Your MIG welder 115V - What is worthy

PatrickR · Sep 23, 2008

I have read some posts on welding. Taking a course at local Comm College. Great fun and I am learning. My needs are light, auto body, fencing etc. I do not want cheapo but also not Most pricey of course.
What do you have and respect.
The instructor says anything Hobart is superb.
Welder brother in law agrees and adds Lincoln.
I would hope to spend no more than 500 if feasible. Whattayathink.
Want to weld soft steel/alum/stainless.
Thanks in advance
Patrick

BTW service is 115 - wish I had 220 :-(

Jared · Sep 23, 2008

Go with a 230 volt, i have a a lincoln sp 100 it works fine but your limited to about 1/8 meterial. Anything by lincoln hobart and miller is usually pretty good.

rickairmedic · Sep 23, 2008

I would highly recomend the hobart 187 or 210 220V welders they are plenty for a hobby welder and will most likely do anything you ever want to try in a home garage . I wont kid you you are going to spend more than $500.00 especialy if you want to weld anything more than steel . Each differant metal type you want to weld will require a differant gas C25 for steel , straight argon for aluminum and trimix for stainless . I will also say you are not going to have much luck with aluminum with 110Volts it requires more ooooomph than a 110 machine will give you .

Rick

nissan_crawler · Sep 23, 2008

PatrickR said:
I have read some posts on welding. Taking a course at local Comm College. Great fun and I am learning. My needs are light, auto body, fencing etc. I do not want cheapo but also not Most pricey of course.
What do you have and respect.
The instructor says anything Hobart is superb.
Welder brother in law agrees and adds Lincoln.
I would hope to spend no more than 500 if feasible. Whattayathink.
Want to weld soft steel/alum/stainless.
Thanks in advance
Patrick

BTW service is 115 - wish I had 220 :-(

I think Hobart is the best bang for the buck, IMHO. That being said...aluminum means spoolgun. Spoolgun means nothing under a Hobart 210 for sure (not sure if the 187 is capable, don't think so). A 110v is limited enough on steel, it won't do **** for aluminum.

It sounds to me like you're looking at a HH210, which you aren't getting for $500. Running a spoolgun on the smaller ones means a separate control, which costs as much as upgrading to the 210 in the first place. I know, that's the spot I'm in right now.

rickairmedic · Sep 23, 2008

Crawler you can run aluminum without a spool gun not the most recomended way to do it but you can do it most important thing if your doing aluminum without a spool gun keep the line as straight as possible going to the gun . I will add if your going to be doing alot of aluminum pop for the spoolgun but if its a once in a while thing it can be done without the spoolgun .

Rick

rickairmedic · Sep 23, 2008

Patrick how far from the garage is your oven or dryer if their within 50 feet then you have 220 to run a HH187 or HH210 a 10 guage 50 foot extension chord with the ends changed is plenty for either machine . I wouldnt recomend trying to weld while SWMBO is trying to cook or do laundry but otherwise either outlet will give you 220 for a welder of that class

.

Rick

nissan_crawler · Sep 23, 2008

AGreed that you can. However, it's not the best, the 110v welders don't feed as well usually, and it's going to want small wire, which isn't conducive to pushing though a liner. Without having the knowledge behind trying it, a novice trying to make it work could be setting themselves up for an expensive failure after they have a bottle they can't use, and a spool of wire that does them no good.

69charged · Sep 23, 2008

i have a lincoln 115 volt. i like it for now. as you grow in your welding ability you will wish you had spent the extra money and bought a bigger machine but as you say you dont have the 220v. i can weld al, stainless and regular steel with mine. you need different gas for different metals and if you want to weld al, you usually need a different liner in the gun and tube because it will pick up cause al is softer. here, check out this link. i know its about lincoln's but there is still good info on how to choose.
clarence

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/list-top-welding.asp

rickairmedic · Sep 23, 2008

I should have been more specific you can weld aluminum without a spoolgun with a 220V welder I wouldnt even begin to try with a 110V welder that would be a very very agravating experiance .

