Best welder?

hudson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Doivi Clarkinen Wrote:
> -
> It's a little cleaner if you run fluxcore
> (gasless) with gas.. the only reason you would
> want to do that however is if you need to weld
> thicker plate. For some reason fluxcore will
> penetrate better.
>
> Andrew M
> Onterrible
> 30ish

The only really nice flux stuff is called "dual shield" and that welds deep and nice. Kevvie used that for plugging the bolt holes in the two Toyota axles we did to redrill for Volvo bolt circle and the Volvo axle we redrilled for Adam Crane's Toyota.
But that's out of the question for normal humans. Industrial only.

220v is good enough for anything normal humans would be welding---gotta get the wire size up for stupid thick stuff or you have to dwell in position too long to deposit enough material and you overheat the tips and the welder.

WIRE SIZE is key.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
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is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Ok bumping this thread from the dead.

I am in the market for a welder. I went to a couple of local welding shops that carry all the big brands and both of them were very pro miller.

I am looking at the Millermatic 211 Auto-set with MVP. Auto-set is basically an automatic wire speed setting which is based on the wire size you have in the box. It also lets you fine tune the settings if you want.

MVP is an adaptable plug that will let the machine run off 220 and 110. Has anyone used one of these multi-voltage machines? Does it work well? From what I can tell the 110 just reduces the max settings and duty cycle for the machine.

185 hobart handler hands down my favorite welder for the buck. I have used
about everything out there. from old school powcons to most new migs the
only thing that I haven't used is a mig pulse welder but at 4500 to start I
don't think I will.

good luck though I fab for a living and I could do about everything I would need with one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/HOBART-HANDLER-187-MIG-WELDER-NEW-500525-Free-Ship-/290496368966?pt=BI_Welders&hash=item43a2eed146

Quote
Andrew_Frick
Ok bumping this thread from the dead.

I am in the market for a welder. I went to a couple of local welding shops that carry all the big brands and both of them were very pro miller.

I am looking at the Millermatic 211 Auto-set with MVP. Auto-set is basically an automatic wire speed setting which is based on the wire size you have in the box. It also lets you fine tune the settings if you want.

MVP is an adaptable plug that will let the machine run off 220 and 110. Has anyone used one of these multi-voltage machines? Does it work well? From what I can tell the 110 just reduces the max settings and duty cycle for the machine.

Personally, I don't buy into the miller vs lincoln stuff. It's a lot like chevy vs ford in my opinion (aka they both have made good stuff, they both have made not so good.. and only a fool thinks anything blue or red is awesome).

We have multi voltage at work but from 600V and down. IMO, if you don't see yourself needing and wanting to use it at 110v for some really important reason, it's a useless feature. As far as I know, 110V isn't adequate for much. I certainly would never buy another 110v welder.

I still like my Lincoln Mig Pak 180 http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read.php?5,33519,33631#msg-33631 . It's all I want for a mig welder (except for mig pulse of course for shits and giggles). My only complaint would be that it's the canadian tire version, so there's a fair amount of plastic in the feeder mechanism.. it's still robust though. I weld 1/2" with it no worries.

As for Autoset.. wouldn't you still have to adjust for material thickness?? Or do you dial that in?

I'm hoping that I will be able to get setup with a Miller Tig contraption soon, I'm looking for that.

I've heard nothing bad about Hobart as well.

Basically figure you need to spend at least 600 clams for a quality new MIG welder. 110V is for home makers.

I have an UltraMig 260, it is fully digital like you say, and I love it. You tell it what wire size is in the machine, and it has an infinite adjustable "heat" knob, and matches the speed to the current you select. You can bump the speed up or down 20% for fine tuning, but I rarely need to do that. For inverted I just go up 15%. The heat control used to be right on the gun handle, but that got broken by the previous owner, they could not figure out how to fix it so I got it cheap. 1 radio shack variable resistor mounted on the machine, and good to go.

It is 220v.

http://www.costplustools.com/AMH-260-UltraMig-Welder_p_3215.html

I'm also looking at the Miller 211.

I know a guy who's built a couple cages with the Miller 180, and his only complaint is he can't use it anywhere but his garage.

Having something I could throw in the van and use at a rally would be nice.

Quote
fliz
I'm also looking at the Miller 211.

I know a guy who's built a couple cages with the Miller 180, and his only complaint is he can't use it anywhere but his garage.

Having something I could throw in the van and use at a rally would be nice.

Yes, but make a designated LONG extension cord with hefty wires instead of the 18g stuff in some extension cords.
Life was way better with my little Hobart handler once juice got to the machine.
And 030 wire!!!

Yeah, I've already got a nice 12/3 extension cord that even has little LEDs in the plugs and a lock switch to keep everything plugged in.

Quote
fliz
I'm also looking at the Miller 211.

I know a guy who's built a couple cages with the Miller 180, and his only complaint is he can't use it anywhere but his garage.

Having something I could throw in the van and use at a rally would be nice.

Yeah the portability of the 211 is one of the big attractions since it will step down to 115.

The 211, Miller is a nice unit with the multi plug. If you are trying to save a little money look on CL and grab a Miller 175 or a 180 both great mig units, and can be had for 450-600$ They are just your std 220v machines.