mastertech
Active member
does anyone have a snapon mig220 or have any experience with one? good or bad. almost bought one today.
snapon mig220
- Thread starter mastertech
- Start date
- Status
rickairmedic
Well-known member
I dont have one and wouldnt you can buy a Miller/Lincoln for half the price or less and have a much better machine . I wont swear to it but last I recall SO welders were made by Century .
Rick
Rick
Mickey O
Well-known member
Horse shoes and hand grenades.
ZRX61
Well-known member
& with a 100% mark up in price for the SnapOn decal... I'm not sure if Century still make them for SnapOn, but they are pretty low end POS's.
Last edited:
rickairmedic
Well-known member
Um your missin a few 0's
more like a 1000+ % markup . I saw a used one on my CL today for more than I could buy a brand new Miller for from the welding supply here much less evilbay with free shipping.Mickey I am not talking down ( all ) Snap On tools as they do make some really nice ones worht the money but Welders and such are not on the list .
Rick
ZRX61
Well-known member
Place I used to work had 3 SnapOn welders, all absolute garbage.
Buy a *blue* one
rickairmedic
Well-known member
krusty the clown
Member Emeritus
century was bought by lincoln in 2003. i don't think you can buy a century welder anymore.
i'm not sure who snap on's supplier is these day's but i have used a muscle mig and it's a decent machine. of course you can buy a miller or lincoln for less money, but it cerainly isn't 1000% markup........and i saw a used muscle mig for $1450 the other day.
i'm not sure who snap on's supplier is these day's but i have used a muscle mig and it's a decent machine. of course you can buy a miller or lincoln for less money, but it cerainly isn't 1000% markup........and i saw a used muscle mig for $1450 the other day.
Zrexxer
Well-known member
Welders are not one of the things that made Snap On famous. It's not so much that they're just horrible, as the fact that they were horribly overpriced. A 110V MIG might have sold for $2400 off the truck, while you could buy a comparably sized Miller that would weld rings around it for $500 - $600. CK Systematics supplied some of the SO line for awhile.
The Big 3 welding companies have put a lot of time and engineering into making their products second to none, and not one of them sells wrenches or sockets
The Big 3 welding companies have put a lot of time and engineering into making their products second to none, and not one of them sells wrenches or sockets
krusty the clown
Member Emeritus
Zrexxer
Well-known member
That's because the power supplies for the two processes are quite different, and "combination machines" are usually a sad compromise.the snap on is also capable of TIG and the miller isn't
ZRX61
Well-known member
the snap on is also capable of TIG and the miller isn't
On top of the $650 more you will pay for the SnapOn..... & then you have to change out the Mig's C25 bottle for the Tigs Argon bottle etc...
No way in hell I'm going through all that **** to switch from mig to tig & back again.. more so as some projects require multiple uses of both..
Last edited:
krusty the clown
Member Emeritus
i understand the difference. just stating it's not apples to apples.
you can use argon for MIG welding. no need to switch bottles going back and forth.
ZRX61
Well-known member
wreckercologist
Well-known member
Buy a *blue* one
Sage advise. I use one most everyday at work and those old machines are pushing twenty to twenty-five years old. Tough and reliable.
I bought a Century Mig once. It was the smallest 220 volt Mig they made. Messed with it for a week and never did get it to work properly.......ended up sending it back. Must have been a blem?
At work, we also have a Lincoln Mig with a spool gun for aluminum. We never use it as a mig, always with the spool gun. It seems to work well.
atari
Well-known member
I have an old miller maxstar 152 DC inverter box at the shop that I got pretty cheap. At work I use a Powcon 300st inverter. I love the powcons we have at work. mastertech what are you looking to melt?
stock z/28
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2006
- Messages
- 298
I have never had any luck with straight argon for mig on steel. C25 or argon/co2, even straight c02, but I never use straight argon for steel.
Aluminum yes, steel no, but maybe Im doing something wrong.
I have a Snap On 220 v mig that is just used with .024" wire for sheet metal and it works ok.
I have used the systematics 300amp version quite a bit and I was a pretty good machine.
That being said, my main machines are Lincoln, Miller, and the older Hobarts, even some PowCon inverter based migs. Some of these are 3 phase.
I would have to say Snap on is not where I would go to buy a welder, or most power tools for that matter.
