire welder. Burned up several rolls of wire with poor results. That was a waste of time and money. Finally my wife gave me a Lincoln sp-135 plus for Christmas. After getting a tank of argon I welded sheet metal like never before. I believe a Lincon, Hobart, or Miller would all give excellent results. Still have to keep the stick welder for heavier stuff like building up the shoes on the snow blade. Ted
 
The SP135 Plus also uses a potentiometer voltage control for very precice voltage adjustments. This type of voltage control costs a bit more than the tapped type but gives very good control. Both types are very good. Which type to buy depends on budget and need for precicion.

Bob
 
BD I am in the same boat as you. I am looking for a new wire feed machine. One thing that you want to look out for is not to get one that has the 4 or 5 preset heat settings. I have a small Lincoln 100 and I hate it. It's either to hot or to cold. I would highly suggest that you get one with the potentiometer. Here is a link that I found comparing the Lincoln and Miller, yes it is from Lincoln so take it for what it is worth.

If I find anything else I will let you know.

http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs ... /e7242.pdf
 
rvkersh":2zy39woz said:
These machines use Tweco style gun gun parts available at many hardware stores, which is good when you need a tip on sunday afternoon and the welding supply is closed.
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IMHO this is important!! It may not be a big thing now, but in a few years it will, when you can't find parts for your gun and end up having to buy a Tweeco gun assembly!! Stay with Tweeco!
 
Well after putting together an awesome welding shop and having an open ticket on any welding machines i wanted i chose the hobart and lincoln machines and never had a problem with any of them. I purchased all 500amp/100% duty cycle machines. (MIG/TIG the biggest machines)

At home i had a newer lincoln sp 100 with the gas (110v) and an older 220v Miller MIG. Both were good machines too. I seem to use the Miller machine more. You can weld the thinnest sheetmetal using the SP 100 by using intermitten welds, little tacs and then connecting them but try not to weld in one spot for too long or warpage will occur this is how the body shops do it.

Having a TIG is good if you do a lot of alumimum, magnesium or small intercate welds on steel. Its use is limited for home use.

If you have a 220v outlet available I would personally go for the 220v MIG if your planning on fabricating steel stuff thats over 1/4" thick material. The SP-100 is for thinner steel. The 220v machine will bring you up to 3/8" to 1/2" thick material depending on which one you pick. Remember to stock up on plenty of nozzles and tips for you MIG gun this way you don't have to stop in the middle of your job to run and buy them. I keep a stock of everything for welding.

Now about the Gas you need to use. I switched over to Stargon gas mainly because of a better looking weld, a better quality weld and less splatter. Its a mix of argon/carbon D and its a whole lot better to work with.

I also use a electronic welding helmet too. Its a Hornell speed glass and it also charges the batteries while your welding with it. Its awesome to see were the MIG gun or arc rod is going when your in tight spots before you weld. Once i tried one i'll never use the old welding helmets.

I still like the stick for better penetration on thick steel. On larger structural weldments I was using 1/4" and 5/16" arc rod. If you want to lay down heavy beads quickly the bigger rod would do this.
 
I first bought a Lincoln 225 stick welder and then a small Lincoln 110 MIG welder. In hind sight I wish that I would have spent all of my money on a bigger 180-225 MIG welder because once I bought the MIG welder I don't want to use the stick welder anymore.
 
We must keep in mind that the joint preperation is very important before welding too.

MIG is ok for the thinner stuff to be welded. We must remember too that MIG wire is good for around 90,000 tensile strength too. On my critical joints were strength/stresses are involved i use 125,000 TS arc rod. Like on snowplow frames (on jeeps/trucks) and log splitter beams were the cylinder mounts and the knife edges are held down. The 125k rod i use work hardens when it sees stress up to 250,000 k. Its not cheap rod but i sleep good at night when i use it over a lesser strength rod in a critical weld.

You design also matters too. I try to make my designs very simple were the weld only holds the steel together with not much stress on my welds. My pusher on my log splitter is made like a puzzle and the welds only hold it together, meaning the forces are on my steel parts and not my welds.

Remember your vertical welds are the strongest. You don't get a strong weld when you weld vertical down. Vertical welding keeps the heat going in the up direction while your welding. When we weld down the heat is still going up giving us a lesser penetration weld. Its a colder weld.

Right now (my son) uses a hobart gas engine welder and i plan on setting up a piggy back MIG off of it. I think the portable unit is much better because i'm not limited to one area. Its also 100% duty cycle at 200amps meaning i can run rod after rod 24/7.

Everyone should have a temperature chart too on welding in colder weather temps so we know when to preheat too you can get one from lincoln. I got these for all my welders on the job. Its easy to use.

A good way to learn about welding is at your local trade school or join the AWS (american welding society) and take there courses, there very informative. Some of the instructors have PHD's in welding. You can learn alot from them.
 
HI,I have a habart 185 mig and i love it.I just recommend a 220 mig over a 110 and not alot more expensive money wise.
 
