Which brand of welder to you prefer?

[Spln_Hrd]

I have mostly looked at miller and hobart welders, and I am noticing the hobarts are alot cheaper for comparable units. Does hobart have the same quality as miller?

I am learning to weld on miller machines, but I sure can afford alot more welder if I go with a hobart.

 

[bpestilence]

Thermal Arc. Less expensive and smaller. My TA185TSW only weighs 42 pounds and is physically smaller than my Clarke MIG.

 

[Scrymerr]

I have a Lincoln and like it. They are the biggest name in welding and are cheap and available everywhere. I have had good experiences with Miller and Hobart as well.

 

[Winglessflight]

I'm a fan of Lincoln. Any highly popular names are pretty much sure bets. And if you learned on a certain well known brand, i'd recommend sticking with it, since you've already established a welding style with it.

 

[toofast82]

I actually just got a welder last friday off ebay. It was a clarke mig. Ive never welded before that but its been fun so far. I made my external wastegate dump tube for my first creation. Ill only ever use it for small stuff like piping or whatever so i really dont need a badass welder. I was actually surprised that it was doing some decent welds. then my friend told me the other day that they have all the replacement parts for it at the local hardware store.
My stepdad has a lincoln gas/flux mig and it works pretty nice but they are costly. millers seem top quality as well

 

[HIGHPSI4]

I have a hobart. It is the cheaper version made by miller. Good stuff.

 

[turboglenn]

I have a licensed and insured welding business, and have been welding for YEARS.... I've owned a few nice machines and i've had friends "cheap out" and buy several "off brand" units only to have them fail or not work as they are supposed to.

MY preferences are as folows from best to least favorite (they are all very nice machines)

TIG = MIller (especially the new inverter machines) long lasting and they have the longest duty cycle per amperage along with the amount of hi-frequency able to be used at 100% power.

If you dont' plan on taking your wleder with you like i have to since i offer "on site welding" search eay for a synchrowave 250.. you can usully get one with all the pedals, torch and some other accesroiesfor about 1500 bucks or so.. They even got to 310 amps, but lack the specialy features of the inverter dynasty machine ( but you really need to be a good welder to use them anyway)

I have a Sync 250 tht i have access to anytime i need and for thicks stuf (i.e. putting 2 pieces of 5/16ths AL together) the exra amperage really helps on thick aluminum since it dissipates heat so fast, it's also best no matter what the welder to pre-heat the material to about 350-400 degrees before starting to wel so your weld energy can do t's job and not just get soaked up by a large mass of aluminum. I'm actually hoping to get my own synch 250 some day. I know a guy with one and he's not trying to sell it but he said i could have it for 700 bucks if i decide i want it since he really don't use it much anymore

MIG = Hobart and Miller (they are owned by the sanme parent company and have just about all the same internals) i've had a hobart handler for 10 years and not a lick of trouble from it ever unlss you count the normal cleaning you need to do that i put off at first and had it cause a lot of "burn back"...then i clened it and it's as goos as new again. MY machine is from the begginging f when hobart and miller "joined" and it's funny that i have a hobart, but it's got half mille rparts on it right out of the box (even says miller on the parts )

Lincoln Electric TIG (they make mig, but 'm focusitn on TIG here) they make a very nice inverter machine called the "invertec 205" and it's a really nice machine butlacks a few things over it's miller counterpart the Dynasty 200dx (what i have and it's my favorite)

Of course inverter machines are more expensive than transformer machines, but offer WAY more ways to "tune" your welding arc, usually weigh about 200+ lbs less andthe miller dynasty i mentioned can run from 110/220/460 volts and 1 -3 phase and it automatically detects and asjust for he input source making it VERY versatile...this is something a transformer machine can't do...plus a ransformer based 200 amp unit weighs in at about 275 lbs.. and inverter based 200 amp machine is usually 40 - 50 lbs

remember, most welding machines are NOT ready to go right oout of the box and need to have extra stuff to get started, so talk to the sales rep about that when you go to buy.. and if you have any specific questions when it comes purchase time, feel free to hit me up

 

[Ludachris]

Miller Diversion 165 TIG. Haven't used it yet, but am looking forward to doing so next week once I get the garage wired. You can get these on ebay for about $1300:
miller diversion 165 tig, Business Industrial items on eBay.com

Sorry I keep posting links to ebay, but damn, that's just a great price for a TIG welder, especially from Miller.

 

[Boosted98gsx]

HTP welders. Tig / Mig / whatever. They make rock solid stuff.

 

[gsxtasy]

Miller Diversion 165 TIG. Haven't used it yet, but am looking forward to doing so next week once I get the garage wired. You can get these on ebay for about $1300:
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Sorry I keep posting links to ebay, but damn, that's just a great price for a TIG welder, especially from Miller.

Wrong link Chris?

