Weld Pak 180 HD

I am in the market for a mig welder to use on personal projects. I do have 220 in my shop, so thought I would go with a 220 rig. It would be used primarily for sheet metal and automotive frame work. I am a novice welder so I want something easy to use, learn and practice with. These are made by Lincoln so the quality should be good. Most of the reviews I have read are positive nad the price seems good. They have a 30% duty cycle which should be adequate for my use. Would love to know experience and thoughts from this respected group.

Pat

I have a Lincoln now, Pat. I like fairly well, my only complaint is the amperage control,,it goes up in big steps with no fine tuning between heat ranges... I'll be going back to a Miller when I get a new one. But, I've had this one for 10 years or so with absolutely no problems, so I'll say the Lincolns are a very well built unit and should last forever in a home shop!

For the money I like my Hobart Handler 187 http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...8799_200328799 Hobart and Miller share a common parent company, and I have had good results with my Hobart.

I've had both Lincoln and Miller, both work well, are durable, and easy to service and supply. My comments would mirror Dave's; the Miller has a slightly better "feel", user friendliness..........though the Lincoln is not objectionable........it's just a slight preference thing.

You might want to wait to pull the trigger til next week when you're at SEMA. Both companies usually have large displays and will likely have promotional sales going, they have in the past. You might be able t swing an even better deal there.

I run ESAB migmaster series 250Amp machine. Been using it for 13 years with no problems. Have no complaints to performance of machine.

Lincoln, Miller, and Hobart are all good, Run 75/25 gas and they will all weld like a dream. The Hobart 187 is spool gun ready also and it is a plug in and go for just 200 dollars more and you are welding aluminum.
cyber weld has a free shipping deal going now on the net.

correction change hobart to miller on my last post

I have 2 Millers 251's and a Lincoln 180 WeldPac in my shop and dollar for dollar the Lincoln is the best for the buck!...........But remember it's limits, multiple passes have to be made in thicker material,it is great for hard to get at tight places compared to the Millers larger gun,but also comes with a shorter 10ft,so be perpared to buy a good quality 220 volt extension cord. Also the 220 volt model is the only way to go, much more steadier with constant power. And If i might add, if you only use this welder occasionly,install a wire wipe system between the the wire and the feed rollers, to insure the wire is only fed clean wire,(cheap to buy @ about $10.00). Brian

This is one of those Chevy vs Ford type discussions...........some people are going to love Lincoln and some are going to love their Millers, or Hobarts. Personally, we love Miller equipment. We have a Miller 210 Mig and a Synchrowave 200 Tig. The Tig is basically unused much yet, but the Mig has welded literally miles and miles of flawless welds for the past 6 or more years. It gets ridden hard and put away wet a lot.

We just ran into Millers booth at the Tampa Street Rod Nats and stopped in to tell them how much we like their stuff, and also to order a trigger switch for the Mig torch, that had gotten broken (maybe from dropping or whatever). They asked for our address and offered to send a new switch at no charge, even though we told them the unit was over 6 years old. :eek: We got the new switch last week, as promised.

So, blue gets our vote for sure. :D

Don

If I was in the market for a MIG machine (when are any of us NOT in the market for something or another?) I would favor Miller. That said, I just don't do MIG very well, not enough practice, I suppose; I do pretty well with gas, stick, and TIG. But one thing Miller has in some of their smaller machines, under 250A, that is great for a novice, I think, is their "Autoset" feature - just dial in your metal and thickness, and the machine does the hard work of figuring out the settings for wire feed and amperage; as you learn, you can start fine tuning to your own preferences. In addition, the manual adjustments are finer, as has already been noted. As to brand, all of the major name brands seem to be quite durable, and very similar in layout and such, and I doubt you would miss much of anything with one over the other. I would stay away from the Harbor Freight stuff, though; lots of folks say it is pretty good, but I have my reservations - personal preference, I guess.

Thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions and advice. Bob you have read my mind, I plan to visit their booths at the SEMA show for sure, see you there next week! Does Miller have a discount line like Lincoln's Weld Pak?

Pat

Pat I've been using a 110 version of the Hobart for a year now. More than enough umph for sheet metal, but the cycle times aren't as good. If you have 220, makes sense to go that route. Have heard excellent stuff about both Miller and Lincoln, Don here recommended the Hobart a while back for the price and usage I was looking for, and I have to say it has done everything I have needed it for, for a great price.:D

a miller mig has the finer adjustment if you are welding the same thing over and over, however a lincoln idealarc tig is the smoothest tig, i welded with a newer miller 350 dx tig runnerfor two years, it is a great welder , the old lincoln idealarc weld the best, get an old gray haired guy to show you how to make it sing

Pat, I would suggest you check out pricing from Cyberweld.com. We have bought a mig, tig, and plasma cutter from them and they are SUPER to deal with and have very low prices. Sometimes if you mention their deal to your local dealer he will match prices, but not always.

Don

I have a weld-pak, I cant remeber the model but itys the small 110v, I bought it and used it at my parents about 10yrs ago during my ill-advised venture into VWs...:mad:
BUt the lil unit is very soild, still looks new, the only problem I had was getting penetration with the crappy flux-core wire..but after 10 years now of doing heavy collision work and that experienceI can say my problem is the unit IS small for anything more than sheetmetal and as soon as I get a shop of my own I will be swapping it over to the bottle and 86ing the flux!
As long as you pay attention to the duty cycles and reccomended usage, the units are fine !
Now at work we use nothing but millers..every shop I ahve ever been in but one had em and had nothing bad to say about em! If i buy another one( upgrade?) It will Be Blue..