I got it down to 2 welders.....
1) Hobart 140 with cart for 485.00
2) Miller 135 no cart but with Infinite voltage control with wire feed speed tracking for 542.00

I want to weld body panels with the welder I buy. Is Millers Infinite voltage control with wire feed speed tracking worth the extra money? The Hobart does not have that feature but comes with a free cart.. Both come with everything needed for gas hook up... I am an amature and will have to practice alot under the supervision of a friend before I attempt my first panel... Just want some opinions for the best of the 2 welders for a beginner...

Thanks alot

 

Fair, go with the Miller. When your fine tuned it becomes a joy to weld and the quality of weld will make you proud. Step controls will be "too hot/too cold", frustration time ("damn i should of got that other welder"). Done venting, Carl.......=o&o>......

 

Wow free cart, you can't weld any better with a cart. With the Miller welder make yourself a custom cart with features you like best, look at at other carts for ideas. Your talking what, 10-15% price difference (50-65 dollars), half tank of gas for the truck, a dinner for two? Do yourself a favor when you get a gas bottle, buy vs lease and get the largest bottle in Cu/Ft so it lasts longer. Little bottles will cost more in the long run on refills. Sorry i was brain dead on the above post and didn't include this answer. Don't take it wrong that i'm talking "get the biggest most expensive welder money is not a problem
as it's your money reply". I went thru three Mig welders before i got the Miller 251 w/30A spoolgun, first time buy on a 350 Miller Synchrowave 350 Tig fully
loaded (pulser,spot, water cooled torch, on and on). Hope this helps. Carl
......=o&o>....

 

The infinate and the wire speed on that machine are a pain in the rear especially for a newbie. The Hobart has it too but with the stepped V settings it actually works. It is a feature Miller should get rid of on that machine. This site http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/ is both a Hobart/Miller site and there are some qualified experts on that machine, they dont like it. The taps on the Hobart work well. The Lincoln has infinate but they didnt include the tracking, it works much better. When you change a V setting with it it auto adjusts the wire speed to a certain extent but it really takes 2 adjustments to get it dialed in. My neighbor has a MM and I have an SP, its not much of a real problem for either of us so much as we both have hundreds if not thousands of hours of feeder experience, but my Lincoln is way easily tuneable. Ask on the Hobart site, some guys seem to like the MM fine but a couple with some real feeder expertise dont care for it. I do not think the steps will be a problem on a Hobart, heat is a function of wire speed not voltage. The 140 has an excellent reputation for light sheetmetal.

 

I don't know anything about the Miller's Infinit volt control, seems like it could be handy, but at the same time a pain. On the whole cart ordeal, I made my own as soon as I got my welder. It ended up costing me about 35-40 bucks I wanna say, including wheels. However, if you are a beginer welder, I would go with the Hobart, since you only have 4 settings to deal with as oppsoed to infinite.

 

I don't think that I have EVER heard someone say "I should have bought the cheap one", Buy it once and be happy with it!! Greg

 

I appreciate all the replies and I hate to say it I am still undecided but will just pick one here shortly. Been battling this decision for a couple months now.

thanks

 

The premium ones are all good machines, its prefrence as much as anything. You will find the Hobart eaier to dial the arc in with though. Nick kind of hit it on the head. There is nothing inherantly wrong with infinate like Lincoln has but it doesnt work so well with the feed tracking like the Miller, actually it does work well enough, just difficult to dial in. My little one has taps and I like it way better than the infinate on my big one. With no meters its hard to dial in the same every time when making adjustments. With the small one its pick a tap for the tickness, set the wire speed in the ball park and if I want to tune a little just tune the speed a little. With the tracking on the Miller everytime you make one adjustment it effects the other and it needs it tuned. Fair, did you check on the site I posted?

 

I have the Chicago Electric 131/2 from Harbor Freight. It has both gas an flux support. I used it for 3 years with flux only, thinking (not too much it turns out) that gas would be expensive to add. No problems really, except the spatter from flux is a mess.

Added the gas support this year, all it took was a regulator and a bottle.
and MAN what a difference!!.. This has 4 heat settings, and adjustable feed rates. Lowest heat is 25amps. and I wish it were a little lower.
But for $200, it has been a nice workhorse.

I don't use it once a month on average, but it does almost everything I want.
I used it to tack all the chassis mods in pace on my 55 F100, but then trailered the chassis to a professional to have it finish welded. I know my limits.

Now I want to build a set of headers for my truck, and I really want a TIG welder, but this is twice having someone else build the headers.

Sam

 

The heat setting is the wire speed, that is the amp setting. The other ****, no matter how they have it labled is the voltage or arc length setting. If you want less heat turn the wire speed down. There is only so low you can go or the voltage becomes too hi.

 

I officially have a welder my wife got tired of me going back and forth about getting one or what to get. She went out and bought me the Hobart 140 so my decision was made for me... I have only one complaint so far and that is the cart did not have instructions , it took me an hour to assemble it...LOL I have not tried or even took the welder all the way out of the box yet but will as soon as I figure out how everything hooks up... Pretty scary huh.. Well thanks again all and
Merry Christmas

 

You will like the 140, your wife did a good job. Its a premium machine designed just for your type of use and there are a couple things that were upgraded from the previous 135 model. A good circuit to run it from is vital, I prefer a dedicated one when I can.

 

Well, I'm gonna try this TIG welder 5-130 amps in TIG mode.

Sam

 

Get the Miller and build a cart for the practice.

 

Get the Miller. I can do MIG, TIG, and submerged arc. Learned to do it so I could run a shop building austinetic Stainless Steel expansion joints. Didn't feel like I could be responsible to run the show and get smoke blown up my skirts by a welder who knew what I didn't. You will need the Miller to do it once and right. More than worth the money.
Tex