Miller Welder

[Macked]

I need five posts to post a wanted ad so thought this would be a good discussion. I'm pretty sold on a Miller 215/211 as a nice small 110 welder. The extra cash for the digital display on the 215 seems worthwhile. I'm thinking about buying one to throw on top my box to roll with me and adding a small shelf for a small bottle.

I really wish the thing could get up to 34 volts because running .035 hot with lots of wire was always my favorite arc when working as a welder. Maybe I can get .030 to feel the same with less heat.

Having said that what's everyone's opinion on different 110/220 welders?

 

[bastage]

I was eyeballing the millermatic 215, but the Fronious Transteel 2200 has my attention now. I have a small garage & kinda need a do it all unit that will primarily be on 220, but can run 110 if needed & cover basically everything I will ever need to do.

If your looking for just MIG though they would both be way overkill for cost. The Millermatic 211 would be a good unit. But possibly still overkill. If its for occasional light duty use the Lincoln 140 is a good unit for way under 1000 & would be a good choice as well.

 

[Macked]

Fronius looks like a really sweet machine! I would love to hear more about it after you've put one through the ropes.

 

[bastage]

Fronius looks like a really sweet machine! I would love to hear more about it after you've put one through the ropes.

Its a ways off.. Couple months at least. That one though just seems like the ultimate jack of all trades.

 

[sberry]

These little machines are not designed for spray.

 

[Macked]

I know they're not but it would be nice.

 

[IndyGarage]

Really like my 211. Since I bought it a couple years ago, my big 3 phase mig welder has gotten real lonely...

It lays down the best mig welds I've ever been able to achieve. I wish I had a chance to use it more.

 

[zmotorsports]

I need five posts to post a wanted ad so thought this would be a good discussion. I'm pretty sold on a Miller 215/211 as a nice small 110 welder. The extra cash for the digital display on the 215 seems worthwhile. I'm thinking about buying one to throw on top my box to roll with me and adding a small shelf for a small bottle.

I really wish the thing could get up to 34 volts because running .035 hot with lots of wire was always my favorite arc when working as a welder. Maybe I can get .030 to feel the same with less heat.

Having said that what's everyone's opinion on different 110/220 welders?

WOW. That's expecting a LOT out of a smaller machine. At 34 volts you are at or near spray voltage which these little machines really weren't designed for.

I have the 211 and love it, but use it for thinner materials up to and including around 3/16" and have found it loves .023"-.025" solid core wire.

In my larger machine, MM251, I use only .030" and weld upwards of 3/8" plate but do a multi-pass when I do. Most of what I do in my shop is 1/4" and under material so the .030" is perfect. Even at that when I am welding 1/4" thick material I am only around 20 volts and well under 400ipm to get proper penetration and weld deposit.

I would ask that you really evaluate what the scope of work you are doing before pulling the trigger. IF it's thicker material then I would lean towards a larger machine.

 

[sberry]

This is likely of a case of using something at work and translating it to home. Its not the same place. The work isn't the same and doesn't evolve the same. I happen to like 030 in this class of machine, allows for more punch.
But,,, so much of it is out of position, thin work poor fit that a single short circuit process is the ticket for home garages.
I have a small shop, do not have any spray, got 4 feeders, 1 for alum, 3 different size wires in the others. I welded up a 2 inch bar the other day, very rare but it was open joint and heated up, no lack of fusion. Not worth another process for the rare occasion.
If I was building railroad equipment or excavating tools every day it would be different.

 

[sberry]

When I was a kid I fab with a torch and a stick welder and salvage steel,,, new stuff was 1/4 angle and structural channel things were different. Now days I can design so closely and use the least in many cases that salvage and new is lighter than ever. Field work is stick but I got to remember a while back to the last time I use a real piece of steel. On occasion there is a true heavier structural repair but I can make do if and when it happens,,,, all kinds of little **** most every day. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of little itty bitty jobs for every big one anymore.

 

[zmotorsports]

When I was a kid I fab with a torch and a stick welder and salvage steel,,, new stuff was 1/4 angle and structural channel things were different. Now days I can design so closely and use the least in many cases that salvage and new is lighter than ever. Field work is stick but I got to remember a while back to the last time I use a real piece of steel. On occasion there is a true heavier structural repair but I can make do if and when it happens,,,, all kinds of little **** most every day. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of little itty bitty jobs for every big one anymore.

Similar here. Growing up on a farm all we used was old repurposed steel. Sometimes we'd clean the paint and mill scale off. Oxy-acetylene and stick (SMAW) was what I learned with and used up until I was in high school when I used a wire feed welder for the first time. Actually didn't like it at first because I was used to stick but quickly learned to love it. Went to a friend's older brother's house where he was working on a race car with a TIG (GTAW) welder and WOW, was I hooked then. I told myself one day I would learn how to do that. Told my dad about it and he didn't see the need.

I remember I was in high school before I saved up enough to buy my first MIG (GMAW) welder and it was little 110 volt Century POS but most of what I was doing at the time was auto mechanics and auto body so it worked well for that.

I outgrew it quickly just out of high school when I was racing and truck pulling and I wanted a bigger welder so I saved up and bought a Lincoln SP255 which I had for several years and earned a lot of side money with. I told myself one day I would be in a position to be able to purchase "new" steel and not have to scrounge through salvage yards for what I needed.

 

[MoonRise]

The only spray-mode transfer that the 210-class machines can do is with 0.035 aluminum wire and argon gas.

Want to spray 0.035 steel? You are looking at the 250-class or bigger 'industrial' type machines.

The 210-class machines can do a lot, and almost anything a 'home' shop guy/gal would need to do (when plugged into 240 V power anyway).