I remember when they used to sell a "Snap On" 1/2 pistol grip style electric drill that was a different color exact B&D Industrial clone for about 3 times the cost.
Valve tooling is the about the same.
Cant beat their Ratchets - Sockets - Wrenches etc, but welders and most equipment is a different matter, in my opinion.
OP
mastertech
Active member
atari, i'm looking for something to go from sheet metal patch panels to exhaust to brackets on frames. kind of a do all machine, i would like to start welding aluminum, but the spool gun for the mig220 is over 1,000 dollars which would have to wait.
atari
Well-known member
You dont really need a spool gun, you can run aluminum with out it. First off, dont look at snap on welders, they are ****. Second, what is your budget and what kind of power do you have in your shop? If you want to weld aluminum you need to get a larger machine but you have to factor in the cost of getting the 220v outlet wired if you dont already have one. Also your gonna need 2 tanks, one for argon/co and one for 100% argon. You can weld everything with 100% argon but its not ideal.
OP
mastertech
Active member
i have 220v already, the mig220 was 2,000.00 off the tool truck, less would be nice, but i understand good stuff will cost more but holds up better.
atari
Well-known member
man, for 2k you can get a bad *** AC/DC TIG. I would look for a newer used machine on ebay or craigs list. You can use the power supply as a really nice stick welder for fast and dirty and you can use the TIG for clean and pretty.
ZRX61
Well-known member
MillerMatic210 would have saved you about $400
mrshaun
Well-known member
www.800abcweld.com
ck systematics. out of the 12 welders that I have sold in the past few years we have had zero problems.
I donot weld, but my guys that weld a lot seem to be pretty happy with them.
Just sold a mig220 and I have not heard anything bad yet. i will talk to him tuesday am to find out how he likes it..
ck systematics. out of the 12 welders that I have sold in the past few years we have had zero problems.
I donot weld, but my guys that weld a lot seem to be pretty happy with them.
Just sold a mig220 and I have not heard anything bad yet. i will talk to him tuesday am to find out how he likes it..
OP
mastertech
Active member
when looking at a machine to weld thicker material is it important to have 100% duty cycle? i have only welded with a mig gun, how different is it to tig with steel or even aluminum, would i use the same tig torch for both?
atari
Well-known member
yea, same torch. 100% duty is better but your not gonna run wide open for long runs. I you get a machine with a lighter cycle make sure it has a thermal shutdown switch,
OP
mastertech
Active member
thanks everyone for the replies. looks like i need to do some more lookin'
rickairmedic
Well-known member
Mastertech heres your welder and for less than $2000.00 you can have it and a spool gun for aluminum and maybe even a bottle of gas .
http://www.tractorsupply.com/weldin...mig-welders/hobart-ironman-210-welder-3898575
Rick
.http://www.tractorsupply.com/weldin...mig-welders/hobart-ironman-210-welder-3898575
Rick
rickairmedic
Well-known member
Spoool gun . This means you still have enough left for at least one bottle of gas .
http://cgi.ebay.com/Hobart-DP-3035-...mQQptZBI_Welding_Supplies?hash=item4ced1b0217
Rick
. This means you still have enough left for at least one bottle of gas .http://cgi.ebay.com/Hobart-DP-3035-...mQQptZBI_Welding_Supplies?hash=item4ced1b0217
Rick
ZRX61
Well-known member
Yup, same torch for Tig aluminum & steel, some people change tungstens for different metal, but the orange ceriated work on just about anything. You just change from DC to AC for Aluminum
100% duty cycle isn't *that* important as you won't be running a continuous bead for 10 minutes ... unless you are some kind of masochist..
Tig is closer to O/A welding than mig as you have to co-ordinate both hands.. & a foot.. or sometimes both feet if you are running a turntable at the same time...It's like drumming but quieter..
This reply is many years from the original request, but why not add to it. I has a Snap-on MIG220 for many, many years and had zero problems with it. I probably did overpay for it (bought it new), but I worked it hard, and then eventually sold it which is my only regret. I had a spool gun, and welded just about anything with it but mostly body panels and vehicle frame modification. I will probably buy a Lincoln or Miller the next time, but if a good deal came up on a Snap-On, I would buy it in an instant. I can only say what my experience was and it was awesome. For those of you that care about appearance, my machine still looked good after 20 plus years old.
Last edited:
- Status