1. Home
  2. ⚡ Welding Forums
  3. Wire Feeder vs. All in One MIG

Wire Feeder vs. All in One MIG

What are the pros and cons of having a dedicated wire feeder vs. an all-in-one mig welding machine. Specifically the two machines I have are:

- Powcon 300MST (set up on single phase = 200amps max)

- Miller MIG 175

If I buy a wire feeder for the Powcon and sell the Miller 175, what will I miss and regret with this decision?

Currently the Miller 175 is limited to .035" wire, but with the Powcon at 200amps can I use a larger diameter wire? Also, the Powcon has an inductance control when in CV mode, is this much of a benefit?

Thanks for any info.

Aloha, Russell

Reply to
Russell Shigeoka
Loading thread data ...

this may not much of a help , since you already know this ,

my answer would be protability. miller 175 ,just grab it and move it else where. , drag an extention cord to the site if you need to.

power source + wire feeder... it is nice, but to me sounds stati>What are the pros and cons of having a dedicated wire feeder vs. an

Reply to
acrobat-ants

Honestly the Millermatic 175 will handle 0.024" wire and sheet metal welding better than the Powcon.

The Powcon with a wire feeder is a serious welding machine for production welding.

Nice power supplies.

You could get a spoolgun for the Powcon to weld aluminum and other things.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Try dragging the 175 around some work sites-up to a roof, into a burner unit, up a structural frame, etc- Often quite awkward or impossible. A feeder can be more managable in many situations. The power source doesn't need to move, only the feeder and cables. Cables are easy, and the feeder is managable. Gets more significant when you are talking about running 250amps or more and the sources get huge

Reply to
e

this is not a fair argument we are talking about 2 tottaly different machines, made for different use. one could come up with 100 different scenerios why one would be better the the other. It all depends on what you wanting to do with it, a MM 175 is a hobby machine, was not really made to use for structual work. It is made for a garage with 220V, it is an "upped" version of the MM135 , same features, but made to run on 220V, a bit more power. muffler shop machine !

if he is asking which one to keep , most likely he is not in structural work.

just my 2 cents.

Reply to
metal mangler

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.