Selecting a Mig welder.

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Wheatbackdigger

New member
bigcale said:
Any recommendations on one that will run dual voltage? I have a regular wall socket at my apartments garage but when I do get a house I will put in a 220v plug.

Was looking at this:
https://www.amazon.com/Hobart-50055...=1485362595&sr=8-3&keywords=hobart+mig+welder
Click to expand...

This is the welder I use. Very nice for the price. I've never ran it off 110v, so I can't comment there. Our latest project, off-road teardrop trailer in the makings: IMG_0873.JPG IMG_0860.JPG



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DWiggles

DWiggles

Caught the Bug
bigcale said:
Any recommendations on one that will run dual voltage? I have a regular wall socket at my apartments garage but when I do get a house I will put in a 220v plug.

Was looking at this:
https://www.amazon.com/Hobart-50055...=1485362595&sr=8-3&keywords=hobart+mig+welder
Click to expand...

wayoflife said:
I had considered getting this welder in the past. I see no reason why it wouldn't work well.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat as Wayoflife. I have considered getting this welder SEVERAL times in the past. I just need a bigger garage first. Everything I have heard & Read about the Hobart 210 MVP has been positive. :rock:
 
O

OverKill

New member
I have a Lincoln 220 stick, that is called a tombstone. I do not have experience in welding. Are they any good? Would love to make an off road trailer. I have a 6' x 12' trailer frame, was thinking about cutting it up into 2 4' x 6' frames. Would a stick welder be ok?


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USMC Wrangler

USMC Wrangler

New member
OverKill said:
I have a Lincoln 220 stick, that is called a tombstone. I do not have experience in welding. Are they any good? Would love to make an off road trailer. I have a 6' x 12' trailer frame, was thinking about cutting it up into 2 4' x 6' frames. Would a stick welder be ok?


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Click to expand...

You're talking about a buzz box, like this?

IMG_4108.JPG

The machine I have does 3 processes but I mostly stick welded my homemade front bumper. I was working with 1/4" steel.

IMG_3804.jpg

Since you already said you don't have a lot of experience, get some scrap pieces the same thickness as your trailer material. Then do a lot of practice before diving in on your project.
 
Stotch

Stotch

Caught the Bug
OverKill said:
I have a Lincoln 220 stick, that is called a tombstone. I do not have experience in welding. Are they any good? Would love to make an off road trailer. I have a 6' x 12' trailer frame, was thinking about cutting it up into 2 4' x 6' frames. Would a stick welder be ok?


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Click to expand...
The only real downside that I know of with stick welding is that it's kind of messy. Lots of spatter and slag to clean up. For welding a trailer I think it'd be fine.
USMC Wrangler said:
You're talking about a buzz box, like this?

View attachment 271696

The machine I have does 3 processes but I mostly stick welded my homemade front bumper. I was working with 1/4" steel.

View attachment 271697

Since you already said you don't have a lot of experience, get some scrap pieces the same thickness as your trailer material. Then do a lot of practice before diving in on your project.
Click to expand...
Good advice. Practice practice practice.
 
QuicksilverJK

QuicksilverJK

Caught the Bug
The "tombstone" is usually an A.C. only machine, but I have heard of less common older versions that ran D.C. As well. I enjoy stick welding, and for many applications prefer it to mug for simplicity of setup. Grab the leads, grab some rod and your welding. That being said, I never did get the hang of ac welding. It does tend to spatter a lot more than D.C. My first machine was an ac tombstone as well. Get ahold of some scrap metal, and some welding rod and go to town. Lots of practice and you will eventually get the hang of it.


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desertrunner

desertrunner

Active Member
Gonna revive this real old thread. Since I've had some time on my hands I have been researching some welders. Mostly this things I would like to do with it are things like weld up my Evo rockstar skids, weld the tabs for eventual hydro assist, some day put on Evo weld on sliders. If I get good enough the 10 year plan for my 2dr is a stretch with long arms. I also do various furniture pieces for the house. The Hobart 140 looks great for price and being able to weld up to 1/4"
I have a very small bit of mig and Tig experience in college but my buddy was the one setting up the machine for the most part. The Hobart 210 looks like maybe a better option for versatility and being able to weld bigger projects as I would love to do a trailer build at some point too but I have a feeling I'm only going to use the welder a few times a year.

