romoranger

iTrader: (2)

the weldmark 135+ is the same thing as the lincoln 135+, just sold under a different name. my machine was purchased from a pawn shop, so its past history and care is unknown. i do know my machine has problems feeding wire past the 5 setting when my amps are maxed. the thermal button usually pops, that and i have electrical issues i just found out about at my house today from the electrician. beleive it or not my 100amp service is maxed out, who would have guessed. to install another 100amp service would be really expensive, so my electrician is going to try to work with my one 220 outlet so that i can puit some real draw through that, as opposed to the 20amp receptacle that is wired off my microwave from the last owner of my home (also happens to be the only 20amp 110volt in the house).

Silverback

Ti TIGs like mild steel but even easier, the only real hassle is that it _really_ sould be done in a complete argon environment to do it right...

Silverback

Heh, well that will bring out my bitch about the older small Lincolns (the ones that they brought out to replace them about a year ago are great, but the older ones…), they tend to have a great power supply (as long as you can get used to its complete lack of wire speed tracking, which in my mind is easier then getting used to Miller’s overly aggressive wire speed tracking, Hobart falls right in the middle), but it seems very susceptible to power problems. Even too long an extension cord or too small a gauge shows up right away in the welding performance. You get a “bounce” in the arc right after you start the weld and performance goes down dramatically from there (and it’s not uncommon for electrical stuff to overheat if you don’t feed it enough amps). The fact that wire feed = amps makes your problem worse.

My bigger bitch about them is that their wire feed sucks, it’s like some rube Goldberg contraption involving springs, washers, wing nuts and half a box of odd hardware that was designed to torture the user. I welded in a roll cage with one borrowed from a friend, and it took me two whole days, one that finally turned into figuring out/fixing the wire feed all day, and a second building the cage.

romoranger

iTrader: (2)

do you think that a new lincoln 175 machine would be a signifigant improvement? i will find out everything from the electrician tomorrow, that and considering that i just replaced my old clothing dressers turned tool boxes with some real live tool chests i have spent a little bit too much in the past week.

my machine has the same problem with the wire feeding. it only likes to feed the 10 lb spools or its gets stuck

Silverback

I eventually took the drive completely apart and re did it in a way that worked for me. The friend that owns it often calls me over to weld stuff and it now works pretty well, but if it’s something critical he’ll actually sit with the side door open and makes sure nothing gets jambed up while I’m welding.

They still sell the SP135 and 175, those are the old machines, but the new, Powermig 140 and 180 are VERY nice for machines in that class and still in the same price range. I know someone t hat has never had anything but millers in his production shop that was so impressed by their new little MIGs that he bought 2 power mig 140’s for the shop the first week they were out. So the answer to your question: well, getting a PowerMig180 will not technically give you any capability that you don’t have now real world, it will give you a MUCH nicer machine that shouldn’t be as frustrating to use with probably 2x the duty cycle (which again, you shouldn’t be running into anyway if things were working right). I love my HH135, but I’ve seriously considered snagging one of the power migs anyway (probably a 180, not so much for the “bigger power” but because I wired all the 240V circuits in the house and I have much better 240V supply in the garage than 120…).

If there’s a bigger local welding supply in your area you might want to stop in, they’ll usually let you play with the machines before buying. I usually stick with one of the smaller ones, but the owner there _really_ knows his **** and has never steered me wrong and always gives me the best deals (they’ve become quite popular on the ‘net and ebay, B&R Welder…)

romoranger

iTrader: (2)

electrician came by. he is going to hook up a sub panel in my garage off of an old 220 dryer ling i have with some 30amp 220's and 110's. he said he could get me a dedicated line but i would have to replace my home's panel, and it would cost some money.
just the subpanel install with plugs and such is going to run around 200-300 so i decided to not run a dedicated line as of yet. i looked at the need for the lincoln 175 and saw that it used 21 amps, whereas the power mig 180 used 20 amps. do you think i would get any benefit from using a bigger machine such as this? or should my upgraded electric help me out? i know my 135+ trips my 20amp breakers, but the receptacle is tapped off the microwave in the kitchen and i doubt the wiring is any good.

romoranger

iTrader: (2)

another question for you guys. those of you that have a 110 volt mig and a 220volt mig, how often do you really use the 110 volt? i am deciding whether or not i should sell my 110 volt so that i could get myself a better mig setup.

z2fast8

i would buy a 220 mig has more possibility of use and if u wanna weld just sheetmetal all u gotta do is use smaller wire and tune it down a lil. i have a 220 lincole and it does everything i want it to

BigJls1

BigJ says ban the 110v welders. stop the insanity.
They are great for wrought iron. I would never use it for anything with structure involved. Ok really they work good for body repairs, exhaust, gates and fixin the patio chairs. 220 will do all that plus more. If you spend 600$ on a good 110 for a little more like 800 or 900 you can get a real welder.......... 220.

romoranger

iTrader: (2)

yeah i used the 110 the other day to fix my gate. its nice because its portable but i would really like to be able to afford a much better mig, and selling the 110 would help me do so.

Andy1

I sort of breezed through the posts and noticed that no one mentioned accessibility to your work. It should be part of your decision making process, IMO. When doing work on chassis', under car work, odd places and angles, a TIG can be nearly impossible to position correctly (and you need BOTH hands and a foot or knee if you don't have a trigger on your torch).

It all really depends on what knid of work you're mostly going to do. A MIG is usually well suited to the kind of work you mentioned originally. I can't imagine using my Miller Synchrowave to build a trailer. For an occasional need to weld aluminum or stainless, you could always go to a professional welder. I use my TIG a lot for finely controlled work, but it does have its limitations.

Andy1

fabricatorx

Both, I absolutely have to have both, no such thing as either or in this case. In my line of work (roll cages, suspension builds, turbo manifolds, exhausts) TIG is great, but I still have to MIG weld in the base plates for the roll cage and whatnot.

I love all the people that "flash" all their knowledge just to fill space and not give info for the topic at hand

Jimmy