The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest looking at mig welders

Ive decided to get a 110v mig; naturally I want the best quality for the money, and so far my research points to the Hobart 140 Handler. Seems like the Lincolns from Home Depot/Lowes are not the same as the welding shop models, and the Millers are so expensive. Any good feedback about the Hobart 140? This will see VERY light use.

I have a Hobart 140 Handler at the house. I use CO2/Argon mix indoors, but it will do a good job on about 14ga. or thicker with flux. I own about a dozen Miller welders in my shop and each one has a specific purpose. And cost ranged up to $10,000. But the Hobart is an excellent choice welding stuff up to about 3/8" and it is my welder of choice for welding 22 gauge sheet metal. I have burned a lot of wire with it and I would recommend it to anyone.

Thanks, anyone with that many rigs should KNOW! IT seems ike the Lincolns at HD/Lowes are not the heavy duty models sold at the welding houses, but the Hobart being a cousin to Miller seems a bit better built. Not happy that they dont come with a wheel for .023 wire, but I guess thats not too much trouble to change.....or is it? I think they are like $20 and advertised as for the .024 but the .023 will work on them- is that correct?

Look at the htp welder on www.usaweld.com . I have their tig 221H , hand held spot welder and the Mig 2400 and very happy with performance and price of all.

All you need to change from .030 to to .023 is to change tips. And you need to buy some extra tips anyway. Remember that you must reverse polarity when changing from flux to gas. I have bought several welders from these guys. http://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.c...re-welder-with-hose-and-regulator-500559 if you Google Hobart 140 you can find them cheaper. I have bought several welders from these guys.
http://www.zoro.com/?gclid=CLTZ4aX5lcoCFQiKaQodb1EIwQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

They are owned by WW Grainger. Ever so often I get an email from them when they have a one day sale on everything on their catalog. These sales are sometimes up to 30% off on everything. I wait for these sales to buy welders

The Lincoln or Miller with the dual voltages is the one I would go for. Even if all you have is 110 in your shop, if you choose someday to weld bigger things, you can just get 220 and plug it right in. The TV Shows are pushing ESAB multi purpose welders. I know nothing about them, except they supposedly do MiG and Tig in one box. My suggestion is whatever you do, do not cheap out on this purchase. I have had my Lincoln SP 175 Plus for 13 years and it works every time for anything I can imagine while friends of mine who went with whatever was on sale have been through a few of them already. You get what you pay for.

Sounds like Ken's got some direct input to your planned use. I have the Lincoln 180 from HD, and have used it for many heavy 1/4" and 3/8" steel fab projects (without gas) and with a 220 V connection and love it. I can only compare to crackerbox stick welding and it is night and day improvement. Based on Ken's input compared to those big $ machines, I think you should go with the 110v Hobart. Agree with Deve, if there is a chance you could get into bigger stuff (and working on these old trucks, you usually will) the 220 option is nice. Since you've done the work, could you list the spec differences between the HD Lincoln mig welders and the other machines. I was in my local welding shop today, and they looked pretty darn similar to me.

I will put an endorsement in on the Hobart 140..I've been using one as my main machine for 12 years.done a lot of welding with it and pushed it to its limit. It will handle .030 plus wire but not for long periods of time. Machine will overheat and with .035 wire it will blow the breaker. Most of the time I use .023-.025 wire and it does a fantastic weld.I did get anot her machine that is 220v to handle the the bigger welding jobs..also I don't use Flux wire.. I find it too finicky. I use plain wire and tri-gas mix..I use other gas but the tri-gas is my go to.

the new 140s dont come with a wheel that will handle .023 They offer an extra cost optional wheel that will run .024 and others say it will run .023.

Now does anyone have one for sale near FL?

I don't know what the 140 comes with now, but mine has a 2 groove roller like this one. http://store.cyberweld.com/hodrro0vsmso.html

I use .023-.025 wire all the time. The tips have enough wiggle room that .023 to .025 wire will work. Hobart lists a separate liner for .023-.025 and .030 wire. I use the same liner for everything

Deve, I expect Ian Johnson is getting paid decently to play up the ESAB and misses his Millers. Thr hobbiest machine on his show is lift start TIG, not a nice high frequency start. You really have to look close so you know what you are getting.