And the 'new' 210-class multi-process machines can do SMAW for anything thicker than they can handle using their GMAW or FCAW processes. Just would have to run multi-pass.

Although the Lincoln 210-MP lists that it can run a select 0.035 FCAW-G wire (Lincoln Outershield 71M, which the catalog says comes in 10 lb plastic spools that would fit inside the 210-MP). And that FCAW-G wire claims to run with a "Spray like transfer".

 

[sberry]

At one point new steel got so cheap that it wasn't worth cleaning any new. I should have built a few more pieces then. I was also a late adopter with this type of wire feed, I had some Innershield experience but was really a career stick welder in the trades. Only after I started slumming did I stumble in to short circuit feeders. I could be a good welder before I ever got to that and it made it all feel like a super frickin hero. If I would have been a bit more interested I would have headed over to nascar a while. There was a point I was running it every day and it became obvious there was a difference, was easy to make it hang in and burn thru hot compared to sticks. Using some stripper and tacks on the wider fits allowed very controlled burn thru, as good as some tig.
I can tig, I am not real bad but I don't. Its just another fussy thing I don't care to do. I should run some sticks in the booth every week like exercise. I would really struggle in a test booth which wasn't a big deal in my 20's. Spent the 30's with wire feed, then had a helper could weld most of it and today at 60 the welding is so limited and crude or simple I should say that we don't get any practice.

 

[DerekV]

The only spray-mode transfer that the 210-class machines can do is with 0.035 aluminum wire and argon gas.

Baseless speculation. My inverter MM211 sprays solid wire and runs 71M just fine.

Old pics...

 

[Tinner]

Baseless speculation. My inverter MM211 sprays solid wire and runs 71M just fine.

Looks like the internet experts are full of ****. Again.

 

[IMStuner]

I was going to get the Miller 215 but I wanted to weld Aluminium without a spool gun. Not sure if you looked at the HTP propluse 220 MTS. It would get you up to 35 volts and it packed with features. I have the propluse 200 which if 2 years older.

https://www.usaweld.com/v/vspfiles/pdf/Pro_Pulse_220_MTS_Competitive_Comparison.pdf

 

[vpd66]

I was going to get the Miller 215 but I wanted to weld Aluminium without a spool gun. Not sure if you looked at the HTP propluse 220 MTS. It would get you up to 35 volts and it packed with features. I have the propluse 200 which if 2 years older.

https://www.usaweld.com/v/vspfiles/pdf/Pro_Pulse_220_MTS_Competitive_Comparison.pdf

I also have the HTP Pro Pulse 200 and love it! I looked at a Fronius 2200 and it looked like a good machine but lack of dealer backing and harder to find consumables turned me away. I was a 20 plus year Miller owner before the HTP and everytime I weld with my Pro Pulse 200 I'm impressed at how smooth and simple it is. I've welded with a Miller 210,211,212 and none of them have an arc has smooth has my Pro Pulse. Has far has customer service with HTP it has been top notch. I ordered my Pro Pulse the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in 2018 and I received it on Friday! 3 days over a holiday! The HTP actually has a colored in depth user manual that tells you exactly how to setup the welder to weld the material you want to weld. Not a basic black and white manual that is more or less an IPL that Miller has. Before you pull the trigger give the HTP a look.

 

[sberry]

I will agree the 211 can do other stuff if a guy wants to fuss with it, different wire, different and additional gas but it defeats the purpose of economical and real practical and if I was going down that road the extra cost of a 252 wouldn't be a deal breaker. Would still want a 200 sitting there with 030 solid in it anyway.

 

[MoonRise]

Derek,

You ran full spray with a MM211? Cool. The volt-amp chart in the manual didn't look like it would get enough volts AND enough amps even cranked to 11 on the dials to do that.

Ah, I looked at the 'old' (2010 era) MM211 (dials stacked vertically on the front panel, single handle on top of the machine, non-inverter, 75 pounds). The one with the max OCV of only 34V. And the welding output dropped below 25 volts at 110 amps and continued dropping the welding voltage down to about 21 V at 210 amps. No real spray with steel with that era machine.

Your 'new' MM211 (dials horizontal on the front panel, two handle bars on top of the machine, inverter, 42 pounds) tops out at 54 V OCV and can keep the voltage output up just over 25 volts all the way up to 230 amps.

Curious, do you know/remember what shielding gas you were running in spray transfer mode there? 98-2 Ar-O2, or something else? And what wire size? Some 0.035 steel at 25 V and ~200 amps should be in spray mode.

The big ol 250-class or bigger can run steel spray for sure.

Pick and choose what works for your needs.

 

[sberry]

It would have almost had to be 030. 35 takes a lot more poop. But,,, I don't use it, I have but don't.

 

[DerekV]

It was 030 because that’s what I had in it at the time. Blended in pure argon to the 75/25 mix to get a 90/10 Ar/CO2 (very close to that at least). The machine maxes out at 25.5v @ 230 amps. I definitely wasn’t at 230 amps since I was using 030 at just under 500 IPM but it cooks surprisingly good at that setting. It was a 3/8 mild steel lap joint sitting on a big aluminum pump that I had laying around. I was trying to wick as much heat out as I could in order to showcase the machine’s power or lack thereof. Absolutely no preheat used. And it got right in there. Admittedly this machine is not set up to run at these levels for long, but it can for a little (although I’ve never hit over-temp). Very versatile for sure.

The 71M pic was 035. I did not cut and etch that one.

The transformer 211s and Hobart 210s (MVP version) are ultra weak in the upper range. Voltage just tanks.

 

[ez-duzit]

...I have the 211 and love it, but use it for thinner materials up to and including around 3/16" and have found it loves .023"-.025" solid core wire...

We're running a 211 using .035" wire on up to 3/8" aluminum.