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�What mig welder in the 250 amp range would you pick if you had about $2,000 to spend on one?� I would do some research on any or all of these four manufactures. Miller/Hobart, Lincoln and Thermal-Arc. �Must be easy to setup for steel and aluminum and weld thinner material well and weld heaver material also well and will it weld 2 to 3 inch plate ok and use flux core wire?� Easy to setup � compared to what? MIG is pretty much a production process, if one is working within the narrow field where this process really shines you need to be aware of its limiting factors. Now one of the most of these limiting factors is the availability of the proper filler metals, and knowing when to go to or use another process and proper filler metal. On welding aluminum, unless you opt for a Push-pull wire feed system or a spool-gun, you may not be very happy. For awhile I tried smooth drive rolls and a Teflon liner and even with the stiffer 5356 wire and keeping the gun as straight as possible I wasted as much if not more wire than I burnt. Welding the thinner material as you have one of those small boat anchors ;^} you already know the low side [amps] needed to weld the material that you work with, and on the heavier plate you can make multi-passes [amps = heat - the more the better ]. Flux-core wire, yours and others mileage will vary with this as I�ve never gotten the results I require running anything smaller than .045 and I always run this duel-shield. �I wont to by a mig welder and just wont to have a welder that will serve all my needs.� The welding field is so broad and so many avenues to take and many of our needs vary differently, I can�t imagine having just one welder to do it all it�s just isn�t possible. Miller came close years ago when they make the smaller 250 Syncrowave based on the Shopmaster, but someone had their head somewhere where the sun didn�t shine when they left off the CV switch, add a wire feeder or better yet a suitcase welder like a Lincoln LN-25 with a contactor and this would have been a sweet setup, but to nice to Air-arc with and then would still need a engine driven welder.
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