I need a welder recommendation

[mrn2obelvedere]

Hello all,

I want to buy a mig welder. I want to use gas shielding, because I don't like chipping away at slag. Also, I do have access to a 220 volt outlet. My needs are primarily for thin gage mild steel (building frames/chassis tabs/sheetmetal work/etc), so I don't really need the biggest baddest welder.

Do any of you have any recommendations for a decent gas mig welder?

[oestek]

We've been using HTP welders for years with outstanding reliability and results. Check the MIG 140 for a robust 110 machine.

http://www.usaweld.com/HTP-MIG-Welders-MIG-140-s/21.htm

[DaleLee]

If you are looking for a small investment, the 220 Lincolns available at Home Depot are pretty cheap. Add your gas bottle and you should be able to do everything described.

[Rick D]

I've used Miller for mig and as stated by Kevin the HTP but I use their Tig never used their mig. What ever you buy any of the brand names will do what ever you need. just don't buy an off brand because it's cheap. You will have a hard time getting parts if you need them down the road. Also if you have a local welding supply store try to buy from them because they will be able to help you if you have any problems and will have the consumables you will need. Plus you can get the gas from them. Hope this helps.

[mrn2obelvedere]

The ones I have seen at home depot don't come with bottles...what do I need to do to use gas with one of these units? Would a lincoln 180 HD weld pak work for me?

[bmms]

just bought a 211, great unit! the autoset actually works well too!

[Motorcitydak]

You will need that tank itself, regualtor and proper hose for your machine. Mine has a barbed hose fitting, others have a push lock tube setup. You keep the regulator and hose. When you run the tank empty, just take it back to the store and exchange it for a full one. The initial gas setup will run you $150-$200. I pay $20 iirc to exchange tanks

[mrn2obelvedere]

just bought a 211, great unit! the autoset actually works well too!

A 211...what...is that a Miller, a Lincoln?

[rivs68]

I would recommend going to a welding supply and see what they have to say, most carry the popular brands, and the prices are usually competitive...It's a one stop shop...welder, gas,wire...Whatever you need and a better selection...I bought my Lincoln "mig"from a local Praxair about 5 years ago...works great

[bmms]

A 211...what...is that a Miller, a Lincoln?
it's a miller, w/DVS (dual voltage 110 or 240) in a compact unit

[mrn2obelvedere]

I looked at the Miller website and it says the 211 can weld up to 3/8" in a single pass...this is really more welder than I need I think. The thickest stuff I can see myself welding onto might be welding up sway bar mounts to my rear end housing...nothing more thick than 1/8.

Do you guys think the 180 might work for me? This is a 230V welder which welds up to 5/16" thickness in a single pass (still likely more than I'll be doing).

Also, considering that I'd be doing mostly thin gage stuff (like up to .125" thickness), is there any advantage to using a smaller welder for me? I understand welding thick stuff is important sometimes, but when I want to weld something thin (say a quarter panel patch for instance) I want to have the flexibility to be able to do this without blowing holes right through the metal. In other words I don't want the lowest setting to be too much for small stuff. Would the larger welders have a problem with this?

[Twentyover]

Think a bigger machine has more cooling so you get more duty cycle at lower power. If you're not welding big stuff, just use a smaller wire (to keep wire speed high and speed variation low)

[John Wright]

Also note that the larger machines, usually have more adjustability in them. So even though they will handle thicker materials and have larger duty cycles, they give you the ability to fine tune your settings. Whereas the smaller welders have preset selections that you have to use. These infinitely adjustable settings will come in handy vs the preset selections on the thinner gage materials.

[bmms]

I looked at the Miller website and it says the 211 can weld up to 3/8" in a single pass...this is really more welder than I need I think. The thickest stuff I can see myself welding onto might be welding up sway bar mounts to my rear end housing...nothing more thick than 1/8.

Do you guys think the 180 might work for me? This is a 230V welder which welds up to 5/16" thickness in a single pass (still likely more than I'll be doing).

Also, considering that I'd be doing mostly thin gage stuff (like up to .125" thickness), is there any advantage to using a smaller welder for me? I understand welding thick stuff is important sometimes, but when I want to weld something thin (say a quarter panel patch for instance) I want to have the flexibility to be able to do this without blowing holes right through the metal. In other words I don't want the lowest setting to be too much for small stuff. Would the larger welders have a problem with this?

if you were going to spend the money on a miller I'd get the 140 or the 211 the 140 is quite a bit cheaper than the 211 and the 211 is just a little more then the 180. the 180 wouldn't be worth the savings compared to the 211 in my opinion. if you just want to do light body work and it's just for home use I'd buy the better of the two 110 lincolns from home depot that would suit your needs just fine, and if you have to weld say 1/4" you can do so with flux core or you can preheat your material with O/A torch, crank up the wire speed and weld thicker material with mig wire. But believe me you'll eventually see the many uses of a welder and you'll want a bigger unit. I am partial to miller if I went back in time I'd at least buy the miller 140 over the home depot welder. just FYI the lincoln migs that home depot sells are pretty much made exclusively cheaper for home depot

[69LT1Nova]

Miller. I've used a lot of welders and Miller just makes a nice product at a "reasonable" price. The fine tuning of the larger models is super handy, even if you'll never weld 3/8".

[Hi-po SS 454]

Some more info..

