Mig welders

Mitch//pa said:
agree with ford1 we have a 120v with gas in our shop and works great. the good ones have 100% duty cycle so make sure you check that stat out. welding a 1/4" thickness is no problem.
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Ford, Mitch! Hold on a minute! I have a "Century" and mine anyway, did not come from Harbor Freight and it says MADE IN USA across the front.
Yeah I know maybe the transformer was wound in China, We always face that possibility. It was used! It came from a Tool Rental business.The shop was closing. not liquidating old junk machines. Do tool rental shops buy cheap stuff to rent olut? . I don't know. It depends on the owner I guess . Also, how's the penetration of MIG wire on that 1/4"?
The MIG is great for tacking. No slag, you don't need a hood, just look away! But any serious welding I would do with stick and a decent low hydrogen rod, 7018 Or 6010 to "wash" the dross out of the weld. ( I know, 6010 isn't LH) Anything over 9 or 10 gauge and I would stick weld it. Terry
 
Terry said:
Ford, Mitch! Hold on a minute! I have a "Century" and mine anyway, did not come from Harbor Freight and it says MADE IN USA across the front.
Yeah I know maybe the transformer was wound in China, We always face that possibility. It was used! It came from a Tool Rental business.The shop was closing. not liquidating old junk machines. Do tool rental shops buy cheap stuff to rent olut? . I don't know. It depends on the owner I guess . Also, how's the penetration of MIG wire on that 1/4"?
The MIG is great for tacking. No slag, you don't need a hood, just look away! But any serious welding I would do with stick and a decent low hydrogen rod, 7018 Or 6010 to "wash" the dross out of the weld. ( I know, 6010 isn't LH) Anything over 9 or 10 gauge and I would stick weld it. Terry
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:D relax terry i was agreeing with the 120v / gas part of it more than i was debating the century brand. i can penetrate 1/4" steel soundly thats where the 100% duty cycle comes in at. i always wear a hood when making a spark as i found out the hard way you only get 2 eyes. plus i am not coordinated enough to hit the target without looking. whats wrong with harbor freight everything in that place is of the upmost quality. loll.
 
OK, I like what I'm reading. The hobart 185 is the older brother to the 187.

I also like the idea of the 115v so I can move it around the house. It looks like the 140 is the top of the line for 115v welders by Hobart.


Does anyone know older model numbers for the 140?
 
i have a miller 35 had it over 30 years had a century put it to the road it was junk you get what you PAY for just got a new miller it hafe the size of the old one love them millers
 
Mitch//pa said:
:D relax terry i was agreeing with the 120v / gas part of it more than i was debating the century brand. i can penetrate 1/4" steel soundly thats where the 100% duty cycle comes in at. i always wear a hood when making a spark as i found out the hard way you only get 2 eyes. plus i am not coordinated enough to hit the target without looking. whats wrong with harbor freight everything in that place is of the upmost quality. loll.
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Utmost quality ? HUH? LOL! Good ole Harbor Freight! The Candy Store! There's one in Bricktown NJ. We've bought Two things from there and each Item crashed on us. I'll never go back! I agree with you about the 110V, I'm not resticted to a 220V outlet as I am with my Linde buzzbox.
You're smart to protect your eyes. Mine are getting a little "funny" in me lately and I wonder how much the welding is responsible for. Look at the moon some night and if one side appears double, you've got a problem. I did and it does, sooo..... I've got a trip to the eye doctor coming up! I've never had to use a 100 % duty cycle yet. My father, An Electrical Engineer, explained just what a "duty Cycle" was. A 100 % duty cycle means that you be welding continously 60 minutes out of an hour with no breaks for cooling. I think the term is just hype to sell machines. I would disregard it. Hey! I'm gettng moved into East Roadfill oopps Rock hill, we'll have to have a coffee some time.
Regard, Terry
 
I have an assortment of welders I use.I have a small Lincoln wire feed,it says made proudly in the USA.But,it has Asian characters on the transformer,switches,and wire feed motor and mechanism.That is for tinwork and exhaust.I have a Linde 250 wire feed that I bought new in about 1985,that is my general purpose welder.I put a lot of 1-1/4 bucket cutting edges on with that.When you use a 44 pound spool of .050 wire in a day you have done some welding.I just bought an old Linde 160 wire feed,that will be dedicated to .023 wire,and replace the little Lincoln.Maybe I am just used to real welders,but I have never had good luck with the 110 jobs.By the time I get them dialed in I am done with the job.Somebody that has never welded before can have welds looking good in 15 minutes with the cheapie welder.I have a Lincoln SA 400 portable with a Continental engine I thought I had to have for loader buckets,I have not used it once since I bought the big wire feed.I loaned it to a friend over 15 years ago and told him if he keeps it under cover I will pick it up when I need it.I have not laid eyes on it since he hauled it away.I bought one of the first of the little suitcase mig welders when they first became available,it was nearly $500.then.Then everybody had them,they were all made in Italy with different color cases.That welder is still sold today,it is the $99.one.I bought it to do a 6 month old Rabbit diesel that was hit hard in the rear and totalled.I cut the car in half,then cut another one in half that was hit in the front and bred then together.I butt welded the whole thing,and ran it until it fell apart from rust.
 
Well it's been a few years since my paycheck depended on my welding ability! Sure MIG welders come in all sizes. I used to run onethat handled 5/32 flux core and left a 3/4 " bead. It was all automated and all that was necessary was to be able to simultaneously start the weld with the turntable. Then there were the .o30 (?)something Lindes. In my whole life I have never welded bucket teeth on an excavator. I did build short run production machine bases. And TIG weld stainless steel 14 gauge hoppers for the food and drug administration. For a few years I ran the welding dept of a machine shop. I supervised two guys under me. But it was all indoor work and you kept clean. Not like when I was fitting up steel Sh*t tanks in a little shop that really couldn't do much else. We used all stick machines. It was too long ago and never was important enough the recall what brand of welders they had.
I only had one other job that I hated as much as that one. But I had a wife and new daughter to think of. Needless to say, I got out of there as soon as possible. My welding career was concurrent with my career as a toolmaker and I gravitated in that direction. The windup of it is that I really didn't care about welding that much! A friend of mine not only makes his living at it, but, after 40 + years, still loves it, Why?
So I Moved on. Only now I'm a model A owner and I needed a welder, so I bought this Century and It does what I want. Maybe it isn't a "Real Welder" in some people's eyes, but I'm getting the job done, with out a huge up front investment. I've got a lot of spending to do and limited funds to do it with.
Terry
 
As I said,it is me not the welder,it is me that has the problems.When trying to get used to this little Lincoln I was making a mess.A man picked up the stinger and laid out a perfect bead where I had been skipping along and blowing holes.He has a Century,and alongside of mine you can't tell them apart except for the decals.To him,1/4 is heavy steel.When he tries my big welder he makes bunches of grapes and holes.I strongly suspect if I was to try any stainless,tig,or stitch welding I would be making a mess.I have been trying to find out who makes the Firepower welder.I have a welder friend who carries one in his welding truck,and runs it off his big welder(generator)when he needs to do something thin.One thing that does scare me about the little welders is you can make a perfect looking bead that is doing nothing but laying there.A local man that has built his own hot rods for the last 40+ years went to a little wire feed because they made such a clean pretty weld.He had always used stick his whole life.He welded up the frame for a little C-cab rod he was building,when he smacked the frame with a big hammer to let a crossmember drop in.The frame broke away from both the rear and front crossmembers.He had made these perfect little welds that looked as if they were tigged.They had penetrated one part of the joint and not the other.
 
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