mig welders online

[Flyfish]

I was wondering if anyone has had luck with ordering a welder online from Welding Mart, Welders Direct… I’m looking for a Lincoln 175+ and most of these guys are $100 less than my local welding supply house. Thanks
Jim

[sharper]

I haven't ordered a welder online but have many many other purchases and haven't had a problem. Just make sure the shipping charges don't eat up the savings you see in the price.

[BigD9146gt]

Plus, make sure you go gas, not flux core. Flux core works, but is mesy as all hell, and just doesn't weld like sheilded gas. Go to the local store and tell them the deal you can get, they'll probably match it as close as they can to get your business. I did that with my TIG welder, shoped around elsewhere online, then bought threw them only $50 more or so just for the convience of not having to hall it home from far away. Cheers, Don.

[Flyfish]

Thanks Guys
I will most definitely go with gas and will approach the welding shop to see if he can go down in price. BTW, Weldingmart.com quoted me $734 with shipping and handle, a really good price for a Lincoln 175+.

[TedSlick]

Best welder in that class is the new Hobart 180. Best deal on welders is usually Cyberweld.com

I know everyone says go red or blue. Expert welders will steer you to the HH180, though. Hobart is made by Miller and the 180 outperforms its MillerMatic 175 counterpart.

Flux core is messy, but gives superior penetration. Gas is great, but not so good when welding in windy situations.


Good Luck.

[sean_V8_914]

the Millermatic has infinite control power and wire feed, the Hobart only has several notched positions. The Miller has metal wire feed assembly and Hobart is mostly plastic. Best of all...the Miller has tip guard short detector. I still have my first tip. Hobart and Miller share the same power supply manufacturer.

[Flyfish]

What I have read is that the Miller is a great machine but you have to pay something like $400 for an aluminum spool kit. The Lincoln 175 plus has infinite voltage control but converts to Al for $60 bucks. I think Im going to go with the Lincoln. Thanks for your opinions.
Jim

[helowrench]

I have the HTP brand welder and absolutely love it. infinite adjustments on stitch time/pause spot weld time feed rates etc.
better duty cycles than either miller or hobart.
http://www.htpweld.com/product_page/mig_welders/mig_140.html
I have been through two bottles of gas and one 10lb spool already (have owned it one year). absolutely no problems at all.
Shipping charges are a little higher because the transformer is copper wound not aluminum wound like most miller hobart etc.
BTW it will accept a 30lb spool with no adapters.

[TedSlick]

Infinite voltage control is actually viewed as a negative feature by experienced welders, a marketing tactic. Tapped voltage is preferred, especially for novices. Set your voltage first according to material thickness, then tweak the wirespeed adjustment to fine tune your arc. You will see...infinite voltage adjustment is not all it's made out to be. I got rid of my MM175 and now have the MM210 (tapped), but this is the next class level up from what Flyfish is interested in.

For more info read this thread.




Regarding Aluminum, if you are going to try and push aluminum through a mig ~10 ft. wirefeed cable, good luck. Due to it's softness, Al will likely give you lots of feeding (birdnesting) problems in such a setup. I'm unfamiliar with the Al adapter you refer to for $60 on the Lincoln. What is it you get for that? I do know you will need a spoolgun to do aluminum WELL in a mig setup, and these cost upwards of $400. In my case, I opted to go with a Tig AC/DC setup for aluminum, but it is a very pricey alternative. Makes beautiful welds, though.

Hobart and Miller are both owned by ITW of Illinois The Miller units dominate the higher end of the line and Hobart the lower end.

Can't comment on the HTP. Have heard good things. If their service and support can compare to blue's, seems like an option to consider.

MHO...Good Luck.

[sean_V8_914]

aah yes. a photo of your work to support your knowleedge on thte subject....I respect that. Flyfish is doing the right thing. beefore I bought, I asaked alaot of questions, talaked to welders and reaad some books. I knew nothiing about welding. thanaks to people like this, I have learned alaot...still learning

[sean_V8_914]

Ted. where do you buy your steel in SD?

[Flyfish]

Ted
Interesting what you said about infinite isn't always better. That saves a few $100. So you can fine tune your bead with the wire speed, if you only have 5 volt settings, and still get decent penetration (can I use that word)? As far as the $60 Al kit for Lincoln, I think it's a special teflon lined tube.. I know what you mean about the Al wire kinking. I'm not planning on doing a great deal of Al welding but I would like to do some custom marine stuff in the future. TIG is superior, I took a class and got pretty good at it, but I just can't swing the investment right now. My wife doesn't get why I need a MIG and TIG when I already have a welder(arc).
Thanks
Jim

[TedSlick]

Originally posted by sean_V8_914
Ted. where do you buy your steel in SD?

Handy Metal Mart

J. Leaf Sales

Mostly from good ole Uncle Al (my real uncle). He gets it from work, though

[TedSlick]

Originally posted by Flyfish
Ted
Interesting what you said about infinite isn't always better. That saves a few $100. So you can fine tune your bead with the wire speed, if you only have 5 volt settings, and still get decent penetration (can I use that word)? As far as the $60 Al kit for Lincoln, I think it's a special teflon lined tube.. I know what you mean about the Al wire kinking. I'm not planning on doing a great deal of Al welding but I would like to do some custom marine stuff in the future. TIG is superior, I took a class and got pretty good at it, but I just can't swing the investment right now. My wife doesn't get why I need a MIG and TIG when I already have a welder(arc).
Thanks
Jim

I went through the same dilemma over which machine to buy, knowing I'd want to do Aluminum someday.

The $1,100 MM210 with $450 spoolgun option is probably one of the best ways to go for mig w/ Al capability because it already has the spoolgun connection built in. Don't need to buy anything extra as you would with the MM175. Plus the 210 can do 3/8" material AND spray transfer welds, well beyond what the 180 amp and under-class machines can.

Even so, I've found I rarely get into the thicker materials. If I could start over, I would have bought the Thermal Arc 185TSW. It does it all for $1600. TIG not MIG. Tig is a slower process as you know, but this is not a concern for me. The T/A unit is an inverter, lightweight, pulser, squarewave, stick/lift tig/high freq tig... and produces x-ray quality welds. Nice.

Then there's the ultimate machine for a hobbyist: Dynasty 200DX, but costs about $1K more.

Good Luck