Mig welding how much juice i need?

Hi Steve,

I have a MillerMatic 210 and to weld using fluxcore on mild steel 3/16 its about 3 out of 7 on the voltage settings. I can tell for the Amps though because the current varies with the voltage which varies with the arc lenght and so on. But dont look only at Amps output, look at your duty cycle and if you want to do other metal or other processes.

When i do aluminum on this machine the settings is 5 for flat T welding of

3/16 on 1/2 and 6 if welding downward.

The MillerMatic manual says 4 as the voltage setting for doing fluxcore on

1/4 steel plate (5 if you use gas). The voltage range goes from 1 to 7 so you have enough.

So its very hard to tell unless someone take a snapshot of the required amperage while welding. Sure the MillerMatic 210 could work for you at least.

I'm with Andre all the way...although I will tell you I think the 251 is worth the extra money. You never mentioned aluminum, but as someone who has done a LOT of it...I can tell you that a spool gun is the ONLY way to go! Especially if 4043 is your wire of choice. The miller spoolmate 30A is a FANTASTIC spool gun...but if you're looking to save money...here is a link to the readywelder

We had a version of it in the army (I just retired on 01 Sep) that welded heavy aluminum & steel just fine off battery power...the thing also makes a GREAT spoolgun when hooked up to either CC or CV machines (just pay attention not to burn anything up). Hope this helped

-Clutch-

Hi Clutch,

I spent a lot of time thinking about the 251+30A , but it was a 1000 $ CAN more than the Millermatic210+Spoolmate. Finally since i'm not a professional welder but just a boater taking care of my aluminum cruiser, i settled for the MillerMatic. One of my argument was to be able to weld of

240 V with less than 30 Amps. I go at the Marina and take two 120 V outlet, i check for polarity and then i had the "live" together to get 240 V and then i have 30 Amps also.

I know the spoolmate is kind of cheap... but it works well for the experience i have which is limited. Do you have comparison points between the 30 A and Spoolmate ? First i got the 3045 but it was not working well on 1/2 aluminum plate with 5036. I changed for the 3545 and eureka ! It worked on first trial and continous welding without burning any tips. The price i paid for both MillerMatic210 and Spoolmate is 2200 CAN which is about 1700 US.

cheers !