Welder recomendations?

[Zachalanche]

I have a Lincoln SP-125 MIG Welder that I absolutely love. I will be building a roll cage soon and I am looking to upgrade to something a bit bigger. my garage is wired for 220 so I'm covered there, what should i look for in a more capable welder. suggestions/ Info is much appreciated. thank you.

 

[Ranger44]

Tim (Metalmacguyver) and a few others I know have had great experience with the Hobart 187 Handlers. They are a 240v MIG.

 

[Zachalanche]

good to know. I've found a used Lincoln Power Mig 200
for sale. anyone have experience with one of these?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

That 175+ should be more than enough for building a cage. It'll burn in 1/4"+ material without problems.

 

[Zachalanche]

I can only burn that thick with flux core. Mig it will barely do 12ga. this is for an open road race car and many sanctioning bodies require MIG or TIG. As far as I know I don't think flux core will count.

 

[The Jester Race]

We used a Lincoln MIG 255XT throughout high school. Damn nice machine, never had a problem with it, even with 120+ kids using it on a daily basis. Also had a Miller Millermatic 252, nice machine, but didn't get used quite as much.

Something to look at when buying a welder is duty cycle. The duty cycle is the amount of time in a 10 minute period that the welder can be used. Its rated in percentage, so a 60% duty cycle at 225 amps would allow you to weld for 6 minutes at 225 amps before letting it sit for 4 minutes, to avoid over heating and damaging the machine. 50% would allow you to weld 5 out of 10 minutes, 40% 4 out of 10 minutes and so on. As your amp setting goes down your duty cycle increase, so on the same machine rated at 60% at 225 amps, at 100 amps your duty cycle could be 90%-100%. So basically a high duty cycle is better. But be careful if you are buying an older machine, over time the duty cycle lowers, like how you lose horsepower in an engine over time.

For a MIG I like 80% or higher, for TIG or stick 50%-60% is fine.

Wow sounds like I know what I'm talking about, maybe I am actually learning something in school.

-Jester

 

[Zachalanche]

ooo. there's a millermatic for sal near me for 1200. looks like its a pretty sweet welder. Duty cycle is only 60% but thats way more than my current welder.

 

[The Jester Race]

60% will be fine for home use, but if its for industrial I wouldn't consider anything less the 80%. If you are going to buy a used welder open the case before you buy it and smell inside of it. If it smells like burnt wires don't buy it, it has probably been over heated.

If you have any questions, ask. Iv go 3 text books on everything you never wanted to know about welders and welding and I get to buy another one next month.

-Jester

 

[Zachalanche]

Thanks jester.
this will be home use only. and a 60% duty cycle will probably be faster than I can work anyway. I just want to make sure I get adequate penetration. as for smelling the wires. i guess all have to bring in a second nose since I no longer have a sense of smell.

 

[AKBroncoII]

that 175 lincoln will be fine. You are running too large of a mig wire. It will do much thicker than 12 guage on a single pass.

 

[bergz0]

go with a millermatic

 

[Zachalanche]

that 175 lincoln will be fine. You are running too large of a mig wire. It will do much thicker than 12 guage on a single pass.

crap i meant 125 not 175. sorry. Ill edit that above.

 

[AKBroncoII]

Gotcha, any small welder you should run the smallest wire possible. Burns in hotter. Whether it's solid or flux cored wire.

 

[NapalmMan67]

And make sure you're running the proper rated amp breaker in the circut box.

Had a friend who kept bitching about popping the breaker a lot... turns out he had a the welder wired to a 20amp breaker, and it was rated to use a 50amp. DOH!


.

 

[Zachalanche]

Im not having any problems with my current welder. but it will definitly be at its limit and then some with what I need to do. so it's time to upgrade.