Re: Welders!
 

ive been using a Snap-on 140 mig, and 100% duty cycle. with .023 wire it is perfect for sheetmetal. its got a timed spotwelder on it, which is great for bed sides and any thing with a lot of spotwelds. of course being from snap-on its expensive, but worth it!

Re: Welders!
 

IMO its hard to beat a Hobart when welding sheet metal....The little Handler 140 is about the best I have ever used.......Miller in general makes awesome products.....Our shop is endorsed by a well known Welder company......When they came in I had to do a little paint work to our shops 140 to match their product....It even has their logo on it......lol.....But its a lil Hobart....Shhhhhhhhhhhh

Re: Welders!
 

Here's a pretty cool video I came across. Guy has a scratch start TIG setup based on an 80 amp Harbor Freight inverter arc welder. Nice cheap way to learn TIG.

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Just to alert all to my experiences with Northern Tools Mig welder. I borrowed from my son and managed to burn a hole in the 4mm plastic tube that delivers CO/Argon to the gun. After three weeks of phone calls and delays I finally got an answer. Northern Tools has no parts and no way to get parts for their Chinese made Mig Welders. As far as Northern is concerned I need to purchase a new welder. If you are thinking of purchasing a welder, think long and hard before puchasing. This welder is scrap for gas mig unless I can find someplace to purchase less then 1000" of tube.

Re: Welders!
 

just bought a new in box lincoln mig pak 180. $480 off craigslist. Do i need to get gas to weld sheetmetal?

Re: Welders!
 

you can do it with flux core but I will try and steer you towards gas. I started with flux and went to gas and was amazed by the difference. way cleaner weld and it didnt burn through like the flux did sometimes. its only like 80 bucks for a bottle and its worth it IMO.

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i haven't opened box yet but what size breaker (amps) is required for this thing?

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I used a 40 amp Super Lag breaker

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Wow, that's kind of overkill. What guage wire are you using on this circuit?

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i haven't run the circuit yet...thank goodness i have space in my panel...

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The manual included with the welder should have what amperage it will pull. My millermatic 180 says that it should pull 20 amps, so I installed a 30 amp circuit just to be on the safe side. Just remember that a circuit breaker is intended to protect the wire from overheating and starting a fire, so make sure you use the appropiate sized wire for the breaker that you are using.

Re: Welders!
 

8awg, kind of but not really overkill, it was prewired by the PO of the shop and he ran 220 receptacles in every corner of the shop floor for misc woodworking tools.. the runs are short so 8awg is sufficient..

Re: Welders!
 

AH, I was thinking of a dedicated welder circuit. That's how I set mine up. And 8 AWG is plenty big enough to handle it, I just didn't want anyone burning their shop down due to undersized wiring.

Re: Welders!
 

Got a mm210 and a ideal arc 250 for tig. Been meltin metal for round 15 years mainly in fab shops. Got a nice cushy job sittin in a office chair tig welding some crazy parts for a fiberglass company.

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Ok guy's here is a challenge for you: I have a 120 volt MIG that I bought from Matco years ago. It was made by Century who was bought out by Lincoln. Last year It stopped producing an arc so I replaced it with a Miller Syncrowave 200 TIG. Here is the challenge. The wirefeed and whip are still good in the old Matco machine. I want to build a wirefeed attachment for my TIG. Does anyone know what fittings I would need to get the power/gas line connected to the whip and wirefeed system? I also need a way to control the thing with the trigger. maybe make a pigtail that connects to the pedal outlet? Has anyone here done this? It would make this machine the most versatile machine I could think of.

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I have a lincoln mig 140 with .23 wire and gas, and i was wondering about doing frame work with it. Anybody use this welder for any frame work? Like notches and welding on my rearend? Should I step it up to a 220 welder?

Re: Welders!
 

You should step it up to a bigger welder. If you do end up having to use this welder look up what the duty cycle is. It will be a percentage. that is the percentage of a minute you can weld at peak power the rest is rest and cool down time. So weld within that time and stop for the at least the minimum wait time. It is going to be a low number like 20% at best. That is because at peak power the 120 volt line cannot keep up with the demand on the welder and you are using mostly capacitor power.

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Trying to decide on a welder.I have narrowed it down to the Hobart Handler 140 and the Millermatic 140 Autoset.Any input will be welcome.Thanks.

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I would upgrade to a bigger machine. But if you use the 140 on anything thick I would recomend you preheat with a torch to help it out.

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Both machines are fine for light work and will last years if taken care of. The only real difference between them is the case and whip. The Miller may be built a little better since Hobart is Miller's lower line.

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The 20% duty cycle will bother you if you start to weld anything thicker than what the .023 wire is doing. Also the older the machine gets the shorter the duty cycle seems to get.

I have had a Lincoln similar to both the machines your looking at and it has worked very well for years on small things.

Money is very well spent on a bigger machine that runs off 220v, they can handle most anything you can get into in a home garage and will last a lifetime.

The duty cycle is based off of a 10 minute cycle. So 20% is 2 minutes constant in 10 minutes but as the machine heats up the duty cycle get shorter also. Ambient temperature will change the duty cycle too.