welder?

[RatherBeJeeping]

Hobart vs. Miller..... discuss

[GoinCommando]

Lincoln?

I recently bought a Lincoln SP-135 plus MIG that works real nice. Will weld thin metal like a champ and up to 3/16" good too.

[hol]

I bought a Hobart Handler 175 earlier this year. It's a great welder, I believe it was $600. I've been using it steadily with no complaints, mostly 1/8" to 3/16". Doesn't Miller own Hobart?

[goodtimes]

Miller owns Hobart (or they are both owned by the same parent company...or something like that). Basically, what I hear is that the Millers are generally a little better quality than the Hobarts (and more expensive too).

I won't offer much advice because I am fairly new to the welding world (been burning wire for a couple of years in a maintenance setting.....mostly repair work, plus a little fabrication on occasion). But I will sat that I do like the Millermatic 210 I have sitting in my dining room. I have only ran about 20 or 25 pounds of wire through it, but it does a nice job. I used to have a Lincoln Tig 250 at the shop too...but we had problems with it (control transformer blew up and tried to burn the machine down...never worked the same after that).

But onto the bits of advice I will offer.

1) Figure out how much welder you need, then double it. If you think you are only going weld 1/8" and occasionally 3/16"...then get a machine that will weld 3/8 on a single pass. It may seem more expensive this way, but it is cheaper to buy the right piece of equipment the first time than it is to buy the wrong one, and then go back and buy the right one.

2) Compare duty cycles!!!! If you don't know, a 60% duty cycle means that you will be able to run the machine for 6 out of every 10 minutes at it's rated output. The other 4 minutes it must sit idle in order to avoid overheating. (BTW--in the world of weekend welders, it is hard to exceed a 60% duty cycle)

3) Don't be cheap! A welder is a investment. Buy a good machine, take care of it, and it will last you a long time. Buy a cheap welder, exceed it's duty cycle too much, wear it out, then buy a good machine.

[NAILER341]

i used the lincoln 135 and liked it a lot... but i decided to upgrade to the 175, and this thing is awesome! either of them are available at lowes for about 650. a benefit to the 135 is you can plug it into pretty much any 120v outlet. the 220 version is MUCH more powerful, and i'd go that way if you can do some basic house wiring...
i really like this 175 lincoln, and the price is right too...
oh yea... the lincoln kit comes with everything but the bottle for doing mig welding... so concider that in the price of the others. it even comes with the big roll of wire.

[NAILER341]

i was wrong on the price on that welder...
the lincoln 175 is like 560.00 at lowes.
$the 650 is including tax and all that mess

[Chris_L]

I run a millermatic 210 and it makes me smile a lot.

Best price is at www.cyberweld.com I paid $1110 for mine with no tax and free shipping. They are located on the east coast. When I ordered mine they said it would be shipping from the miller facility in downey CA. I went and picked it up the same day will call. Add bottle, wire, hood and misc other crap and your up around $1400. Then the extension cord for my dryer outlet is 30ft long. The male plug for the 220 was around $45 bucks and the female plug was another $20 or so. Thats just about another $100 bucks for a #10 cord 30 feet long, that reaches down the driveway quite well.

[Guest]

There USED to be a difference between the 2 but now internally they are almost Identical . As far as my welders go ....... [COLOR=blue]MILLER[/COLOR] 210 with optional spoolgun , [COLOR=blue]MILLER[/COLOR] 180 SD Tig runner , [COLOR=blue]MILLER[/COLOR] Thunderbolt AC/DC Arc welder , [COLOR=blue]MILLER[/COLOR] Cutmate 375 Plasma Cutter , Hobart 150 Handler , And a Century 135 mig , Victor torches , Lots of bottles and a Bic Lighter !

[goodtimes]

Jim, how do you like the Miller 375? I narrowed my search down to that and the Hypertherm 380. I went with the Hypertherm.

Cutting steel is so much easier now (never was any good with a torch)

[Guest]

Originally posted by goodtimes
Jim, how do you like the Miller 375? I narrowed my search down to that and the Hypertherm 380. I went with the Hypertherm.

Cutting steel is so much easier now (never was any good with a torch)

I like it alot ! Since miller has switshed to the ICE -27 series guns they are as good as any machine

[BullDog]

I just traded my Hobart 135 for a Miller 210. Both are excellent machines. I like the Miller/Hobart lines. I also have a Miller 625 Plasma Cutter and a Miller Thunderbolt Arc Welder. As well as an oxy/acl setup.

They all come in handy.

[Guest]

I've got a Miller Thunderbolt that I picked up used for $100, and it's been great! The stinger would get pretty hot, pretty quick (the reason the guy was selling it), but after an additional outlay of less than $10 for a few small parts, it works perfectly! When I first got it, I made a pig-tail that would allow me to plug it into my 30 amp dryer outlet, and it worked pretty good without blowing any breakers. I've since had a 50 amp outlet wired into my garage, and the unit will go all day and all night without any problems...

[EvilPsych]

it's all about the readywelder

oh.. and jims garage setup ownz j00

[jmbrowning]

Trail repair welder

Hi, I am interested in learning how to weld. I don't anticipate I will be doing a lot of welding in the garage except to learn how to operate the thing safely. Car battery welding seems like how a lot of people weld on the trail unless enough foresight permits installing a MobiWelder or other such device.

A MobiWelder would allow running power tools to clean up the surfaces to be welded, but I was planning on just hacking up a cordless drill and running it off of the car battery for that purpose.

I was thinking about toting around a portable Century 131 wirefeed gasless welder for those repairs. I expect it would be the usual stuff that breaks out there. Drive shafts, spring/shock mounts, etc. Is a fixed 130 amp output gasless welder a useful device for such repairs? Is adjustable amperage needed for field repairs? Do I need a duty cycle greater than 20%? I already have an inverter in the Jeep so recharging it on the trail is no problem.

Should I be getting a mobiwelder instead? I was thinking the portability would be useful for welding three or four rigs away or if we decide to take the Missus' Jeep instead. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful input! Who knows...if it is as fun as everyone makes it out to be, perhaps I will have to get a real welder for the garage!