190-210amp mig or wire feeder

[Freestyle72]

Hi guys looking for some education on this. I was looking at getting a mig welder to compliment my tig to do some automotive work as tig is not great for replacing large body panels etc.

I was considering the Lincoln Weld Pak 180HD, Hobart Handler 187 or 210 and the Miller 211 (although I feel its kind of pricy).

I am not looking to do any award winning work, just weld some different floor pans in cars, rust repair, fill and grind down some holes, tacking and some custom motor and transmission mounts etc. Probably looking at max thickness of 1/4" to weld.

Now I am most tempted to get the Lincoln 180 for $500. I think it will do what I need it to do, but I am worried I'll be left wanting more, or it will get too beat up doing long runs of weld.

My second question is, are there any voltage sensing wire feeder set ups that are in the $500-$800 range that I can just hook up to my Thermal Arc 300 GTSW? That way I can utilize one machine with all the fancy features etc, good power etc? Or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated gents.

EDIT: Also would not be opposed to a Thermal Arc Fabricator 180i.. seems to be in the price range with excellent value.

[Ron Padilla]

you might want to ad esab to the list they make 2 small mig welders that work very well off of a gen se,t they are the esab cady mig,the one I have is the 200i love the way it handles and the there is the 160i as well.

Ron

[DSW]

A VS feeder on a CC machine like you have, won't allow you to do thin material. VS feeders in short arc with solid wire run very poorly off a CC power source. If you needed to weld heavy steel, say 3/8" + with large FC wire ( .045+) in spray, then maybe it might be an option, but from your description it will not do what you want.

A stand alone mig or a feeder with a CV power source is what you want to be looking at.

[Freestyle72]

The lincoln 180 I can get for $500 brand new all in. The rest will cost around $800-$1000+tax.

Do you think the 180 will do what I need and get a long for my occasional project use? I don't mind springing for quality, but for the money in it what do you guys think of the value?

[Broccoli1]

Originally Posted by Freestyle72

The lincoln 180 I can get for $500 brand new all in. The rest will cost around $800-$1000+tax.

Do you think the 180 will do what I need and get a long for my occasional project use? I don't mind springing for quality, but for the money in it what do you guys think of the value?

For what you've described in usage the 180HD will work just fine.

$500.00 OTD is a good price.

yer gonna need to spend another $150-200 for a jug of shielding gas

[soutthpaw]

I would be sure to get a machine that has a variable rather than tapped voltage setting if you are going to be doing lots of sheet metal. The ESAB 250 I owned had a really soft and smooth arc. your should really see if you can demo a few brands/ machines/

[Dan]

Originally Posted by soutthpaw

I would be sure to get a machine that has a variable rather than tapped voltage setting if you are going to be doing lots of sheet metal. The ESAB 250 I owned had a really soft and smooth arc. your should really see if you can demo a few brands/ machines/

Considering the ESAB 250 is a tapped transformer unit, your post doesn't make sense to me. The Migmaster 250 is one of the best light ga sheet metal units that I've ever ran

[Dan]

If your wanting to do 1/4" steel with a solid wire, I'd skip on the 180 Lincoln and go with one of the other units you listed. The reason being, the 180 Lincoln units, are a little lean on top end power for critical 1/4" applications with solid wire.

The Handler 190 (replaced 187) can be purchased from online dealers for around $700. It offers a little more top end punch (power) then the Lincoln 180's.

The Fab181i looks like it offers even more top end power then the Handler 190. The draw back to this unit could be time consumed learning to dial the unit in properly.

For motor mounts made of out 1/4", I'd probably go with a Handler 210 MVP or Millermatic 211 as my smallest machine. Since I have more powerful machines available to me though, I'd actually use my 230 or 250 in spray transfer mode with C10 shielding gas.

[Joshfromsaltlake]

The weld-pak 180 is a decent machine and should work well for auto-body work.

.....tacking and some custom motor and transmission mounts etc......

Unlike cosmetic body work, welding engine and tranny mounts is a job that should be left to professionals. Ones who have lots of experience welding the same. That's a 100% safety critical area. By comparison, failed welds on body panels aren't going to result in random chunks of metal being splattered all over the road.

Probably looking at max thickness of 1/4" to weld.

My personal opinion (and some on this forum may disagree w/me) is that you shouldn't use solid wire MIG to weld anything thicker than 1/8" or 3mm. If you want to weld 3/16" or 1/4" I recommend buying some .035" gas-shieded E71T-1 flux core wire.

Although solid wire CAN be used for thick materials that requires the use the high-current spray transfer mode. And that requires heavy-duty power supplies.

Originally Posted by soutthpaw

I would be sure to get a machine that has a variable rather than tapped voltage setting if you are going to be doing lots of sheet metal. The ESAB 250 I owned had a really soft and smooth arc. your should really see if you can demo a few brands/ machines/

When welding thin automotive sheet metal, using a low-energy shield gas also makes a big difference when it comes to getting a smooth arc.

I recommend either Ar/1%Oxygen or Ar/10-15%CO2. (The more common, lower-cost, Ar/25%CO2 or 100%CO2 tend to make burn-through a lot more likely. 100%CO2 is just nasty. Nobody likes using that for MIG )

Ar/1%O2 gives you a wider "window" of parameters where you can get stable short-circuit transfer. That makes it a lot easier to fine-tune the heat level based on the thickness of the metal you're welding.

It's also helpful to use .030" wire for thin sheet metal work since thinner wire will draw less current which makes the weld easier to control.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Joshfromsaltlake

It's also helpful to use .030" wire for thin sheet metal work since thinner wire will draw less current which makes the weld easier to control.

Dropping down to an .023 wire works even better yet for thin ga sheet metal. Set up with an .023 solid wire and C25 shielding gas the Lincoln 180, Handler 187/190, and Handler 210 MVP all produce a non-agressive low end arc that I've seen very good performance from on sheet metal as thin as 22 ga. I've never ran a 211 or 181i so I have no idea how good the low end on them is.

[Freestyle72]

Originally Posted by Joshfromsaltlake

The weld-pak 180 is a decent machine and should work well for auto-body work.



Unlike cosmetic body work, welding engine and tranny mounts is a job that should be left to professionals. Ones who have lots of experience welding the same. That's a 100% safety critical area. By comparison, failed welds on body panels aren't going to result in random chunks of metal being splattered all over the road

Thanks for the advice on the welders, I would be pretty much using it tack the motor mounts and pull them to tig weld.

The mig will primarily be for car body panels etc and for filling.

Anything suspect would be taken to a professional, but you don't become a professional without practice right? Gotta start somewhere.

[Freestyle72]

I ended up grabbing this off of craigslist for $350 brand new. Cheap enough to risk being under sized or "not as nice". If I find the need to upgrade down the road I'll post up later what and why.

[hammer0419]

Nice deal. If you decide you need more, you could probally get your $350 back towards a bigger one.