I have two Hobarts they are good home machines, would buy one again and recommend them. No, not like a Miller but not as expensive either.

I have the Eastwood 175 mig. which comes with a spool gun too. The 175 is a 240 Volt welder and is just as good as Hobart Lincoln or Miller welders plus Eastwood has a 3 year warranty on them. They also make a 135 to in 120 volt. It all comes down to one thing you must ask yourself.
1. Will it do the job.
2. Do they have foreign parts in them.
3. What kind of warranty do they have.
For my personal use I have chosen the Eastwood for this reason 3 year warranty, quality of construction and it has like all the welders mention above it has some foreign parts in them.
If you doubt in that have the so called big three open their welders up and have a look in side. They won't because they all have Foreign parts. MILLER, LINCOLN and HORBART DO! I know this is going to bring some denials among the owners L-M-H. Welder owners but that is my take. The catch phrase is oh we assemble or build here in the USA. But where are all the parts made electrical, cables etc.
Oh and one more thing on the Eastwood all you have to do is flip the roller and you go from .030 to .023,.025 wire.

Don

I have a Lincoln 175 for 6 years now ,use the daylight savings out of it probably weld 3-4 hours a week,never a problem just keeps melting steel. I plan soon to buy a larger one to do up too 1/2 in. Tired of stick welding larger Steele.

I've used the Hobart 140. It's a goog machine. It's better suited for sheet metal, 3/16 steel would be about the thickest though.

I bought a Lincoln 180 from Home Depot, I'm glad I went with a 240 Volt unit. It's night and day different(better) than a 120 Volt unit. If you're going to spend the money, I would spend the extra $100 bucks. It's well worth it.

I needed to weld some panels when I started out (hobbiest/learner mode) and spent the $99 on HF's old blue 110 box. Hated it. Learned to make it work but the fiddling around to get it to work was AWFUL.
So when I needed to do a larger project (chopped a 56 shortbed and fenders for my yota) I borrowed a friends Hobart 140. It wouldn't even turn on...
So knowing I wasn't going to justify the out lay for a 'Real' machine I grabbed the HF 170. 220v on sale and about 40' of appropriately sized electrical cord.
Now I can work on stuff in the driveway if I need to.
This one I like. It works as expected and the duty cycle 'encourages' me to stop and planish or relieve the welds as I go.

Interesting, thats the first positive comment I've read about the Harbor Freight unit.

Another vote for the Eastwood 175 .......

Don't skimp on the circuit you plug it into. My dad had a 110v Lincoln, it ran fine at his house but was always a bit troublesome at my house. I was running it off a 20a circuit. I bumped up to a 30a and it is much better, then I went from the .023 wire he always ran to .030 and it runs even smoother. (He bought an Eastwood, and gave me his Lincoln)

More on the circuit breaker...........I didnt know the welders should run the higher number. Also head the .023 wire would work best for sheet metal vs the .030. I am still looking- prefer a Hobart 140, but this Eastwood machine is starting to sound OK. George in Tallahassee

Since a 30a 110v circuit is not normal (and I did not have any of them in my shop) I just wired up an adapter off one hot lead of my 220v outlet and good to go! My dad has been using his welder mainly for sheet metal work on his 40 Chevy, thus the reason as well for him running .023. I was used to welding a bit heavier metal and using .030. What I found is that the .023 tended to get stuck at the tip a bit and then would king inside the machine between the rollers and the beginning of the liner and create a rats nest. As soon as I switched to .030, never had that issue again. Mentioned it to my dad and gave him a roll of the .030 to play with in his new welder and he found it runs smoother as well. You may need the .023 for thin sheet metal work if you can't get the .030 to work, I have not messed with that much thin stuff but will be doing so in the near future! Just my 2 cents worth!