Good day all,

I'm in the market for a wire-welder. Does anyone have any suggestions. I have 220V capacity, but am sort of leaning towards a 110V unit. Which is better, with bottle or without? What are the pros and cons? I already have a decent stick welder and acetylene setup, but would like the wire welder for patching/fabricating sheetmetal.

What do you say?

bjb
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There's a world of difference between "good" and "good enough".

I'm not much on giving anyone any advice, but I'm going to take a chance on this one. I like Miller welders. A 200 or 250 amp should be just fine for any home work shop. Use .023 wire for thin metal like 18-20 gauge, .030 - .035 wire for anything up to 11 gauge and when you get into 1/4" plate you better go to .045 wire. I always use gas when I weld and I use Ultra Mix 80/20. If you use 80/20 then if you ever want to throw on a spool of stainless you can use the same gas. If you use 25/75 you can't weld stainless with it. When you buy wire for mild steel use the 70s6 it's better than the 70s3. It will have this written on the side of the spool. For home use you can buy the wire in 11 lb. spools. This is what I use, let's see how the other fellows feel about this.

Carnut and Rat,
I'd have to go along with da Rat. I'm not a professional, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
I bought a little 110v goodie from Sears, about $400 or so I seem to remember and I'm getting along just fine with it. I have no clue who makes it for them but I'd wager it's Lincoln or someone like that.
I use it for most everything and use 80/20 gas for just the reason that Rat mentioned. If I ever do get up the nerve to pop for a spool of stainless I can go with it.
If you can stick weld, you can wire. I could barely strike an arc with stick and my wire welds turn out ducky and even LOOK good too.
Jim
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Time is natures way of keeping everything from happening at once.

When I wrote my first message I ran out of time because I wrote it this morning and had to go to work. So here is the rest. If you are sure you are not going to weld anything heavier than 1/8" or 3/16" plate the 110 units they have out now are very good. Once again, use gas. Another thing about the small units is if you get yourself in a situation where you are running the machine wide open ( welding heavier plate for a long time ) you have to consider the duty cycle of the machine. That means the number of minutes out of a 10 minute period the machine can operate "Wide Open".A 60% duty cycle machine can run 6 minutes then you have to stop and let it cool for 4 minutes. A large machine you usually don't run into this problem. If you do buy from someone like Sears check to see that it is made by one of the "BIG THREE" Lincoln, Hobart, Miller. That way any problems or parts that maybe needed, your covered. I guess I've rambled on long enough. Hope I've helped. Mac

here is my 2 cents worth..i have a lincoln weldpack 155 amp,220 volt machine. i love it...it came with flux core wire which gives you stick welding characteristics, but i use the gas shielded .023 wire when i am doing sheet metal. a much cleaner and smoother weld.however,the best investment i made was a self darkening welding helmet,my welding improved 100%..good luck.
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dalecarbuff

One thing to be concerned with on a 120V welder is the AC feed from the panel. A 15A circuit with #14 can handle a 90-100A welder if the run isnt over about 50'. After that the voltage drop (regulation), which varies as you work, can give inconsistent welds. A 20A circuit (#12) can stretch it a bit further.
The small 120V units are great for small jobs and portability. I love my 100A Century, $299 from SAMS with helmet and all the gas attachments minus bottle, for all sorts of around the house stuff, like fixing lawntractors, lawn furniture, light sheetmetal work, etc. I can even hitch it behind the lawn tractor and help out a neighbor; as I did recently with a snowblower. Rat hit the nail about Duty Cycle. I also agree with his gas and wire specs.

For serious stuff in the garage the 240V 250A Miller cant be beat but it stays put and I rarely want to move it around much....at my age it takes longer to get over back pains!
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Carl
Automotive gold is everywhere; you just have to learn how to dig for it

i'm a professional--35 yrs in the trade and taught it for 11yrs so i have never used the cheapies (under $800 new)but i can't see why they would'nt work providing you watch that duty cycle. i will say that millers are usually a little less expensive on the initial price but really sock it to you on parts. thats something you should check on no matter what you buy is parts avilability--a wirefeeder has lots of em. a cored wire feeder (no bottle) is going to need a smoke extractor or you can weld outside, it puts out a lot of soot. a 110v machine will work great on sheet metal but the 220v will work on sheet metal AND heavier stuff plus it is probably better for that resale down the road. lincoln used to have a machine with a stich mode that was great on sheet metal, possibly some others do to.
happy hunting
abe

Well here's my shot,
Not a pro by no means but have been stick welding several years. Built my first ride with a small flux core unit from Sears and had a lot of difficulty with stitch welding so most of my patch panels were spot welded in and it all is holding up well. The flux core units produce a lot more slag. Just last week I bought a new Lincoln SP175 Plus 220 volt machine with 80/20 argon co2 mix. the machine cost me $700.00 was told it normally retailed for about $825.00. It will hold
either the 2lb spool or the 8lb spool of wire. I did use it quite a bit the first few days after I got it and was tickled pink with the results over the flux core machine. Also you have to consider equipment support, I got a 3 year unlimited parts and labor warranty. Some of the cheaper or brand x models may not have that kind of support. Ask yourself how much you will be using your welder and can you get the parts and support readily local or will you have to order and wait? Oh yeah, check out the tech section of Street Rodder magazine they have been running a multi-part series on welding. I believe it started with the Nov. 2000 issue. Don't give up though the best way to learn is practice, practice.
Hope this helps.
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BOBBY

Try hobartwelders.com for lots of good info (forum) on welders & technique
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Jerry

I got my HTP MIG 110 back in October and love it so far. I've had lots of good luck with HTP, and my dad has had his MIG 110 for ? years now and it's been a great machine. I did the requisite "welding cart" as my first project and it worked great. I built my cart to have forced air cooling for the unit and when I took the "it'll barely hold a small tank" frame off I found a part loose inside (it was a demo unit). I sent a photo of the part and they sent me pictures of how to fix it the same day. Very topnotch company!

http://www.usaweld.com


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Bradley Miller
http://morris.accesszone.com -- Honey I shrunk the street rod

Try www.hobartwelders.com for lots of good info on Hobart & Miller welders & welding tips. Good site!
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Jerry

I was told by a body man not to use a flux core wire feed welder for body work. He stated that the flux will always cause problems with the paint later on. He said no amount of grinding will remove the flux and it will eventualy bleed through the paint. My 2cents
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Sedanman

Hi all,

I'd like to thank you all for the great advice. I purchased a Millermatic 130XP and leased the CO2 bottle. I've just started learning how to use it, and I'm really pleased with the results. I'm no pro by any means, but for a beginner at wire welding, they don't look too bad.You are all correct about using the CO2 and not using flux core. Your advice corroborates the info that I've read and the manual and video that came with the welder.

Thanx again for all the tips.

bjb
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There's a world of difference between "good" and "good enough".

car-nut I only have a couple of things to say. I bought
a cheap wire rig and I was really beginning to think I
would never learn how to weld. My son has Hobart and I tried
it I could weld better so I bought the 175 lincoln and never
looked back...stay with the pros you will almost always win
hot rods forever
Dr.pepper