What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

230V MIG Welder Rec?

rcamacho

rcamacho

1/2 ton status
Joined
Jul 1, 2004
Posts
1,324
Reaction score
16
Location
WA
I'm looking at a 230V MIG welder for home fabrication. I don't anticipate welding greater than 1/4" milled steel and am trying to keep the $ less than 1000. I'm looking at the Millermatic 175, Lincoln 175 or the Hobart 180. Infinite voltage control appears to have a big cost delta so I'm wondering if it's really worthwhile.
 
Use?

Do you plan on only welding mild steel? What gauge metal on the thin side? Not to sound stupid, but are you a proficent MIG welder?
 
I have the Lincoln 175. Cost me somewhere around 700 or 750. I LOVE it. I just need to make a cord so I can get it more then 5 feet from the wall plug. Its great for home hobby work. I've been doing 3/8" plate with it lately. Not to say a slight bit more heat wouldn't be nice, but its getting the job done just fine. Heck the other day I simply butted a piece of 3/8" plate against a piece of 1/4" thick rectangle tube. Laid a bead down each side. I realized I need to tweak it just a little bit so I could fit the leaf springs in place(this was spring hangers). I beat on it with a sledge hammer(full size not mini sledge) and couldn't budge the metal. No doubts in my choice of plate material or welder.
 
I have the hobart handler 180. It is great for home fab. Enough adjustment to get it down for body work but still handles the 1/4" stuff in a single pass.

I got mine from a shop that advertised on Ebay. JW welding or something. 580.00$ with free shiping. Then I went to my local place to get the extras like a new helmet and some .023 wire for body work. My local shop was pretty cool about me buying the machine online as long as I was committed to him for my expendables and gas. Seems to be working out so far. He even installed a smaller linner for me for the thin body work wire for free.
 
90subfab said:
Do you plan on only welding mild steel? What gauge metal on the thin side? Not to sound stupid, but are you a proficent MIG welder?
Click to expand...

Proficient welder - no. That's what the rig is for. It's about the same $ to take a class locally vs buy my own rig. Hence, I'd rather just learn by doing and reading.
 
Well as a welder I am gonna put this out there. If you can't weld with a MIG you got no business fooling with a rig, the welder, or even getting out of bed in the AM. It is that simple. I personally have a Hobart Ironman 210, great welder and the SAME thing as a Millermatic 210. You can find them on sale for less than $1K or right at it. Great welder. And just so you know Hobart is made by Miller, just way cheaper.
 
i have the miller 175 and it is a good unit. It has dun every thing i need it to but i do wish now i did get the bigger welder like a miller 210 it would be so much nicer for the stuff i am trying now

i got mine from http://www.cyberweld.com/ in stock and when i placed my order online and missmatched my tip and stuff for the welder they called me too ask if that is what i realy need then fixed it --- this is the type of service i like :D
 
cok5 said:
Well as a welder I am gonna put this out there. If you can't weld with a MIG you got no business fooling with a rig, the welder, or even getting out of bed in the AM. It is that simple. I personally have a Hobart Ironman 210, great welder and the SAME thing as a Millermatic 210. You can find them on sale for less than $1K or right at it. Great welder. And just so you know Hobart is made by Miller, just way cheaper.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah, I hear MIG is way easier than stick. I did some stick welding when I was 16 a long time ago :)
 
I have the hobart 175, great welder. Very happy. I too debated about spending for the infinite voltage adjustment, I don't regret what I got, mabey I just don't know what I'm missing.
And, yes, went to Home depot and bought 20' of some nice flexable oil resistant 2 gauge, because the cord that comes with it is like 2feet long (the ground and wire feed leads are 10 feet).
 
Hmmmm :confused: Im a Welder With about 10 Certs. from the AWS and the UA. And working on my welding Inspector certs :rolleyes: If I was you, I would try every machine you can get your hands on first :D I don't care what people say no two machine act the same :laugh: I don't do much mickey wire, Im a TIG type :bow: But you need to find a machine that works for you, what I like may not be the one for you :eek1: But buy the biggest you can for the money :doah: I would try to get to get one from about 175 too a 200 pulse and you will have a machine you can grow Into and will do just about any thing you could ask It to :bow:
 
I have the Lincoln 175. It's great for just about everything I want to do with a welder. It is a lot better since I made an extension power cable. That lets me get more than a couple feet from the wall. I don't mind not having the infinitely adjustable voltage. The 5 set voltages (A to E) are good enough. I do like having the infinitely adjustable line speed. Maintenance items are a breeze to swap out. It came with all the gas attachments but I'm running flux core on the heavier stuff I'm welding right now.
 
I have the miller 210 got it at boc for like 1100$ and love it true hobart is made buy miller but a lot of stuff in the hobart are plastic unlike the miller
 
i have the millermatic 175, its great, we have the lincoln 175 plus at work. it is also a great welder. cant go wrong with either. the hobart is a good one too.
 
175 Pro-MIG on the way

Picked up a pro-mig 175 off ebay. The price was right. Basically a 175T rig.
 
I thought the lincoln's were 185's now and that the 175 was the old model?
 
I personally have a Miller 140 (115v) that I really like. I have used a few Miller products and they all are damn good machines. I recommend Miller to anybody who asks. They may cost a little more money then the other brands but IMO I would pay the extra money for the Miller.

Harley
 
gauder said:
I thought the lincoln's were 185's now and that the 175 was the old model?
Click to expand...


I was in Lowes this weekend and they still had 2 of the Lincoln 175s. They were $594.
 
mouse said:
I was in Lowes this weekend and they still had 2 of the Lincoln 175s. They were $594.
Click to expand...

Huh... Same price as my store, and you're 2K mi. away. Interesting...

As of last night, the Lincoln Pro-MIG 175 is still a "stock" item at Lowe's (since it's the one I want, I keep a close eye on it... :D ). The Pro-MIG 135 went "non-stock" a few weeks ago and was replaced by the Pro-MIG 140. $20 more, and looks pretty much identical... :dunno:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom