Best welder

[farmer boy]

Upon the advice of scotc I"ve decided to ask this question. In your opinion what is the best type of MIG welder. 1 or 3 phase? how many amps? Lets say it"s for a farm shop/small fab shop.
Personally I have a MM200 and love it and use a Kemppi 4500SW or something and love that thing. European welder, don"t think it"s even available over here. Just want a good debate about the ins and outs of each brand, etc.

 

[Anonymous-0]

In the frame plant, everything was Miller equipment, from the units on the floor to the portable propane-powered Miller Bobcat units in the rework area.

At the tech school where the palnt sent us for our 5-day weld school before starting on the plant floor, they were either Miller or Esab units. I used an Esab that was pretty sweet...and No, I don't recall the model number.

 

[Anonymous-0]

A small farm or fab shop won't have 3 phase power. 3 phase has a smoother arc than single phase. Inverter based machines can run on single or 3 phase but don't run MIG as nice as a top end 3 phase conventional machine. Nicest MIG machine I've used was a Miller Dimension 452 dual process MIG and stick with presetable wire voltage and digital meters. Wire feeder was a Miller series 60. Machine had enough amps and duty cycle to also burn flux-core. A set up like like this is out of most farmers budget.

 

[jd plowboy]

we just use a mig welder around the farm and to weld brackets and things on pulling tractors and we have a snapon 250 mig welder that is 240 volts and it welds like a dream. we got it at a steal and it was barely used.

 

[jd plowboy]

we just use a mig welder around the farm and to weld brackets and things on pulling tractors and we have a snapon 250 mig welder that is 240 volts and it welds like a dream. we got it at a steal and it was barely used.

 

[Puddles]

The only 3-phase Mig welders I ever used, (that I can remember) were old beat up Aircos. This was back in the 1970's. They had seen better days, but they had a very nice arc. We ran 1/16-inch Mig, and dual shield in them all day everyday. It was not unusual at all to run 50-pounds of wire in an 8-hour shift. They looked something like this one, but orange in color.

Lincoln, Miller, and ESAB all make great machines. But they have all made lemons as well. Just like Ford, Chevy, and Dodge. You need to pick the model that suits your needs then post back to see if anyone has heard of any problems with that particular model. :wink:

 

[Anonymous-0]

There are a lot of good MIG machines out there. Miller made a lot of machines for Airco but I think Airco did design and possibly build some of their own machines. Hobart had good MIG machines as well when they were a seperate entity. Some of the Esab machines are rebadged Linde and Airco machines. Westinghouse made MIG machines and some of them were made for Airco too .

I agree that it's better to ask about a specific model of machine to get feedback whether it should be considered or not. There's too many variables to consider.

 

[farmer boy]

Thsi post was more to get a debate going and why you like this brand or that brand, since most are brand loyal it seems. I have only ever used Miller 200 and 252, Lincoln sp175? and 255, and the Kemppi. The 252 and 200 were/are both great. I hated that little 175, and wasn"t thrilled with the 255. It was still a good machine, but I liked the 252 and 200 more. The Kemppi is a 3 phase and smooth as anything. Can weld with it all day and never be sick of it.

 

[Puddles]

Yeah there is no substitute for 3-phase power. Even engine drives that put out 3-phase power are ten steps ahead or other engine drives. If I had 3-phase power in my shop, I wouldn't ever consider a single phase machine!

I'm not really brand loyal, but I know what I want in a welder. I like Lincoln for engine drives, pretty much Miller for shop machines, but I have a sweet little Linde Mig machine. Only reason I bought the Linde is because I spent almost a year running one on a job. I got it for $300.00 at an auction, I don't think anybody there really knew what it was. Linde, L-Tec, and ESAB are very under valued machines by American weldors, unless they run one, then its a different story! :lol:

 

[JDyer]

I have had a Miller 212 in 220 volt single phase and have ran it for a few years, absolutely love it, just finished a steel 8' x 9' flatbed for my new 1 ton. Ran about 10 lbs of wire through it. My 14 year old son can make a decent weld with it. The price was reasonable through my local welding supply house. First Miller I've ever bought. Johnny

 

[scotc]

My boss has 3 phase power, and his place is 13 miles from town, 10 up a dirt road.

 

[farmer boy]

I don"t think that"s true. I could get 3 phase power if they ran it a 1/2 mile. I"m 2 miles from a small village that has 3 phase for the arena and 13 miles from a real "town"(pop of 1000+)

 

[Jerome Heike]

I don't know about your area, but here in Wisconsin it will cost me $7000 just to bring the line in to the shop and the 3 phase line is only 1/2 mile away. Then you have to add the big panel and wiring.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Your boss probably has a lot more money to pay for the 3 phase hook up too. Puddles has a better equipped shop that most commercial shops and I'm sure he'd have 3 phase if it wasn't so expensive to put in. You can buy good used 3 phase machines for dirt cheap compared to good used single phase machines.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I use the Lincoln 175 mig and has worked great for my home projects. I use it for 16 ga. sheetmetal to 1/4' mild steel for most of my stuff with good results.

 

[farmer boy]

I"m not saying it would be cheap, but if you wanted to facricate or do any continous welding, few 1 phase machines have a good enough duty cycle for that. 15000 for 3 phase power is only a year worth of rent in a shop equipped with it.

 

[buickanddeere]

A welder with just a transformer inside and at most a set of diodes to make DC . It's not a three phase welder even though it's connected to 208,380,416,480 or 600.
It's only using two of the three phases.
Take a look inside if you don't believe me. Many people have walked past deals on welders thinking their single phase service wouldn't do.
As many more people have rigged a phase converter to supply a three phase to a welder that only used two of the three phases.
Now if it's a high tech inverter welder. It may use all three three phases depending on the design.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I don't think a lot of people know much about Linde. Linde was one of the first (after Airco in 1948) in MIG welding and Linde developed(heli-arc)TIG welding even earlier. They were never very big on stick welders but were on wire feed machines and pioneers in Plasma. Esab still sells basically the same MIG, TIG and large plasma machines as Linde or L-Tec branded machines. They have also developed their own machines as well. Linde was a division of Union Carbide so they had the resources behind them. A Linde MIG machine with inductance control takes a back seat to no one.

People that are dyed in the wool brand loyal are missing out. It depends on each specific machine to determine which make is the best in it's class.

 

[farmer boy]

I really don"t know what this has to do with what I"m talking about. 3 phase are flat out nicer to use. Regardless of what they do to make it that way. Smoother and a more stable arc(in most cases). Now, why would they only use 2 phases? Is 240 volt not in a sense 2 phase? Where"s the difference in the welders?

 

[Anonymous-0]

2 phase is an outdated early system where the phases are 90 degrees apart. The only way to wire a two phase motor now is through a scott connection. I probably barely understood this back in school but in very old industrial areas it may still be found. [Botany Village ,Clifton , N.J.}. Today two hot phases are refered to as two pole not two phase. The original generators at Niagra Falls were two phase. Three phase welders are nice only if you have a three phase service in the building.

 

[fort67]

had severall welders over the years. ended up with a millermatic 185. good machine and reliable. if i weld 1/2" or more i break out the stick.
i"m no professional but weld everyday and we have an old cp200 & 300 (miller) 3 phase at work. I can weld 18ga. galv. pipe into gates. it"s as smooth as silk w/ the 3 phase power.
i"m welding it w/.035 and a huge 750amp gun.
it welds smoother than my 185.