Mig Welder recomendations

[ancomcabs]

Looking for some advice on a mig welder. I currently have a Lincoln Arc welder and after working on the snow plow mount I'm making it is very apparent that my stick welding skills are seriously lacking. I recall using a mig welder many years ago and remember it being somewhat more forgiving. Hoping to get some suggestions from those of you out there with more experience on what size (output amp rating) would be enough for fabricating stuff out of 1/8"-3/8" steel Thanks in advance

 

[skidsteer.ca]

There is no doubt a mig is easier to use. Stick welding is stronger and I like that I can bend the tacks more when mocking something up. A stick will also weld out in the wind where a mig won't.
That being said I do 3/4 my welding with a 210 Millermatic. Using the stick when I'm out in the field.
Mig allow you to weld thin material and easily fill oversize gaps, which is just a way of saying I should spend more time fitting things perhaps, but in a repair shop it is usually a case of making the best of what you have to work with.
Mig is so much easier to strike the arc which makes tacking a breeze. Also nice to never run out of rod before you are ready to stop. Because the process runs cooler it tends to warp the material less as well
Stick will tolerate dirty material better then mig though
I generally keep it spooled with .035 wire and rarely run the heat over 4 out of 7.
I guess a 150 amp machine would cover most of what I use this machine for but I did not want to come up short on heat when I need it.
I would suggest getting at least a 150 amp machine. Those little 120 volt machines are not big enough to work with 3/8
I'm by no means a professional welder, I do repair welding and build god only know what next, I have learned as I go. While what I do may not be always technically correct, it gennerally stay together. I have never taken a welding course but i have built a few trailers and other bigger and countless small diy projects
I would try to stay with the major brands in hope they would support the machine with parts longer but that is something you never know until you need it.
I'm sure other will chime in
Skidsteer.ca

 

[Tazza]

There is no doubt a mig is easier to use. Stick welding is stronger and I like that I can bend the tacks more when mocking something up. A stick will also weld out in the wind where a mig won't.
That being said I do 3/4 my welding with a 210 Millermatic. Using the stick when I'm out in the field.
Mig allow you to weld thin material and easily fill oversize gaps, which is just a way of saying I should spend more time fitting things perhaps, but in a repair shop it is usually a case of making the best of what you have to work with.
Mig is so much easier to strike the arc which makes tacking a breeze. Also nice to never run out of rod before you are ready to stop. Because the process runs cooler it tends to warp the material less as well
Stick will tolerate dirty material better then mig though
I generally keep it spooled with .035 wire and rarely run the heat over 4 out of 7.
I guess a 150 amp machine would cover most of what I use this machine for but I did not want to come up short on heat when I need it.
I would suggest getting at least a 150 amp machine. Those little 120 volt machines are not big enough to work with 3/8
I'm by no means a professional welder, I do repair welding and build god only know what next, I have learned as I go. While what I do may not be always technically correct, it gennerally stay together. I have never taken a welding course but i have built a few trailers and other bigger and countless small diy projects
I would try to stay with the major brands in hope they would support the machine with parts longer but that is something you never know until you need it.
I'm sure other will chime in
Skidsteer.ca

I used to have a 190 amp copper wound machine, it worked great, it still does in its new home too.
I now have a 250 amp machine, i love the extra 60 amps. I can weld 1/4" full thickness without an issue.
Ken already pointed out that stick welders have their place. Stick welders will work on rusty metal, have far better penetration. MIG really don't like rusty metals, if you give the weld surfaces a rub with a grinder first, it will be fine.
I assume you are going for a gas style setup? as in you need a bottle of shielding gas, the gasless style isn't as good and the finish is not as good either.
I'd lever give up my stick welder, i mostly use the MIG as its far cheaper than buying rods and no need to stop welds half way through and chip off slag.
I use .9mm wire, not sure what that is in imperial, but i can weld really thin metal with it if i turn the power down.

 

[ancomcabs]

I used to have a 190 amp copper wound machine, it worked great, it still does in its new home too.
I now have a 250 amp machine, i love the extra 60 amps. I can weld 1/4" full thickness without an issue.
Ken already pointed out that stick welders have their place. Stick welders will work on rusty metal, have far better penetration. MIG really don't like rusty metals, if you give the weld surfaces a rub with a grinder first, it will be fine.
I assume you are going for a gas style setup? as in you need a bottle of shielding gas, the gasless style isn't as good and the finish is not as good either.
I'd lever give up my stick welder, i mostly use the MIG as its far cheaper than buying rods and no need to stop welds half way through and chip off slag.
I use .9mm wire, not sure what that is in imperial, but i can weld really thin metal with it if i turn the power down.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Fishfiles]

Thanks for the replies!

