I am getting ready to buy a welder to work on my 51 cab and my 65 mustang and need some recommendations. I was considering buying a lincoln at Lowe's. They have a 140 and a 175. The 140 says it works on a 115v and welds up to 5/16" mig or flux. The 175 runs on 230v and welds up to 1/2". Not exactly sure on the numbers as i lost the paper i had them wrote on. Should i go with the 140($450) or 175($600)? Any other advise you could provide would also be appreciated.

 

I have a Hobart 135 Handler 110V and an older stick welder and I use the 135 about 95% of the time. It came with gas kit, but I've never gotten the bottle. Just use the flux wire. You can weld anything associated with the cab of a vehicle with the wire welder with few exceptions(brake pedal).

 

A 135 mig is great for auto body work in dealing with the smaller thickness gauge body panels. Your question is one of those decisions that involves " what will I be, or could be , welding the most of ? Heavy gauge steel or just up to 1/4 - 3/8 inch ?? ". The 135 is for smaller gauge 3/8 " or less , the 240 will be for the thicker stuff.



It is always nice to have the 220 volt unit and to be able to weld the heavier stuff. But my opinion is , if the metal is thicker than 3/8" then I wouldnt trust the lighter penetration of a wire welder anyway. That is when I get out the Miller ThunderBolt XL for the hot welds with good penetration..

I have the 120 volt Miller 135 mig at work that I use gas with, and weld up to 3/8 inch stock nicely,along with stainless and aluminum. I load up a 5500 watt portable generator in the P/U and go weld up stuff out in the fields. I know I cannot run a 220 volt from the gen tho. So to me , its portability VS. how often will I weld the big stuff ?. jmo

 

Right know i plan on welding only smaller stuff. Just for my information, what is the best type of welder to use on larger stuff?

 

I'm currently using a Miller-matic 135 on a 76 F250 restore and I have welded everything I want to weld with zero problems, even a piece of frame. I teach welding at a community college, so I have access to larger machines when I need to weld thicker. A 250 amp mig machine will do anything you may encounter, even 1/2 inch or more with multi-pass. Just remember to weld as hot as you can and still maintain control of the weld puddle. IMO, the 140 will do anything automotive body, and some frame work without any problems. If you're only doing the light stuff, save your money for the argon/CO2 gas and cylinder so you can weld with gas. Works much better for body work. You can always put the self-shielding flux-cored wire on if you need to and it works best for outdoor welding. Even a light breeze will blow your shielding gas away and cause porosity in the weld. I helped my best friend pick out a welder (Hobart) and he and his 16 year old are welding everything in sight. They're having a ball.

Enjoy!

I drive a Ford so I can go everywhere my Tonka could.

 

Thanks for the reply's all. I am going to purchase the Lincoln 140 from lowe's. It comes with the gas regulator and seems to be a pretty good price and from your comments it should be able to handle anything i may tackle within the next few years. If you have anymore information or links to information that you think will help me let me know.

 

Lincoln is a good welder. I bought a Hobart Handler 140 that uses a regular outlet. I was going to buy a Miller but Miller now makes Hobart and for the price difference I liked the Hobart. Mine enen came with a Miller trigger. I use the gas and have welded quite a bit on my 67 Fairlane and it works great. I have never welded before and just taught myself and I am happy that the Hobart is very user friendly.. Got mine at Farm and fleet. My buddy has a Lincoln and likes it.

 

I just wanted to add one thing here. Don't forget about your local welding supply store! The people there are usually very knowledgeable and can offer much more support and assistance than the guys at the building supply stores. You have to go there anyway for the gas and they can usually give you better quality welding wire at a comparable price. They may be a few dollars more on the welder, but the added support is probably worth it.

JD

 

I don't really have a local welding supply that is quality. I live in a small town and the only local place that sells any welding supplies just sold to another guy who appears to not really know anything(it was also where i bought auto parts).

 

mfraley65,

I understand. I used to be in that business before I started teaching and we had what we called our "resellers". It might be an auto parts store, machine shop, or even a gas station. They would stock our cylinders and a few supplies to help out the guys in the smaller communities away from our store. Good luck with the restorations.

 

You cannot go wrong with Lincoln, or Miller. Hobart is another good choice but typically retailers that sell those units want more for the same features as Lincoln and Miller.

I have both the Lincoln 170T (240V) and the 135T (120V), and both are excellent quality units. Never had a problem with either of them. The 120V unit cannot weld really thick plate... you can easily do 1/8" in one pass with flux-core wire or regular wire with shielding gas. If you want to do 1/4" plate you'll have to lay two beads, one on top of the other, or one on each side. Or, in my case I use the bigger 170T welder.

Once you get your welder, you're going to find that you will be looking for broken metal things around your property to fix, just because you can.

I've had mine for more than a decade, and still suffer from this. A few months ago, a hinge for the back door broke (it's steel), so I removed it, beveled where it tore, and re-welded it then redrilled the holes.

Why do this instead of buying a new $3 hinge? Because I can

 

Yeah, i'm sure i will be fixing alot of stuff once i get it here in a few days(would have already had it but something came up). What actually lead me to consider getting one is that i have tons of stuff that needs welding laying around here. Cab, Doors for my 51, my 65 mustang. This and the fact that i had my mustang welded at a mustang shop, had viewed some of there work that looked good, and then they messed up on one of the truck drop offs and i will have to replace it. To bad i didn't notice this area when i picked it up but the rest looks great. Then, since i had no welder and had not really done any welding i tried to get some local shops that i could trust to do the work. They kept saying they could do it next week, go back next week and they say the same thing. A friend of mine who does alot of welding, and does a heck of a job, said he would do it and can never get the time as between his mustangs and 48 and 59 ford trucks and his wrecker service he is alway busy. I came to the conclusion that it was time to learn to weld. I love working on cars and trucks and feel that it has become a necessary skill. Also, another major factor is my wife. She wants me to learn to help conserve the money it costs to have someone else do the work and most importantly so i can build her the 23 t-bucket she has been asking for. i thought about taking some classes at the local community college but cannot work it around my college classes.

 

Guys, keep in mind that Chevy makes the Corvette and the Cavalier...but that doesn't mean that a Cavalier is as good as a Corvette.

That said, the Hobart is really a good bang for the buck...but most don't have infinite amperage control...only about 4 heat settings.

Personally, I'd not want to use any type of 120V welding machine on material over 1/4" thick. There's a difference in welding a bead ON TOP of a piece of steel and actually being able to melt into it deep enough to get good strength.

 

I have a hobart 140.I love it.Just got done putting corners on an s10,and welding up the wheel arch on my f150.The smaller welders are a ton better on sheet metal.The 220 unts don't seem to like to go that low.Buy a cheap buzzer for thicker stuff.Think about what size c25 tank you are going to get.I got a 23 cf,and have to go have it filled after about an hour of screwing around.

 

I agree with Engloid. Don't weld anything over 3/16" thick with any 110v welder. WIth mig, you can down a very nice looking bead with little or no penetration. Stacking up beads really does not improve the penatration either. You must have adequate heat input to penetrate and it just aint there with a 110v.
The Miller and Hobart are manufactured in the same plant but the Miller does give infinate voltage control where the Hobart does not. Both are good machines but the Miller just gives a little better control over the arc. TMO