I talked to a few electrical engineers from Lincoln, those mini machines are not made in their Ohio plant, they are made in Italy (as I remember) but not in the US. Even their crackerboxes have aluminum windings. These guys said that the new transformer designs are more efficient and do not need to use copper. Can't speak for the others, but I think that hobarts machine is made over yonder also. You'd be better off in the long run to buy at lease a 215 amp machine, that is in the heavy homeowner category if you are a serious hobbyist.
