hobart, miller or lincoln mig???

Date 08-05-2003 04:42

If you want to weld just the things you said I would suggest a Millermatic 135.....Flux Core...It should work just fine for your kind of welding....It will run you about hmmmmm......over $500 plus consumables and gear...but just a helpful idea

By ScottV

Date 08-05-2003 05:59

The Lincoln sp135 plus is the best of the bunch.The Miller 135 has wirefeed tracking,and it sucks.I think they will get that one fixed one of these days?The Lincoln has a great track record in taking a beating,and still keep working.It's been around in one form or another,alot longer than the Miller or Hobart.Also there is more Lincolns in muffer shops than any other little welder.It buzzes though nasty metal like it was clean.Something those others always had a hard time dealing with.I have owned two little Miller 120 volt welders,and have used the Hobart.

By mark8702 (*)

Date 08-05-2003 07:42

how much have you really used a miller wire welder...and what for?I guess problems vary on type of person and type of maintenance and abuse?....Millermatic has been a long used name in the Mig Welding History....I never really heard much use of a Sp 135....but it's going to be your welder....so it really depends on what color and name you want because the name of the welder isn't going to make you better at welding now so come on....but its your bread and whatever you want to spend it on...it's your decision.Glad I could help

By ScottV

Date 08-05-2003 15:43

I owned three Miller migs.They were a mm130,mm130 xp,mm185.I used the little ones alot for bodywork,muffers,and about everything that could be welded with one,and a few things that shouldn't be welded with a small 120 volt unit.The mm 130 xp was a nice little unit with .023 solid wire,and 75/25 gas.I just think wirefeed tracking is a bad idea on a welder with infinite voltage controls(mm 135/175).It's not too bad on a tapped unit,but I could live without it.The other Miller welders get much better without it,like the 185/210 models.So what it boils down to is it's the model of the welders I don't like,not the brand.

By mark8702 (*)

Date 08-05-2003 16:35

You really don't need to MIG but if you want to do it real easy then just use flux core....screw the argon bottle and all that fancy bull...go with flux core....Welders like that can be bought from $100+ on up new and used depending on your application.Let's see Miller,Lincoln,Hobart,Thermal,and lots of other different brands.You are going to do one of the easier proccesses out there in the welding world.

By mark8702 (*)

Date 08-05-2003 16:35

oh and btw Miller makes Hobart :)

By robism

Date 08-05-2003 16:54

hey thanks guys for all the replies, one thing i was thinking of was that the guy at the welding house told me that lincoln uses alot of plastic parts in their mechanism and that those same parts are metal in miller. My teacher said he might say that cause they sell alot of miller. The guy also said there are more replacement parts for miller than lincoln. I have been using a mig at school on 3/16" mild steel, just running beads and fillet welds, but i will like to also work on car sheetmetal.
I have heard that working on sheetmetal is a little more difficult because of the warping issue and/or burning holes in it. One more thing salesman told me that one good thing with the miller is that when u adjust the amperage , the wirespeed automatically self adjusts. Does that come in handy or is it something i dont need??Once again, thanks guys for the input.