 

[spoonman]

If you want to start TIG welding I suggest the Lincoln Electric Precision 225. It will cost around $1900 but is very good for beginning TIG welders. I like Miller's Dynasty series but can only use one at work, as I can not afford one myself. Spln Hrd I suggest that you try to find a LE Precision TIG welder, they are very easy to learn with and supply more amps than most welders in the Price/Performance range. Hastings has a Linweld, you could see if they have any refurbished welders for cheap.

 

[turboglenn]

The Thermal Arc 185 is anothet low cost inerter based TIG welder, great machine for what it costs and it's amp output... better than a diversion and not to much difference in price.. I don't like a few things about the diversion.

One it has a proprietary foot pedal and 2, the ground and torch leads don't have quick "DINSE" connectors, you have to dissasmeble the machine to change them

 

[spoonman]

Spln Hrd if you are really serious about getting a welder I have just purchased a 6 month old Miller Synchrowave 200 that I am willing to re-sell, I just bought it off a friend today. PM me if you are interested.

 

[UGOT8UP]

I am an ESAB man, I've had good luck with them, no failure's. Price is kinda steep though, my newest one was $4,200 for my new A/C TIG outfit.

Miller is aslo a GREAT machine!!! I have one in my shop that is about 15yr old, its the size of a bus, but it always works, in fact it is the best MIG that I have, I have a Lincon Power MIG 220 , it's a alright welder for the price, it's quirky from time to time though.

 

[Ludachris]

Sorry, yeah. I just updated it.

Who could imagine being able to buy a brand new Miller AC/DC TIG welder for under $1500? Hopefully this forces the other brands to follow suit!

miller diversion 165 tig, Business Industrial items on eBay.com

 

[SpeedAddict62]

The Thermal Arc 185 is anothet low cost inerter based TIG welder, great machine for what it costs and it's amp output... better than a diversion and not to much difference in price.. I don't like a few things about the diversion.

One it has a proprietary foot pedal and 2, the ground and torch leads don't have quick "DINSE" connectors, you have to dissasmeble the machine to change them

Out of curiosity, what do you have against the diversion? I've personally only done oxyacetylene and stick (and not much at that) so I can't comment on which machine is better than another, but in general you don't usually hear too many bad things about name brand stuff.

 

[Zmann42087]

I'm a Miller man myself. I learned to TIG on a Synchrowave 250DX and I've never looked back.

 

[Spln_Hrd]

Thanks for all the help guys. I think I'm gonna pick up a Millermatic 211 mig for now, and I will worry about a tig in about a year when I get a little better.

 

[awdrst]

Good choice for the mig. I am not sure how big your budget is but I got a chance to check out the lincoln power mig 350 and that thing was great. It does pulse on pulse mig and the end result ends up looking very close to tig but takes less than half the time. It was a really nice machine but the cost of entry is pretty expensive.

 

[turboglenn]

Out of curiosity, what do you have against the diversion? I've personally only done oxyacetylene and stick (and not much at that) so I can't comment on which machine is better than another, but in general you don't usually hear too many bad things about name brand stuff.

Well, the lack of features i'd expect from a low budget machine, but it's the 165 amps that gets me. IMO you don't buy a TIG that has any less than 200 amps, but that's just me. It took the sales rep a long time to talk me into my dynasty 200DX because i didn't want to be limited to 200 amps. FOrtunately the features (adj. frequency, wave etc...) makes up for it and allows it to perform as if it has more amps than it actually does.. I ended up getting it because it was portable and adjustable frequency is awesome, not to mention the synchrowave 250 i wanted weighs about as much as a truck and only runs on 220 ( i like the 110 to 460 single to 3 phase auto line that the dynasty has)

The other things i don't like about the diversion is that the cables and torch are not "quick disconnect" like most other TIG machines (although i love the torch) then there's the foot pedal that runs an RJ45 connector where all the rest run a round 14 pin (there's another pin option too, less pins but i forget the # )

Those are my only gripes with it. I've tried one out, they're nice for what they are and they are very well refined, great starts, good function and everything else you'd expect from a miller machine.

 

[LocknessMonster]

I bought a lincoln 3200hd mig like 2 years back, it was my first welder. I really like the machine and have done all kinds of welding with it. I did have a problem with a local welding supply when I went and bought the welding tank. They sold me an expired tank, and even worse it was a CO2 tank painted to look like a Ar and Co2 tank. I no longer purchase anything from them, and have found a new place with very helpful people. If anyone is going to buy a tank look for the year stamped on the tank, followed by a star. This means that the tank has been certified from that date and is good for 10 years after that date.

 

[logic]

HTP welders. Tig / Mig / whatever. They make rock solid stuff.

Ditto, HTP (Jeff) is good people, and I'm absolutely in love with my Invertig 201.

 

[Imback]

Lincoln then comes miller ,hobart etc etc etc