the most important thing to me when shopping a welding machine is duty cycle , if you get a small machine then the duty cycle will be something like 25-35% , meaning you can only weld for 2.5 -3.5 minutes out of 10 minutes , the rest of the ten minutes you need to let the unit cool down or you will burn it up , the thicker the metal is , the more you need to turn up the heat and the duty cycle goes down as the heat goes up so if you are welding something thats say 12 gauge it may be 100% duty cycle , when you go to 1/4 inch thick steel it could drop dramatically and you wouldn't save any time over stick welding as you would be waiting for it to cool down more than welding

 

[sstec]

the most important thing to me when shopping a welding machine is duty cycle , if you get a small machine then the duty cycle will be something like 25-35% , meaning you can only weld for 2.5 -3.5 minutes out of 10 minutes , the rest of the ten minutes you need to let the unit cool down or you will burn it up , the thicker the metal is , the more you need to turn up the heat and the duty cycle goes down as the heat goes up so if you are welding something thats say 12 gauge it may be 100% duty cycle , when you go to 1/4 inch thick steel it could drop dramatically and you wouldn't save any time over stick welding as you would be waiting for it to cool down more than welding

If you have a stick machine the best thing would be to practice and master what you have.
It will only make you better if you decider to get a MIG.

Taza,
.09mm is .035 inch.
As Fish says duty cycle is important. So is power required to run higher amped machines, all of this must be considered when purchasing a machine.
You can also get flux core wire to shield the weld instead of using shielding gas, which can get expensive if you do not use it much or foget to turn tank off when finished.
As with any welding just remember , clean, clean, clean, will give you the best results.
sstec

 

[skidsteer.ca]

If you have a stick machine the best thing would be to practice and master what you have.
It will only make you better if you decider to get a MIG.

Taza,
.09mm is .035 inch.
As Fish says duty cycle is important. So is power required to run higher amped machines, all of this must be considered when purchasing a machine.
You can also get flux core wire to shield the weld instead of using shielding gas, which can get expensive if you do not use it much or foget to turn tank off when finished.
As with any welding just remember , clean, clean, clean, will give you the best results.
sstec

Cored wire will work out in the winds and I have a 120v machine spooled with it for field repairs on thin material (mostly exhaust work in my case) It is nice a portable without the gas bottle and can be run off my Milller Trailblazer if need be in the field.
Self shielding wire however should not be used for large projects indoors as it smoke something terrible. Where as mig is one of the cleanest running processes.
Also good points on the duty cycle, especially important if your in a hot climate and you think you may end up working on large projects where you will be welding more and stopping less.
skidsteer.ca

 

[Tazza]

Cored wire will work out in the winds and I have a 120v machine spooled with it for field repairs on thin material (mostly exhaust work in my case) It is nice a portable without the gas bottle and can be run off my Milller Trailblazer if need be in the field.
Self shielding wire however should not be used for large projects indoors as it smoke something terrible. Where as mig is one of the cleanest running processes.
Also good points on the duty cycle, especially important if your in a hot climate and you think you may end up working on large projects where you will be welding more and stopping less.
skidsteer.ca

Good point about duty cycle, most good branded machines have a respectible duty cycle. If you go for the cheap chinese ones, they will have a very poor duty cycle and you will spend too much time waiting for it to cool off.
I have a Telwin inverter stick welder, its Italian but when welding with 3.25mm rods i can generally lay a rod down at a full 160 amps, but then need to let it cool off. 2.5mm rods at 80 or so amps, it will keep going.
I have never needed to wait for my 250 amp mig to catch up, even at full power.
Get prices on gas, some places will only rent it to you, others will let you buy it. Over here you can buy them, but its expensive. you can however get it gassed cheap, just swap the bottle over.

 

[ancomcabs]

Good point about duty cycle, most good branded machines have a respectible duty cycle. If you go for the cheap chinese ones, they will have a very poor duty cycle and you will spend too much time waiting for it to cool off.
I have a Telwin inverter stick welder, its Italian but when welding with 3.25mm rods i can generally lay a rod down at a full 160 amps, but then need to let it cool off. 2.5mm rods at 80 or so amps, it will keep going.
I have never needed to wait for my 250 amp mig to catch up, even at full power.
Get prices on gas, some places will only rent it to you, others will let you buy it. Over here you can buy them, but its expensive. you can however get it gassed cheap, just swap the bottle over.

Thanks again for the education, the amount of welding I do I should probably just practice more with the stick welder for now, learn about the different rods etc Happy holidays

 

[jerry]

Thanks again for the education, the amount of welding I do I should probably just practice more with the stick welder for now, learn about the different rods etc Happy holidays

My first welder was a homemade dc machine and I still think dc is a lot easier to make a good weld with than ac. Unfortunately due to cash flow most of us end up with ac buzz boxes ,also when you buy rod some types come in ac or dc so get the right one for your machine.

