I had a miller 135 that would weld up to 1/4 inch on pass. fine for anything the buzz box would burn up.
A construction company I worked for needed some 115v flux core portables for welding metal studs. we were steel framing on commercial and residential jobs. They started out with the cheapest no name units and smoking everything right on up the price list rather quickly except for the Millers... They even killed their 110v Lincolns but I'm talking everyday, day long production work...
That's why I bought a Miller.
My miller would weld fine off a generator but at home it would start spitting and operating irregular after welding a few inches. I noticed it would weld better at night.
I took it down to the shop to see if the solid state stuff was still good and it checked out fine.
I never had my house wiring load tested but the shop told me my symptoms were of voltage drop making the welder work harder...temp goes up... starts welding bad...
Most houses use 14 or 12 guage wire for 110
If your having a problem welding with a 110v welder at your place try making a powerstation.
It's a heavy extension cord with a 4 gang on one end that plugs into a 220 outlet and splits it into 2 separate 110v pairs at the gang box.
We used to use them building houses because the air compressors and saws would run better on 150 feet of 220v split to 110v at the compressor than it would running off 150 foot of 110 volt all they way from the breaker panel.
A 220v volt circuit has 2 hots and a common.
110 uses one hot and a common
You go hot to common and you have 110v
You go hot to hot and you have 220v
Essentially its a 6 or 8 guage 220 extension cord where you give each hot wire it's own plug and run the single common for them both.
each hot leg of a 220v volt circuit is 110volt to common
when I wired the garage I didn't want to replace the house panel. I didn't have the money to run a full separate 130-200 amp leg to the garage, and I don't have the need for one.
I had a spare slot in my panel for one 220 breaker.
I ran a 220v slave panel out in the garage using about 40ft of #6 stranded copper rated for 70 amp circuit.
That's not 70 amps through one wire...The way 220 works each hot leg carries half of the load. the appliance using the electricity blocks what it doesn't use through resistance. the power from 2 hots through a 220v appliance can return to ground through a single common (single conductor). You do not want your safety ground to connect to the common. BAD JU JU !!!!
The reason is that when the appliance is running...the trigger is pulled and energy is flowing to ground...the common has juice. The earth completes the circuit.
If theres water where it ain't supposed to be... and your in the middle... your a short circuit friend... electricity will always follow the path of least resistance. this can mean you.
The ground plug does this:
It grounds the appliance. If theres water, and the electricity might want to go through it (and you) instead of going the long way home through the common (which itself when in use has a higher potential than ground but not as high a potential than the hot). The stray electricity finds it's way home through the ground plug.
Hot is hot
Common is low
Ground is nil, nothing, zero...earth
Electricity flows hot to common and in case of emergency, to ground.
If there is a fault in the wire ground compared against earth ground... the GFCI..ground fault interruptor senses stray power there and kills power at the hot.
circuit breakers only kill power above their rated amount...more than I can handle...
It all eventually returns to earth but when and where is most important.
SO for proper gfci action...for safety...your grounds have to be set up right or one puddle could kill you.
Copper has less resistance and produces less heat at a given current than aluminum wire.
also...
Stranded conductors flow more juice with less heat buildup than solid conductors.
The reason is that stress follows a surface.
Any change in the molecular structure of a material is a surface
it's true for mechanical engineering and for electrical.
It's why a drive shaft tube can handle nearly as much torque that a solid shaft can handle.
It's how a scratch can turn into a crack
nearly all of the electrons flowing in a wire are moving along the surface of the wire.
The more surface area, the less resistance.
anyways,
I ran a 70 amp breaker (dual 35 amp circuits) in the house to the garage with #6 stranded, a 30 amp breaker with #10 solid wire on the air compressor and a 50 amp breaker with #6 stranded on the stick welder.
70 amps at 110v ac isn't going to have the same heat and resistance that 70 amps at 12v will.
If I remember right 12v at 70 amps is a lot more current than 110v at 70 amps and ends up being more heat and requiring a larger cable. It's been along time since electronics school....
I have an outlet just for the miller 135 using only a couple feet of #10 wire where the 110 splits off the 220 for minimal voltage drop. If I plug directly into it I'm fine. I can run a 10 foot #12 extension cord or a #10 extension cord up to about 20' and I'm fine but if there's #14 guage anywhere in the middle the welder gets skippy.
Also, keep the welder out of direct sunlight and keep a fan on it or use it at night during the summer when everyone's air conditioners are not sucking the neighborhood grid power down.
I'm not saying the miller 135 is the greatest all purpose welder, I'm just saying I think it's the best in it's class and how you can get along with it's weaknesses by having the best wiring and pay attention to when you use it.
At first I thought problems I was having was the welder or the way I was using it until I plugged it into a 4000 watt generator and it welded as well as a 220v unit.
If your wire is exposed to the elements over time that can cause it to act the same way as voltage drop problems from water in the flux.
Then my buddy... his wasn't working right... way bad.
I brought my welder over his place and mine welded considerably worse at his place than at mine.
The problem at my place isn't the welder and it isn't the wiring, it's the voltage drop at the pole to my house. Not too bad but not perfect under load.
The municipality says they are providing me with electricity within guidelines and my use is not an ordinary household use requiring them to revamp their delivery.
I spliced a pickup frame with a miller 135.
It came out very nice and proper
90kpsi wire, preheat the weld for optimal penetration and so it doesn't cool off too quickly...
I would not advise it unless you are a really good welder with an keen eye for what's going on in the puddle and not in a hurry.
I can see my penetration with a wire feed where I cannot with a stick welder.
my stick needs a lot of work
I was certified by Elliot Equipment truck cranes for mig spray process all position to 1.5" thickness and overhead.
I worked for them welding up the outriggers and other stuff we built from scratch. I also spliced frames there.
My eyes started bothering me at night around about a year of welding 660v 3 phase spray process
My vertical and overhead with the stick is not the best, I can't see what's going on under the slag and mostly have to guess if I'm moving the right speed and such...try a little and take a peek with the slag off...
I never had to do it commercially so I never had someone there to work with me on the stick welding. I have seen and envied ironworkers and pipefitters making some beautiful all position welds with a stick.
