Help choosing a hobby MIG welder

I just bought a Lincoln Sp175 Plus. Very nice machine. It was sort of a toss up between the Lincoln and Miller, but what turned me off on the Miller is the auto wire feed increaser that automatically increases wire feed when you turn up the amperage. It can get trooublesome at times as there is times you want more heat not necessarily more wire. The gun and drive on the Lincolns are pretty well bullet proof. Only thing I dislike is the MIG gun is very touchy when it comes to feeding wire. You can feed wire and not even know it. So to me its basically a bare handed operation on the gun so I can feel the trigger.

The optional aluminum kit is nice, but will run approx 50.00 more, as well as another cylinder. A cart can be easily made, and the $100 they charge for a cart already made is pretty steep considering what you get for the money, you already have a MIG so why not make your own. Its a good first project to get used to your machine.

I tend to shy away from Flux cored wire, as the gas and bare wire does such a nice , spatter free job. Unless your welding up at the max thickness, gas and bare wire will suffice.

The smaller units 135's of MIller and lincoln work well also, and the ability to operate on 115 VAC is nice, but IMHO I would save up a bit more and go for the 220 models in 175 amp range

Don't be fooled into thinking infinite amp range is not for casusal use. Its great and allows fine tune of machine, and is a very nice feature, but the set range machines do a great job as well.

Odds are if you were given a Miller, Hobart or Lincoln machine to use and they were covered so you could not see what brands they were you would not be able to tell them apart when it comes to use. The Lincoln does make a somewhat nicer looking weld on the same amps than the Miller does but its not sufficeint to worry about. You won;t go wrong with either.

Ever since the wife gave me the go ahead for a MIG and I got mine, its been a MIG welding festival around here just on her projects, of repairing broken and worn lawn and garden furniture and bakers rakcs etc, and lord only knows what she wants made yet, such as garden trellis, gates, and other do dads. Someday I may get to use it for my own use! Visit my website:

expressed are those of my wifes, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy.

Now this question has been asked a bunch of times. There are so many answers your head is gonna spin with confusion. But here's my opinion anyway. I have used a few of the mig welders that use 110v household current and found that the cheapies actually work well but lack adjustability (high-low power switch, poor duty cycle...) but for occational flux core work, they're really not too bad. I would buy a Millermatic 135, Hobart Handler 135, or a Lincoln SP135 (or sp135+) The Miller and the Lincoln 135 Plus model both have infinite voltage controls (nice feature, but not needed if you are a casual user) the others have a 4 or five position switch for voltage (tap) The Miller has a cast aluminum wire drive and the others are plastic (again, no one complains about the plastic, they work fine) And Miller makes Hobart so getting parts are not a big problem (Lincoln has been around forever and you can get parts and service as well) So in closing, all machines mentioned will work great. Flux core works good but is a little messy (spatter city) most users use them as a mig welder (with sheilding gas, usually argon/co2 "C25") your welds will look better, no slag and limited spatter. So there you have it, I hope confusion has set in, it's your first step! Like any other machine, you will need practice to get good looking welds (instead of the "gob it on heavy and it'll hold" method) So good luck with your purchase. One warning though, be prepared to buy a million more tools, the bug will bite ya pretty hard once you get started, just ask my wife!

walt

"Gene T" wrote in message news:qtqTb.4121$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.socal.rr.com...

For that matter does anyone have experience with Daytona MIG? They're considerably less money than the name brands, which either means they sell useless stuff or they know something...

It's already been mentioned and recommended, but I have a Hobart Handler

135. I wanted the upper amperage available in a 120VAC machine, to insure portability. I like the versatility of being able to take it almost anywhere and plug it in without needing to get into someone's service panel, or adapting to their 240V receptacle.

The gas kit was included but I just use fluxcore wire. There is some problematic wire available.. the stuff that seems to be more trouble than it's worth has been the black wire. I always check to see that the wire I'm getting has the bright finish, and it hasn't been any trouble at all.

I've used smaller/cheaper MIG welders in the past, and they've required too much attention and adjustment to keep them operating. The 135 just needs wire to operate, although I've changed the contact tip a couple of times.

WB ..............

I use a lincoln SP-85. Small enough for me to move. I have moved several times.

I use the gas bottle with it, 030 wire.

my 2 cents

I've had bigger welders, but got real tired of lugging them around when moving to my new home. My moving is dictated by real estate profit, mostly

100k profit, per move. Calif real estate is nuts.

On Mon, 02 Feb 2004 14:54:23 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Roy) vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

sssssss! Not good.

**************************************************** sorry remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Spike....Spike? Hello?

On Mon, 02 Feb 2004 11:26:14 GMT, "Gene T" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

With proper joint preparation and a few passes, you can weld a lot more than that.

Spattery. Sometimes expensive. Make sure the welder is designed for it. The biggest advantage is if there is any wind, the gas shield does not get blown awya with flux cored. It does quite badly with gas.

**************************************************** sorry remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Spike....Spike? Hello?

Hint for the occasional user: between uses, put the wire in a ziplock bag in a dry place. . Even the slightest bit of rust on the wire will keep it from feeding right. Mine was driving me nuts until I figured that out.