115 or 220 volt mig welders...which prefered.

[Rod]

Whats you opinions on 115 or 220 volt migs. I'm sitting on the fence of sort on which one would best serve current and future needs.

Basically I'm looking at a Hobart 140 which is 115 volt or a 180 model thats a 220 volt mig.

I dont really have the facility for the 220...but reading all the threads on migs it seems it would be better to go to a 220 system.


The 115v seems ok for the body work end if it but if I try to do any welding to a wheel lift or trailer its seems I might not have the necessary power.

The Hobart model 140 is said to weld 1/4 inch. Same as the 180. Only the 180 is a 220v system. I talked with a welder down the road and he's all for a 220v system over a 115v.

Or am I just still looking at to small a unit if I wanted to weld a car trailer or something like that.


I need opinons by the weekends end.

[SB_in_SC]

I'm not an authority on welding, but I have dealt with both 110 and 220 Migs. 110 limits you A LOT. Its easy and you can plug it in anywhere, but frustrating when you really something bigger welded. 220 is great. We had a small Lincoln 220 with the gas bottle back when we used to dirt track race. You could weld everything from aluminum cans to 3/8" steel. In fact, I'm looking to buy a Mig right now and I'm going to buy 220. Its worth the extra money.

[68w/sbc406]

is it going in at you house? you would probably want to talk to an electrican to find out if you have enough room in you panel to run the extra circut for the welder.

[muddpile]

I too am looking at the Hobart Handler 140, but was also wondering about a higher voltage. 220 would be nice, but is it worth the extra cost plus getting it put into your panel?

[68w/sbc406]

if you have room in your panel and your panel is in the garage it should only take a competent electrician an hour or 2 depenting on where you want the plug. so that would be 160 buck plus material (thats going off off the shop rate where i work)

[rodnok1]

The 110 units do limit you on welding, they are great for bodywork and light welding, but for thick metal you cannot beat a 220 unit. The other thing to look for is duty cycle on whatever you decide, cheap units have 15-20% duty cycle, that also limits what you can weld and for how long. I have a Lincoln175 (220 volt) and can weld thick metal all day long, with my old 110 unit (Century) it would kick off and didn't really have the punch it needed. I wouldn't do structural welding like a frame or hitch without a 220 unit. DOWNSIDES: Need a 220 outlet, extension cords expensive, you won't be taking it to someones house since they don't have the outlet you need. The larger the welder usually means you don't have as much low range and it makes welding sheetmetal harder.

[Randy70C-10]

I have a Lincoln SP-125 mig (115 volt) and love it, I don't do much heavy work with it but it did work great for installing the Progressive Engineering front suspension on my 1930 Chevy.

[Rod]

The 140 has a 20% duty and the 180 has a 30% duty.

They say the 180 can do 5/16...if there the same as a Miller pretty much I dont see why the Miller 135 and 175 both have 1/4 inch maximums.

Actually I have the Miller brochure and the Hobarts are rated 1/16 higher than the Hobarts..seems odd.

I know Miller has a DVI dual voltage input unit now but not available in Canada yet.

Links I've been gathering info from.

http://hobartwelders.com/products/mig/

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...matic_135.html

[danho]

I have a Hobart Handler 120 and it's a good welder, i made a roll around cart for it and it has the big bottle. You CAN do some heavier welding with it (1/4"), provided you chamfer the metal and do multiple passes. I don't have the funds now, but when I do I will get a larger 220v Miller.
And when my friends need something welded, they come to my house and bring me beer.

[MOTHERTRUCKERS]

I have used a Hobart 135 Handler for about 8 years here in the shop on a roll around cart, it gets worked to death replacing patch panels, We also use it to tack heavy steel together and use the big Miller we got from Bethleham steel in Sparrows Point MD to finish the job also on a CART. It weighs 700 pounds with 90 ft of cable, our spotwelder also came from Bethleham and is quite a machine, it will spot weld 20ga up to 5/16 with a twist of the dial but it only has 6ft leads.

