Equipment Purchase

David G

Well-known Member
I actually made enough money this year I am going to purchase a welder.

I would like a Miller wire welder, budget is $3K.

I have a 300 amp AC/DC arc welder already.

I have tried the neighbors 140 amp Hobart, does not have enough snot.

Can you give me some advice?
 
I bought a 252 a couple years ago, it is a very nice step up from a 211 incapacity and I really like the digital displays of voltage and wire speed.
 
Yes, Stainless is a matter of changing the wire and possibly the shielding gas depending on what you use. I dont do lot with aluminum but get along with the optional spool gun and of course proper wire and gas. Most welding experts will recommend TIG as the best process for aluminum.
 
Depending on what your current machine is, you may get away with just adding a wire feed unit. Most of the smaller wire welders have less than 20% duty cycles. When comparing duty cycles make sure to look at what amperage they're using for the rating not just the percentage value. Brand "A" says 15% at 90 amps, brand "B" has 25% but at 50 amps, etc.
Miller wire feeder
 
Stainless will weld good with MIG if it's thick enough.

I have welded aluminum with MIG, but never could get it to look good. Always had to grind it down to get rid of the black and splatter.

Tig would be a better choice for both.
 
Miller 252 or Lincoln, whatever is comparable. A Hobart in the 250 class, while not a bad machine, doesn?t have the adjustability of the others and the weld puddle is more fluid. It makes for a nicer flat weld but like to drip down your arm if welding overhead.
 
I would second or third the Miller 252 welder. It is setup so that you can easily use a spool gun for aluminum. Unless your doing a lot of aluminum welding a spool gun will do the majority of your needs.
 
I have 4 MIG machines- 2 Tig Stick Machines and 2 Engine drives. You will not find one machine to do everything. My engine drives are DC only. Great for stick -Carbon arc gouging and MiG with a suitcase attachment. No AC, No Hi frequency, No foot pedal control, no good for Tig. The Tig machines have all the bells and whistles. Foot pedal control AC, DC with high frequency and pulsation. TIG and stick but no MIG. Hobart handler 110v. .023 wire, good fender patcher. 2 - 300 Amp power sources -one with a remote feeder on a boom, can weld 20 ft from the front of power source.035 or 045 steel wire. The other power source with 1 pound spoolgun runs .030 to .045 aluminum wire. Can weld 50 ft from the front of the power source. and a suitcase that will run any wire up to 1/16 flux core on the engine drives. You can run stainless wires on any of the machines and Tig or stick weld stainless. I weld very little stainless in my area. Too Expensive!!! You need to think about your requirements as to what you are going to be welding and how much of it to justify a machine that will do most of your work. Personally I Like Lincoln, I have never had a Miller that I didn't have a lot of problems out of. I also like Fords and Dodges and never owned a good Chevy. It's Your choice, you are paying the bill. Hope I didn't muddy the water too bad.
 
The 252 is a nice machine. A year age Miller was about $100.00 cheaper than Lincoln. I watched a guy bur the Lincoln just because he had Lincolns before. I have no idea which one is cheaper right now(different dept at work this year) Get everything you want,spool gun,Tig torch,twin tank carriage for the welder. Just to give you some ideas. SS is Helium tri mix,aluminum is Argon and steel can be Carbon dioxide,but I prefer argon-co2 75%25%. Another extra I have that I would not want to give up, is a 25ft mig gun lead.
 
I'm with welding man, I've had the Miller 250, 250x, 251 and 252 and found all of them to be a pain to use and costly from break downs. I now have a Miller Vintage, which is the old mm200 they put back into production for a while when they we're having so much trouble with the 250x and 251. It is a good welder, but I don't think they make it any more. I would deffinately buy a Lincoln if I was buying today.

That said, those Miller's are ok as welders, and for farm use are fine. Most less than professional welders wouldn't notice the difference unless they used both side by side. The Miller's will deffinately go through a lot more disposables like tips. When I was running aluminum through a spool gun the 251/252 would use about 1 tip per 1lb roll of wire, my vintage with the same spool gun will run as many as 10 rolls through one tip. Aluminum welding magnifies that difference, but it is there for steel too.
 
These are might on aluminum. You need a spool gun or push/pull gun to so it well, and use proper gas and wire.
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(quoted from post at 09:42:06 11/10/18) I now have a Miller Vintage, which is the old mm200 they put back into production for a while when they we're having so much trouble with the 250x and 251.

The Vintage is close to being a MM200 but not 100%.
I have an white face MM200 and I do aluminum with it without a spool gun.
I rarely need to weld aluminum so I just use the original gun assembly which is rather short. Change the liner made for running aluminum, use a near straight gun neck and keep the gun lead as straight as possible when welding.

If I had a modern mig welder I would try the above before spending the dollars on a spoolgun set up.
If the need to weld aluminum was low.
 
Can't comment on the high end wire welders as mine is a Hobart 190 with a spool gun.

Just wanted to remind you of the accessories you will need. Steel, aluminum, and stainless you will need 3 tanks to do it right. By the time you get all you need you will need to add $1,000 to your budget. Learned that the hard way.
 
I bought a Miller 211 a few years ago. I'm very happy with it. I've done a lot of welding in the past with my stick Lincoln. Miller came out with the 215 the very next year, it does all three. I did buy a spool gun with my 211 but have yet to use it. I've welded very thin sheet metal fenders to 3/8 thick steel with no problem. Duty cycle is fine, never had a problem with it. I have it on 220 volt all but one time when I needed to get out to a piece of equipment away from my garage.
 
To me tig welding is like gas torch welding / brazing only with a tiny flame. Wire stick in one hand and the torch in the other. You can make pretty, almost seamless welds in thin metal in a controlled environment. I have a small oxy aceyteline torch with tiny tips for HVAC work that is close in flame size with the smaller tips. It's a slow go with either.

With the projects I've seen of yours you want a mig.

BTW, if you've never tried it stainless welds beautiful with your stick and 308 rods. 14 guage is the thinnest I have tried.
 

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