Heres my .02, for what its worth... I have a Hobart Handler 140 and its been a great little machine. Its durable, works good and does what I ask. I frequently use it for auto body type stuff. I almost always use 75/25 sheilding gas, and have been really happy with the welder. There are some (lots) of limitations though. Even though the machine is capable of aluminum, its just not doable without a spool gun. That is typical of mig guns that feed the wire through the cable... the aluminum wire does not have the stiffness to be pushed through the cable and binds. Another problem with it is (and its really my problem, not the machine), is that I always seem to need to weld just slightly thicker material than the 140 is capable of, so I wind up using a big Miller BP in the shop (TIG or Stick), or just gas welding (I know its old school, but for versatility nothing beats an O/A Rig... I am learning aluminum now) There are lots of guys who say TIG.... and its good, no doubt, but its expensive and not as handy as an OA rig, besides, TIG is 1000 times easier to learn if you can gas weld.
So my opinion is this... if you have only one welder, it should be an OA rig, if you have 2, the second would be a 220 volt mig like the handler 180 MIG, or a crackerbox and stick to stick welding, and the last choice is to spend the extra bucks on the TIG. Probably not a mainstream opinion, but it comes from 20+ years of doing aircraft restoration work. Home Machinist in Oct/Nov 09, and Dec/Jan 10 had a great series on the versatility of gas (OA) welding. I think it would surprise most people.
 
Anyone wanting to learn welding and cutting should take a Gas Cutting and Gas Welding/Brazing course first. Mainly because the movement of the filler rod with gas welding is actually applied to all the other welding like TIG and ARC welding. Its a lot easier to learn the rest of the welding processes if you learn Gas Welding and Gas Cutting first.
 
Hi BD,

How is that F-14 running? The Jeep is still going strong.

I got a Hobart 180 a couple of years ago for Christmas and it work great. I believe it is advertised good up to 5/16" for welding. I have welded thicker than that and it does a good job. This is my first experience with this type of welder. Once you get one you will love it.

Good Luck.

Roger Gillen
 
BigBill":33ixfw69 said:
Anyone wanting to learn welding and cutting should take a Gas Cutting and Gas Welding/Brazing course first. Mainly because the movement of the filler rod with gas welding is actually applied to all the other welding like TIG and ARC welding. Its a lot easier to learn the rest of the welding processes if you learn Gas Welding and Gas Cutting first.
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I Agree

BD
That Hobart 140 is a good little machine for the money. I have a Miller 140 at school and and I really like it. You should be able to do 3/16 easily with 80/20 shielding gas maybe 1/4 under the right conditions any more than that you can get out the buzzbox.
For a 120 volt machine you need a GOOD dedicated 20 amp circuit for constant input power supply. I have a 8ft 8 gauge extension cord for the one at the school but that is about the limit without reducing ampereage to the machine. Almost all the problems that I see with these machine is input power problems of not being able to supply enough amperage to the machine. Also duty cycle at max output is only about 20% or 2 minutes out of 10 before welding output really diminishes. Just plan your welding around this time frame and you will be fine.

Good Luck

Mark
 
This discussion is kind of like what kind of boots do you like best. With anything price is an indicator of quality. What do you want this mig to do for you? Here is how I would make a decision.

1. Should it be portable or is it going to stay in your shop? If portable forget 220V. Do you have 220V in your shop and are you willing to wire it in? A gas machine affects portability as well. A 110V flux cored machine is best for portability.

2. Duty cycle tells you how much continuous time you can keep welding with out taking a break. So a 20% duty cycle mean 2 minutes out of 10 minutes you can weld. The rest of the time you are waiting. The more duty cycle the higher the price.

3. What are you welding rusty old metal forget a mig unless you spend time getting it cleaned up before welding. If you mostly weld clean metal a mig works nice. the thickness of the metal you weld as well as the strength of the weld joint also effects your choice. If you are doing heavy structural work forget the mig. Use an Arc or Tig machine.

4. How much will your machine be used 20 hours a week spend several thousand dollars or 5 hours a month spend several hundred dollars.

5. What kind of manufacture support or warranty is available if there is a problem with this machine. It is great to save $50 buying over the internet but when you buy at the local welding shop they almost always will take care of you when there is a problem.

6. What is your experience with welding? If you are a beginner talk your purchase over with someone at a local trade school who teaches welding to high school students. Call up the school and ask to speak to the welding instructor. Tell him you would like to make an appointment to discuss a welding question. Go in to see him prepared to discuss your questions about which machine to purchase. It will give you a better idea and he or she will be surprisingly helpful.

7. Lastly Take Your Time and let us know what you decide.
 
my vote would be for a250 series Miller matic 220v /gas mig. I have one,and love it. What I did, is I bought from a miller dealer 45 miles from me, they have a company that buys 28 new welders on a 2 year cycle, they take the old ones in on trade, run used welders through the shop, and re sell with shop warranty, at about a 1/2 the cost of new. I paid about $1,200.plus tax. The welder looks and works like new. new cost I believe is about 2500-2800 range. Just my 2 cents worth, but you have lots of great advice here, good luck,Jim
 
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