[86SILVERADO]

Rod the Key here is what Danho said about chamfering the metal. The reason all the pros say go with 220 is they wouldn't make as much money if they had to take the time to bevel the steel on both sides of every butt weld. They want to be able to just stick them together and burn right through in one pass. I have a Lincoln 135 plus and I weld frames with it all the time. Three passes. One in the bottom of the groove and two on either side and I am done. Obviously a pro would not stand for this if they are doing it all day long but really it is no big deal for someone who is using the machine a few times a month at best. You will appreciate the bread saved and the greater versatility and portability of a 120 volt unit, unless you are planning to open up your own metal fabrication shop. Oh yeah as far as the ratings you will find that miller and lincoln are much more conservative on thier ratings than the other competitors because they know that the people buying thier machines are not messing around and expect them to be able to do what they claim and they do as opposed to the other brands which are willing to say that theirs can do an extra 1/16 (at the expense of the rectifiers/drive motors) etc.

[mr402]

For a mig I went with the 120v system. It takes care of all the light duty jobs and can be used to tack the bigger stuff together. I use a stick welder for the heavier stuff. Those will go well beyond what any mig will do but can be tuned down to weld anything from 1/8" up. 95% of the time the mig will handle my needs. It's not very often I break out the stick welder. I think I used it once all last year but went through a full bottle on the mig.

[smitty62]

I'm no great welder, but I love my Hobart 175 220V. I've had 2 different 110V--they weren't in the same league. If you have a Tractor Supply near, they seem to have the best sales on these. I got the welder, cart and self-darkening helmet for $599 on sale.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

I bought a miller 110 about a year ago and love it to death.. I got the big bottle and a cart works really well for sheet metal have not really had the chance to use it on heavy guage metal so I dont have any input there..

[Tx Firefighter]

I have a Lincoln 110 welder and have used it for everything for years. I've built a ton of trailers with it and done several Mustang II suspension crossmember installs on street rods too. I currently carry it on my mobile welding truck so I can weld iron fence in people's yards.

Yes, 220V is nicer, but 110V is very practical.

Besides, like was said, weld the joint with several different passes to after you bevel it. That's the way a lot of heavy stuff is done in this world. Pipeline welders weld super thick pipe and they make several passes to do it.

When I'm welding something particularly thick with my 110 mig, I give my wife a portable propane Burnz-o-matic torch (20 bucks from Home Depot) and a weldig hood. She preheats the steel a couple of inches in front of where I'm welding. This pre-heating makes the welder seem bigger as it doesn't have to put as much heat into the joint to get the same results.

[LONGHAIR]

That's a great tip to pass along Tx Firefighter. I sort of learned that by accident several years ago by welding in different places of the same object. Once the part gets some heat built into it from the other welds, the rest seems to flow easier.

I really should have figured it out before that though. A friend of mine from high school is a pro weldor and I he has done several things for me over the years. One time when I needed an aluminum art welded, he heated the larger (solid mass) part in a special oven before welding the relitively smaller part to it. This was for the difference in the parts, not the limit of his machine, but the same principle applies.

[Rollie396]

The codes we weld to up here state that any steal thicker than 1/4" requires a bevel for full penetration welds.It does take more time to prep,but I agree with that and I follow it.The tip on preheat is a good one as well.The preheat helps reduce the possibility of cracking (especially in higher carbon steals and aluminum) and,as TX said,reduces the amount of heat input required to complete the weld.On the downside though,it can cause quite a bit of warpage if you get too crazy with it.
I prefer the 220v machines myself cuz I weld a wide variety of metal thicknesses.Running the 220 itself was no biggie for me either.The materials cost me around 80$cdn and I installed it myself and had an electrician inspect it before using it.
I guess it all comes down to how often you will be welding heavier material and how much prep work you are willing to do.

[pritch]

I've got to make this decision soon myself. My buzz-box died a while back. I am leaning toward the Lincoln 135 'cause we have one at my work and it seems to do a good job, and I don't really do to much heavy duty stuff, and when I do, I usually hire a pro to do it.

[chickenwing]

I saved up my pennies and bought a miller 175. My breaker panel allready had a chase to the garage and had plenty of room. Think I was into wire and outlets about $25.

Cheapest place I found for the welder was cyberweld. $699 freight included. No sales tax either since they were out of state. Was looking at the 110 units but figured I would wait a bit longer and get the most I could afford.

I am new to the welding thing so no insight on the performance. I do remember the miller had a higher rated wire feed speed.