 

[Jyuma]

My first welder was a homemade dc machine and I still think dc is a lot easier to make a good weld with than ac. Unfortunately due to cash flow most of us end up with ac buzz boxes ,also when you buy rod some types come in ac or dc so get the right one for your machine.

I bought a cheap Lincoln 100 amp 120 volt MIG welder (without the gas) and using cored wire I just started welding with it. I had never before welded anything and from my experience I'd say any rank novice can pickup a MIG welder and be making reasonably strong welds in under an hour. They may not be pretty... but they will hold together.

Once you get a feel for temp range and wire feed speed (just follow the charts) and develop a good sense of how fast to lay down weld, you'll be amazed how easy it is to weld with an inexpensive MIG welder. For really big jobs or when welding material thicker that 1/4 you'll want to go to a 240 machine but for welding up to 1/4" materials you can't beat the ease of use and portability of one of these little 110v welders.
P.S. If your welds will show you should consider getting gas and ditch the cored wire.

 

[Ironmule]

I bought a cheap Lincoln 100 amp 120 volt MIG welder (without the gas) and using cored wire I just started welding with it. I had never before welded anything and from my experience I'd say any rank novice can pickup a MIG welder and be making reasonably strong welds in under an hour. They may not be pretty... but they will hold together.
Once you get a feel for temp range and wire feed speed (just follow the charts) and develop a good sense of how fast to lay down weld, you'll be amazed how easy it is to weld with an inexpensive MIG welder. For really big jobs or when welding material thicker that 1/4 you'll want to go to a 240 machine but for welding up to 1/4" materials you can't beat the ease of use and portability of one of these little 110v welders.
P.S. If your welds will show you should consider getting gas and ditch the cored wire.

I have a miller 185 wire machine and it does everything I need it to do. It welds smoother than a large machine but as previously stated, you can't rush it. Take breaks after welding for 2 nonstop minutes. You can weld thicker pieces, it just takes a few more passes. I am a pipe fitter welder by trade. Unless you are in the fabrication business, the small machine will suit you well. Just avoid the 110 volt machines. Also use the shield gas machine with 75/25 gas. Part argon and Co2. On the stick machine, dc machines are better unless tig welding aluminum. I like to use a 6010+ 1/8th rod. You can run it uphill, downhill, flat or overhead. Downhill is easier than uphill. Also it doesn't matter if it's clean or dirty with this rod. Great filler rod. The 7018 3/32 rod is a stronger rod. I like to close the gap with the 6010 rod and go over with the 7018. It is stronger. A good way to tell if the heat is correct is start flat with the 7018. Set the machine to where the rod is glowing pretty good after using about 3/4 of it. This will be a good heat setting for both rods. You may back the amps off about 10 or 15 when welding uphill. Don't try to run downhill with the 7018. The slag will outrun the metal and compromise the weld. Good luck!!

 

[mrdeere1959]

I have a miller 185 wire machine and it does everything I need it to do. It welds smoother than a large machine but as previously stated, you can't rush it. Take breaks after welding for 2 nonstop minutes. You can weld thicker pieces, it just takes a few more passes. I am a pipe fitter welder by trade. Unless you are in the fabrication business, the small machine will suit you well. Just avoid the 110 volt machines. Also use the shield gas machine with 75/25 gas. Part argon and Co2. On the stick machine, dc machines are better unless tig welding aluminum. I like to use a 6010+ 1/8th rod. You can run it uphill, downhill, flat or overhead. Downhill is easier than uphill. Also it doesn't matter if it's clean or dirty with this rod. Great filler rod. The 7018 3/32 rod is a stronger rod. I like to close the gap with the 6010 rod and go over with the 7018. It is stronger. A good way to tell if the heat is correct is start flat with the 7018. Set the machine to where the rod is glowing pretty good after using about 3/4 of it. This will be a good heat setting for both rods. You may back the amps off about 10 or 15 when welding uphill. Don't try to run downhill with the 7018. The slag will outrun the metal and compromise the weld. Good luck!!

I worked at one time in a fab shop that installed truck equipment. We used miller matic 200's with .035 wire. we would weld for hours on end with out stopping. we would weld one inch plate together for hitch boxes in dump trucks. lots of passes and gussets. I would highly recommend this machine. I think miller updated it to a new model.

 

[donald73d]

I worked at one time in a fab shop that installed truck equipment. We used miller matic 200's with .035 wire. we would weld for hours on end with out stopping. we would weld one inch plate together for hitch boxes in dump trucks. lots of passes and gussets. I would highly recommend this machine. I think miller updated it to a new model.

One other thing to consider is that the Lincoln welder you get at a Home Depot is a consumer version and the one from a welding supply is a professional version. Probably true with other brands. For example, the power dial on a Home Depot one has steps, and the professional one is continuous. I also think there is more plastic in the wire drive assembly in the Home Depot version.