bought my lincoln 180c 220v from indiana oxygen cost me around $750 with a nice cart, free shipping.. all i needed was the bottle. it was at my door in 2 days.. was so happy with the mig, i bought my thermal arc arcmaster185 tig from indiana oxygen also.. the thermal arc tig is awesome..
Everyone knows Miller and Lincoln, but that does not make them the best. Go ESAB and you will not be sorry.
I have a junk MIG, while it's not a Clarke I am sure its comparable Here is a quick practice one on my 110v Campbell Hausfeld and I would classify myself nowhere near a competent welder. I got this unit on a guy-who-owed-me-money deal. That being said, I prefer Miller and my plasma cutter is a Miller - I haven't upgraded the MIG yet as I want to learn to TIG and put my money in that. I am sure I will get better with experience but I am also sure that I may be welder-limited as well. Yes I did write my name, yes I am a nerd, thanks
I purchased a small 110 volt Lincoln in 1991. It welds up to about 3/16 steel. Works really great on sheet metal. Wouldn't trade it for anything. I also bought an old fashsion stick welder - between the two I can do most anything in the shop. PS Big migs don't seem to work as well on sheet metal... I also have a cheap Campbell - whatever... it works in a pinch but it isn't anywhere near the machine that the Lincoln is. Go with the gas capable model.. not the flux core only models.. flux core will rust thru the paint after a while..
I have been using a Miller 140 for several years now and it never has let me down. Portabilty is an asset for the 110v machine but I will admit the 180A 220v machine is the ticket for all around use if it stays in your shop. In my case I use my ac/dc stick machine in 220v for big jobs plus it has a Hi-Freq. tig set-up. Best of both worlds!
I have 2 tig welders and three mig welders they are all Millers. It works for me. I started with the 135/110 and worked up to a 300/220. Los
HEY HEY! Exactly what I've been looking for, someone who put's his money where his mouth is. Pretty good welds, a little beveling and you could have that fillet laying pretty flat I bet. How much have you been welding with it? Any reliability issues?
I've had it around here for about 7 years and I mostly used it to do exhaust, misc projects, general repair work and some decorative items. For 5-6 out of those 7 years it was fired up every few months to do some basic home/garden repairs, lawnmower wheel, chair - that sort of thing. It's only been the last year that I really sat down and learned (or tried to at least) to use the damn thing. The machine has never done anything that it shouldn't have, not even once. It's easy to load, feed and fires up immediately. Now its entirely possible that this model and generation is actually a decent welder and I have never played with a cheaper unit, only things that are worlds better so I may get on an HF and eat my words one day While I am not sure I am comfortable building a frame with it, or suspension supports its been perfect for the rest of the job, sheetmetal of course, tubing, all aspects of the body, mounts and brackets, etc. My entire Model A build (in sig) is being done with this welder. I over-engineer everything and have severe trust issues to I am always dissecting a welded piece of any new piece of metal (thickness, type, etc) that I come across, cutting on the band saw through the weld and doing a little magnified research. I've been learning how to weld through the welders handbook and of course some online assistance. Speed, temp and heat settings were tricky to figure out at first but I am gaining a bit more confidence in my ability. The biggest improvement in my welding, more than anything else was the mask. I got a nice auto-dark Miller that I am not sure I could live without now. I also have a short CO2/Argon tank, I want to get a bigger one, these go quickly You can see the welder behind me in this pic;
I worked for a Large Off Road Mining truck manufacturer for 18yrs. But not as a welder. They used Miller welders including the big robots..so when the time came for me to buy a Mig, it was going to be a Miller. I figured if it can weld 300 Ton Mining trucks it should be good enough for me..So several yrs ago I purchased a 230 V Miller 210..awsome machine glad I spent the $$ cuz it does anyhing I need up to 1/2" plate. will never need to buy another one. Go Big you will not regret it.. Jim
If you buy a 220V Mig, you'll NEVER hear yourself say "Man! I sure wish I'd bought a 110V." If you buy a 110, you WILL wish you'd bought a 220V. I'm not saying you can't do good work with a 110V unit. My buddy's '59 Bel Air was put back together entirely with my 110V MIG. 15 years ago, and still looking great. But, I definitely need more welder. I've used a LOT of MIG welders. Except for a 110V, I've never used a Miller that wasn't a damned good welder, but the Hobart Beta MIG beats every Miller I've ever used, hands down. And saying flux core sucks is giving it too much credit. The only people who will ever say anything good about flux core welders are people who are selling them.
How long does that take usually? I haven't gotten to that point yet. I wish I had a nice 220 TIG, now that's the stuff...