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=294401&highlight=which+welder

[mrn2obelvedere]

Ok, so you guys have pretty much convinced me of the advantages of the Miller 211. It is a bit pricey but I am willing to bite the bullet and get it if it is the right tool for me. Now I am new to mig welding (I have some experience with mig, mostly with stick welding), so I need to know what else will I need.

1) I assume I will need to buy a gas cylinder. What size is suitable?
2) Also, what kind of gas will I need to use? CO2 or some mixture?
3) The welder comes with a spool of solid wire, will this be suitable for getting started or will I need to buy something else?

[rivs68]

Good choice...You can't go wrong with Miller...

You will have to buy your first tankof gas most likely, most welding shops will not rent to the general consumer. I prefer C-25 (75% argon-25% CO)...As far as size...That depends on usage...I use the "medium" tank...3ft. tall or so...Cost about $125 the first time and $30 for refill or exchange...

Yes...solid wire (S6)...Depending on what size...I keep .025" and .030"...I Generally use .025 on body panels and .030 on floors and lighter fab....

Welding gloves....Extra tips, gas nozzles..."Anti-Spatter" is also a good thing to have around....

Welding helmet...Auto-Darkening...Is worth every penny in the car world....

Practice...practice...practice...It's very easy to warp things and burn thru sheet metal...

The setup chart on the welder is good guide to get you started...But it's a guide...You'll most likely develop your own preference for wire speed and heat....

[John Wright]

The setup chart on the welder is good guide to get you started...But it's a guide...You'll most likely develop your own preference for wire speed and heat....

Typically, you want to watch what's going on and then adjust or fine tune your arc. If you're getting a bunch of spatter, one of two things is out of whack: 1) too much wire feed speed(amps) for the amount of voltage, 2) too little voltage for the amount of wire feed speed.

The thickness of your material will dictate which of those will need adjusting. Blowing holes through the material, means there's too much voltage or you're moving too slow and the material can't support that much heat. Heat input is an equation.(volts x amps x 60 divided by travel speed in/min) What I'm trying to say is that when you mess with one of the numbers in the equation it effects the other numbers proportionally.

Spatter is the wire feeding too fast into the puddle causing large droplets of molten metal to fly out of the puddle. Really fine, light spatter is a sign that you are very close to an optimal setup. The arc should not sound like a war zone, but a gentle spraying, hissing sound. Now if you have a nice hissing sound, but the wire burns back up into the tip, you need to add more wirefeed speed into the mix to prevent the burn back and maintain a consistant ESO(electrical stick out measured from the contact tip to the work), over do the wirefeed speed and you're back to producing large quanities of spatter.
Look for that balance....hope this helps.

[mrn2obelvedere]

Ok this is a newb question, but I notice that the welders come with different wire sizes depending on the welder. Some come with 023 wire, some come with 030 wire. The question I have is with regards to the liner. If you are using a liner for 030 wire do you have to use 030 wire or can you use smaller wire with this liner? Same question but opposite direction, If I had an 023 liner would I have to change this to an 030 liner to use 030 wire?

[MotownChevy427]

Millermatic 140! i think all you change is the tip-according to size of wire ect

[Motorcitydak]

Rite, all you have to change is the tip itself. Takes maybe 30 seconds if that. You use the .023 wire for thinner stuff and turn your energy setting down. The .030 and up is for thicker stuff that you can put more heat into with out worrying about it warping

[mrn2obelvedere]

If this is the case then why do they sell different liners for .023 and .030 wire?

[rivs68]

I've never seen a different liner based on wire diameter...Drive rolls and contact tips should be the only difference. However, if for some reason they are offering different liners...I would say get the larger one... JMO

[John Wright]

I have to wonder if .007" of slop will make any difference in the feeding quality....but we use Bernard here at work with really large wire compared to what you are talking about, so we don't change the liners unless drastically changing the wire size. Anyway, I figured that I would link to their page so you can read it and you can decide what you need to do for your situation.

http://www.bernardwelds.com/articles/article22.htm

[waynedang]

As a cheap SOB, I decided to get online and look at other alternatives to an expensive miller or lincoln machine from my local welding shops. I found that there are many off brand machines out there although if they do not come with a good warranty, it would not be worth the low price. I found a company called Longevity welding on the net that sells very low cost units for the poor people like myself. I bought from them after reading some reviews from a couple of forums including pirate 4x4 and welding web, ETC, but I was also able to get on there own forum (www.freeweldingforum.com (http://www.freeweldingforum.com)) where I was able to talk to some of the customers direct about the equipment, and determine how well the equipment would work out. The MIG welder that I purchased cost me $850.00 shipped to my door. the M200 is a 200amp MIG welder with a built in wire feeder and a multi use stick welder as well. this machine runs off IGBT technology which is also used by miller and lincoln. better warranty at a better price, if your cheap like me, check out the machine here:

http://www.longevity-inc.com/productdetail_13/ArcMate-M200-IGBT.php

glad to be of inexpensive service. :1st:

[John Wright]

When scoping out the cheap machines....make sure that you can find a good supply of the consumable parts that you will need for just the wear and tear items.....tips, diffusers, nozzles, liners, guns, whips, drive wheels/rollers, ect....if you can't find these parts when they wear out, then I would say that you didn't get such a good bargin on the cheap machine.

[507caddy]

Another thing about buying a brand name is resale, I have been shopping around for a used miller 180 and have found that I might as well buy a new unit. These welders do not seem to drop in price.
As far as the miller auto-set, from what I have read it works great. I am saving for this unit which is a little smaller but I have a nice miller stick unit which works great on anything thicker.