Rick

nissan_crawler · Sep 23, 2008

Gotcha. I've been tempted to try it with my hh175, but I haven't gotten up the nerve yet. I would hate for it to not do what I want after buying a bottle and spool of wire.

rickairmedic · Sep 23, 2008

Crawler do you have a bottle of say C25 now if you do use it up and get it filled next time with straight argon and grab a small spool of aluminum. That way your not out much money and you tried it . I would recomend a seperate liner just for aluminum other than that go for it .Gas isnt that expensive it is the bottle that kills ya

.

Rick

69charged · Sep 23, 2008

I haven't welded al either with my 110 v, but I get gas for free so I'll try it and report back how it worked out.
clarence

PatrickR · Sep 23, 2008

My shed is in the back 40 so to speak. No house on the property. Mainly an ag shop and inherited power pole was 75 feet from garage. We used the UG 4 wire gray stuff to set up the box. I am sure someday I would be able to do 220 but all I want to do is light stuff and less bondo, more metal mainly. Great replies so far. Lets make this a primer on 114 volt welders.

nissan_crawler · Sep 23, 2008

If you're sticking to 110, then I would go for a refurb HH140 from toolking.com. You won't find a better price, and when you upgrade, it'll still be worth something.

eschoendorff · Sep 23, 2008

I do not have 220vac access, so I went with teh Hobart 140. I love taht machine, but I do not weld aluminum or stainless with it. Just use it for mild steel. Great machine... much nicer build quality (IMHO) than the "red" welders....

PAToyota · Sep 23, 2008

PatrickR said:
My shed is in the back 40 so to speak. No house on the property.

If you have electrical service to the building, you have 220V in all likelihood. Sort of difficult to only bring in one leg... :wtf:

KenS · Sep 23, 2008

While there is an ongoing debate over Miller vs. Lincoln, one of my local welding suppliers who is a dealer for both companies told me that his shop has seen a higher failure rate of circuit boards in Lincoln welders compared with Miller and Hobart. And Lincoln's parts replacement costs are very high.

Another local supplier is a large national chain that is a dealer for several companies including Miller and Lincoln, and they definitely steered me toward Miller. All that said, this definitely is Miller country and I notice that most all the larger local welding company trucks carry Millers (quite often Miller Bobcats) onboard.

A less tangible factor is Lincoln's attitude. Perhaps you'll have a different experience, but try calling Lincoln with a parts question-- ask how you can get a part shipped to you. Then try Miller. See which company is more user friendly. YMMV.

For the hobby user, the Hobart Handler series gets consistently high reviews, although they are not as robust as their big blue sibling, the Miller. (For instance, the wire feed drive in a Hobart is plastic compared with the metal drive in a Miller.) I have to agree that it's hard to go wrong with the Hobart Handler 140 for 110 volt, and the Hobart Handler 187 for 220 volt. For a little more cash you might want to consider the Hobart 210-- a 187 on steroids. The Miller 180-- although less capable than the Hobart 210, is in the same price range but will have a higher resale potential down the road.

Be sure to add in the cost of C25 gas and save the gasless flux wire for welding outside on windy days where splatter doesn't matter. (Hey, that rhymes!)

Vicegrip · Sep 23, 2008

A Miller 140 is set up to run a spool gun.

I am a bit partial to Miller.

nissan_crawler · Sep 23, 2008

Vicegrip said:
A Miller 140 is set up to run a spool gun.

I am a bit partial to Miller.

WTH are you going to do with a spool gun on aluminum with a 110v welder?

tsumetai-kokoro · Sep 24, 2008

first and foremost pick one with good parts and service people close to you. i have a lincoln 3200hd, a weldpak100, and a miller econotig. i have used a miller 135 and its close cousin hobart handler 135. they all weld perfectly fine and haven't broken down.

Major Ramifications · Sep 24, 2008

Maybe shop for a nice used 110V unit, and then step up to a 220 when you are ready. My second hand Craftsman 110V MIG served me well until I stumbled across a deal on a Hobart Handler 210 that I couldn't pass up.
I sold the Craftsman for what I had paid for it to a guy who was thrilled to get it.

Senorpablo · Sep 24, 2008

Hobart makes great welders at a great price.

Your MIG welder 115V - What is worthy

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