With that said for those that have the Hobart 140 how do you like it? And would it be able to handle the projects mentioned above or is the 210 really a better fit for things like the sliders and brackets? I'd hate to spend the money only to find out it's not big enough for the jeep projects. But I also don't want to spring for a $1500 set up and hardly use it.

Thoughts?

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Bierpower

Bierpower

Hooked
I was looking at the Lincoln 140 and the Hobart 140 for a while until somebody (maybe in this thread) mentioned duty cycle. These welder have a 20% duty cycle so if your doing any big projects it's going to be lots of wait time while the welder cools. I still wanted a little 120V welder and Lincoln came out with the LE31mp. It's pretty similar to their other 140 bit it has a 60% duty cycle, so more time for work and less time for wait.

If you have 240V capability you can't go wrong with a bigger welder. It'll cost more up front but if you don't use it enough it'll be worth more there too. The nice thing with the 140 welders is you can plug the into a standard wall outlet. I was renting a house when I got mine so it was not possible to wire in 240 for a bigger welder. I've since bought a house and got a 250Amp Tig welder to do the heavier welding.

Hope this helps a little.

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fiend

fiend

Caught the Bug
Maybe go with something that’s 110 and 220 compatible. I have a Lincoln dual 180 that’s pretty nice at 110 and capable of 220 though I don’t have the circuit at the moment. I think the Hobart 140 is nice but you’ll probably outgrow it pretty quickly.


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desertrunner

desertrunner

Active Member
Good point on the duty cycle thing I wasn't really thinking about that. For most of what I would do I don't think it would bother me too much but if I get the chance to do a trailer build or any other big projects that would drive me nuts.
The Hobart 210 has dual plug which is nice. Being military some locations we will buy and I can have 220 wired just fine and others I will not.
Welp continuing the research thanks for the inputs.

I'm assuming though something like the 140 would still be big enough to do sliders and brackets though? I would imagine they are less than 1/4" but not sure how thick the frame is

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Bierpower

Bierpower

Hooked
desertrunner said:
I'm assuming though something like the 140 would still be big enough to do sliders and brackets though? I would imagine they are less than 1/4" but not sure how thick the frame is

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Click to expand...

The frame is not anywhere near 1/4". You would be ok with the capabilities of the 140 but when you start doing other projects, and want a little more heat, your going to wish you had a bigger machine. It's like getting 35's because that's all you need to get by.

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Speedy_RCW

Speedy_RCW

Hooked
desertrunner said:
Gonna revive this real old thread. Since I've had some time on my hands I have been researching some welders. Mostly this things I would like to do with it are things like weld up my Evo rockstar skids, weld the tabs for eventual hydro assist, some day put on Evo weld on sliders. If I get good enough the 10 year plan for my 2dr is a stretch with long arms. I also do various furniture pieces for the house. The Hobart 140 looks great for price and being able to weld up to 1/4"
I have a very small bit of mig and Tig experience in college but my buddy was the one setting up the machine for the most part. The Hobart 210 looks like maybe a better option for versatility and being able to weld bigger projects as I would love to do a trailer build at some point too but I have a feeling I'm only going to use the welder a few times a year.

With that said for those that have the Hobart 140 how do you like it? And would it be able to handle the projects mentioned above or is the 210 really a better fit for things like the sliders and brackets? I'd hate to spend the money only to find out it's not big enough for the jeep projects. But I also don't want to spring for a $1500 set up and hardly use it.

Thoughts?

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Click to expand...

You'll probably end up using it more than you think. You'll start looking for shit to weld together and various home projects. I'm of the same group as others and agree you should probably get the larger machine. I'm fairly sure they use the max output when calculating duty cycle so if you're not running it full out, duty cycle goes up. With the smaller machine, you may find yourself closer to the max output at times. But for most projects around the house you're not going to be welding long enough to pass the duty cycle rating anyways. If you are, you're probably putting too much heat into your work piece anyways and end up warping the shit out of it. I have the ESAB Rebel 215 and I don't have anything bad to say about it.
 
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