Updated: how-big-a-mig

Had many excellant replies and someone had requested info. about what I would eventually settle for. Well after shopping around one thing became obvious. Either pay a small fortune for a machine that would handle any job,present or future,or settle for one that would get me by. So being the illogical igernant hillbilly that I are,I compromised!!! Let me say that I have found it true that you should go with a 'name' brand,thats been my experience,( if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all), so I chose a Lincoln weldpak 3200HD. It's a flux/mig with 25-135 A output and they advertise it to fluxweld up to 5/16 which suits my needs. It's a 120 V model and the only drawback (maybe) is that it has a low cycle or duty rate. Should be a decent machine for occasional use. Just figured that if I need more welding capability for thicker steel I would get an arc-welder later. It comes with the gas regulator for mig,hand shield,tips,wire,,,. And yes you are being too nosy to want to know how much I forked over for it:LOL: Little under $500.00 . Haven't used it yet so I hope I won't be cussin to bad. :rolleyes:

Sounds good to me. If you decide to get a bigger one in the future, put some .023 wire in it and you will have one dang good sheet metal welder. !!!!

I have a Miller 250x that welds up to half inch.Paid 900 for it.

Shevy,
I have a friend with the same machine you have, I think you will be very happy with your machine. I used my friends machine to build a trailer, worked great. Also used it to weld up some tractor spindles and various other shafts that were worn and then had them turned down to standard size, again worked great. One thing I have found with those Mig/wire feed welders is that that flux core is just a messy as stick welding, I hate it, it's just faster than stick but same spatter. Get yourself some gas and you'll be happy with the machine.
Myself I ended up buying a Hobart 135 amp and have been happy with it, many of the parts on the hobart are miller.
Weld and be happy.