Yes another welder ?

[DvlDg29]

I'm going to pick up my first welder and I'm thinking of the Millermatic 140. Any thoughts guys? Probably won't do much but scrap metal until my buddy says I've got a good enough handle on it to start on body panels. I was almost drawn to the Eastwood but figured I'd wait, save my pennies and get the Miller. Thanks for humoring the new guys dumb @ss questions.

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

Good call on waiting for the Miller. You are much better off starting with a quality unit. The Hobart Handler 140 is also a great entry-level welder with a wide range. Get a good one and then just keep practicing... [

 

[Old Iron]

You'll be happy you got a good welder.
It will last you a long time.

 

[DvlDg29]

Good call on waiting for the Miller. You are much better off starting with a quality unit. The Hobart Handler 140 is also a great entry-level welder with a wide range. Get a good one and then just keep practicing... [

Blue Eyed Devil, how much of a difference does the "infinite" settings style dial for the amps on the Miller vs the pre-determined amp settings one Hobart make?

 

[Dirtyrat]

You will be glad you have the infinite adjustment when welding thinner metals.

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

There is no difference IMO. I used a Hobart 140 for 6 years on all sorts of material thicknesses and never once was there a time I wished for .000342 bit of adjustment. I guess it's personal preference, but a setting is a setting. Nothing wrong with Miller and that's what my 220 unit is, but I think it's a little bit of "salesmanship" on their part.

 

[tecster]

I'm actually buying the Eastwood Mig135 for my birthday, its 299.99...

See and heard good things about it, I've never welded before so it should be fun!

 

[donsrods]

My Son Dan has a Miller 210 MIG that he has had for about 8 years and he loves it. A couple of nights ago we were starting work on my Son Don's Capri roll cage so Dan used Don's Miller 212 MIG. It has all those automatic things on it but he locked those out and just went manual because that is what he is used to. I guess if a person started playing with the automatic features they would be nice, but certainly not needed.

Regardless of what brand you buy it really pays to go with one of the "name" brands, like Miller, Lincoln, or Hobart, especially if you are going to be using it a lot. All of our MIller stuff has been flawless for years.

Don

 

[DvlDg29]

Thanks for all the replys guys. I think too much research my be a bad thing in my case, now I'm looking at the Miller 211 (I think) due to the duel power usage (110/220). It's quite a jump in price but may be worth it down the road.

Thanks again for the input.

 

[ratrodz]

are the eastwoods made by lincoln.they look the same just different colors.

 

[ratrodz]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXenK6UZwFY sure look the same

 

[DvlDg29]

are the eastwoods made by lincoln.they look the same just different colors.

If you look at some of the welding specific forums they talk a lot about Eastwood with mixed reviews. There is always a guy named Matt from Eastwood or some variation and he claims that their welders are not made by or copies of anyone. But he has admitted to them being made in China to their design and specs.

 

[Torch]

You can load up the miller 140 and take it to a buddies house... not so easy with the 220.
I had a 135... never had a problem with it.. Thought i did... I had 4 heat selections but only got 2 different ranges out of it. problem wasn;t with the welder it was with voltage drop at my house. for some reason my 220 welder seems fine but after it's split it to 110 it drops voltage on a draw. I only had problems welding heavy stuff not sheet metal...
If you ever run into that... weld at night when the neighborhood isn't sucking as much power from the grid. If you have to use an extension cord... get a gfci 220 breaker for your panel... use #6 or #10 guage conductor to plug into a 220 outlet with a dual outlet box on the other end...what your doing is splitting the 220 to 110 at the outlet instead of at the panel. it's how we'd run a 110 compressor and saws off one extension cord without tripping a breaker when I was framing houses.
or you can also get a generator. that way you can weld away from a power source as well. A good generator will have no voltage drop problems.
Unfortunately for me the utility has to guaranty me a safe service but they say they are not required to guaranty me voltage drop free voltage on a residential service.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks for all the replys guys. I think too much research my be a bad thing in my case, now I'm looking at the Miller 211 (I think) due to the duel power usage (110/220). It's quite a jump in price but may be worth it down the road.

Thanks again for the input.

You are being smart, that piece of equipment will last you for years and do most anything you ever need.

Not sure where you have been shopping, but we deal with Cyberweld. Their prices are great with free shipping. So far we have bought a 210 MIG, a 212 Mig, a 200 Syncrowave TIG, and a Thermal Dynamics plasma cutter from them, and probably 4 or 5 helmets over the years. They sell the 211 you mentioned at $ 1163.00 with cart (which makes it nicer to use)

Don

 

[RPM]

Thanks for all the replys guys. I think too much research my be a bad thing in my case, now I'm looking at the Miller 211 (I think) due to the duel power usage (110/220). It's quite a jump in price but may be worth it down the road.

Thanks again for the input.

Buy the biggest welder you can afford, you can always turn it down for thin stuff. You cannot turn it up for thick stuff.