In my book, there are two kinds of welders, Miller and all of the rest I have been using a Miller 185 for the last 13 years and I love it. I decided to learn TIG and I just bought a new Miller syncrowave 200. In doing that I needed to get an additional bottle for the Argon. In searching Craig's list locally, I found a guy selling a new Miller 210 that he had never plugged in with a new bottle. It had been sitting in his garage for 6 years. He had paid around $2400 for the set-up. I managed to get one hell of a deal for $1300 I put the old one on Craig's list for $600, it went in 5 minutes. I think I sold it too cheap. Below is a photo of these welders.
I started with a the Campell Hausfeld unit. What a POS!!! I picked up a used Auto Arc 110 on the cheap, and it is awesome! I believe they are made by miller. Thats what i do all of my light work with. Bought a 220 Lincoln for heavy stuff. I won't weld frame rail with anything less than a 220. Ditto to what previous people have said. Spend a little more now and get something decent, or spend years fighting the machine that you spend $100 on. just my 2 cents.
What happened to your Campbell and when? I've had no issues for about 7 years but would like to know what to look out for.
nothing happened to it. I was just the super cheap model where the wire was hot all the time. More of a pain in the ass to use than anything.
Gotcha, I've seen some of the newer CH ones and they look like tiny little packs, my old CH is quite a large unit and I have yet to experience any of the problems the newer user are having (knock on wood).
The "Hot wire" is a PITA..i have an older 110V welder i use for real light work and its live without trigger, and i cant stand it.
WRONG. Flux core is a godsend for welding outdoors. Which you have to do a lot of on the farm. I've actually used it on the job manufacturing for the heavier welds on farm equipment. It burns hotter and gets deeper penetration than gas shielded. Once you get the hang of it you can lay down some beautiful welds the stuff lays in so nice. The people who never take the time to learn to weld with it properly and don't use it in the right applications are the ones who think it sucks. If all I had was a 110 machine and I was doing frame work, I would bevel my joints and use flux core for it all.
My advise on what to do get a 210 miller mig best thing that I ever invested in will do everything can go from light stuff to boxing your frame. I prefer a tig thow. Scott
I agree with him in that flux core has it's place and that is usually outside in less than ideal conditions and you aren't all that worried if the weld is pretty or not. I have a Lincoln 175 220V rig and love it but I got the deal of the week on it when the seller decided he wanted a bigger rig to do the projects he was doing. But, I would probably have a Hobart 140 110 rig if that one if that one hadn't popped up on Craigslist two days before I was going to head to the local Big R to buy the Hobart.. From my experince working in a facility where I had to arrange repairs on the welders (Mig, Tig and stick) on a regular basis along with buying the disposable items for the same I would highly suggest buying a either a Miller, Lincoln or Hobart or one of the Esabs as sooner or later every welder that gets used will need parts and service. A lot of the welding equipment repair guys won't even look at the off brand stuff nor can they get parts for them through their sources. And it won't be fun waiting for several weeks for that "bargain" welder to get back from being sent who knows where for a simple repair because you can't get it repaired locally.
i had access to a full size miller at work. i bought a small daytona mig @ a car show. after using the daytona a few weeks I sold it & bought a full size miller for home. the little migs are fine. but yu can only do a LIMITED amount of things.
If I were buying a new welder it would probably be a miller 212. I have owned a clarke 235e turbo for about 11 years and I have welded frames, rollcages sheet metal, farm equipment etc. I have had absolutely no problems with it, none. I can show you pictures of beautiful welds that wont hold crap, and I can show you ugly welds that will hold anything you can throw at them, pictures of welds really are not worth much.
Antibling- you make a good point about it being tricky to use a shielding gas welder when welding outdoors. No question, there. Still, from my expeience with flux core welders- I'll set up a wind block (or be the wind block) before I'll go with flux core. But if it works for you- good deal. Ken (see what posting the piece of metal with your name welded into it does?) -maybe you WON'T wind up wishing you had a 220V unit. From the picture, it looks as though your 110 is a pretty substantial unit. And if you get a TIG, you'll quickly fall into a quick asessment of a welding job as suited to one or the other. And I suppose I should include a pictures of things I've welded to show that I DO actually weld, and am not some board troll speaking of things that I really don't do much of. No closeups of the actual welds, but here's my english wheel I welded up. Had plenty of 2 inch tubing, but nothing bigger, so I laminated the tubing to get the frame more stout. It's all one color, now. This was done with three different welders, actually- a Hobart Beta Mig 230, Millermatic 351 TIG and a few welds were done with a good old tombstone Lincoln stick. And you can't see the welds on this one, either- but the quarters aren't falling apart under the trim (that's where the seam is) and the rockers are still on. This was done with my little Craftsman (Century) 110V, always hot MIG that I don't like.
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