MIG for the house

[cajun1le]

I'm thinking about picking up a MIG machine for the house and was wondering if any of you can share on which unit you went with. At the shop, I use a Millermatic 200 and a Syncrowave 250 DX with the cool mate 3 for all my welding needs. As I was checking out Miller's current offerings in the single phase 240v range, I came across the Millermatic 190. Have any of you used this machine? If so, how do you like it? Also, if your not a Miller fan, which machine are you using instead?

JV

[Zslash28]

Hobart 230 (iirc) handler is what I have. Love it. Have welded up to 1/4 inch. Hobby use, but has seen a lot patch panel use.

[blake-b]

Hobart is now owned by Miller. They share a lot of parts but with Miller being the flagship brand it gets metal in some places the Hobarts get plastic. I have a Hobart 210MVP (uses 110 or 220) and love it.

Here is another place I'd look into:
USAWeld

Their welders are made in Italy (I think) and they have layaway and financing. I bought one of their replacement handles for my 210MVP after my wife knocked my Hobart over and cracked the plastic on it. It's a little more ergonomically shaped and I like it better.

If you need miller parts (or Hobart) go, this is where Miller will refer you:
http://www.miller4less.com/

You just need to know the part number so you have to get out the owner's manual and look them up. That is where I figured out how many parts Miller and Hobart use in common.


ETA: Wife is now banned from garage.

[Irishmic]

millermatic 211... I think that's the model I have at the shop....can bring it home and plug it in next to the toaster or 220 for the 3/8 stuff

[Irishmic]

And I love it !!!!

[blake-b]

I was looking at a Millermatic 211 autoset when I bought the 210MVP. Almost same machine without the autoset. Obviously the Miller was higher priced and I couldn't justify the difference to myself.

[ToolFan66]

That 190 is a very nice machine. We have nothing but Miller products in our shop..

[cajun1le]

Thanks everyone for the informative responses.

Blake, I was just comparing the hobart 210mvp with the millermatic 211. They seem to be pretty close spec wise, was pricing the only determination?

Zslash28, with that bad boy I can weld anything, spray transfer and all. Unfortunately, that one might be too big.

Irishmic, initially I passed that one up because the spec sheet PDF wasn't specific on what the input load was going to be. It wasn't until I looked over the owners manual and found out that this one would work out pretty good. Dimensions wise, its not that much bigger than the 190 and I can use my Tweco gun on it if I want to.

ToolFan66, the initial thing I liked about the 190 was the duty cycle rate compared to the other machines. Is the machine fairly consistent when welding long beads?

And this is for everyone, are you using solid wire or flux core? I've always used solid core wire with 75/25(AR/CO2), Argon, CO2 and 98/2(AR/O2). How does the welds come out when using flux core?

[ToolFan66]

Yes..

[blake-b]

Yes, that was the only thing that kept me from getting the Miller. I found a local farm store that priced matched an online site. Otherwise, I was going to find a Miller.

The autoset feature didn't seem to be worth the price difference after the price match. Having no experience as a welder, I shoulda went for the Miller solely for shortening the learning curve via the machine. However, its too late and I'm getting better at welding.

So far, my solid core wiring is better than my flux core welding... but again I am barely a novice welder