The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Miller 180 mig?

I finally did what I shoulda did in the first place. I went to the welding supply place where I buy my oxy/acet and I know the kid there. He recommended a Millermatic 180. It only draws about 22 amps but welds 24 ga to 5/16 mild steel. Anyone have an experience with this or similar one?

One of the best rigs on the market IMO,, the ones I have used are the older 175's, but should be the same. Brian

I'm not familliar with that model, but I swear by Miller. I have a Miller Regency 250 with the S-22A wire feed attatchment and I love it!

That's the exact model that I was looking at. Let me know how that works out for you.

John

Can't go wrong with a Miller and that model will handle just about any task you might encounter around the home/auto restoration/fabricating shop. I would set it up for shielding gas right away, in other words buy a bottle when you buy the welder.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

John,
I'm itching to pull the trigger so you never know. I might beat you.
Denny, My guy explained that you can use it without the gas switching the polarity and using rosin flux wire. However, what he explained that I hadn't realized is that it starts and stops without sticking, the wire never gets welded to the tip like when I mig welded aluminum many moons ago, and makes squeaky clean welds with no splatter and no slag (if you use the bottle.)
I found it on-line for $739 and doubt he can even match that. But then I'll have to go to him and buy a bottle, confessing that I bought the machine somewheres else.

orchidskip,

If he can come even close to your on-line price, consider buying locally. He has already shared knowledge with you, and who knows what lies down the road. Tech support for Miller might be in Bombay...your local guy would probably make a house call for a 6 pack of Barley Pops. It isn't all about price.

Stuart

I called my guy at the brick and mortar today. He just laughed. He said in so many words he's being undercut by Miller. He pays more than $739 and by the time he pays for shipping his margin is so thin it's almost not even worth it. Only arguement for buying from him is what Stuart said. He can take care of warranty issues for three years. If I buy it on-line I'm on my own. He did come to within $100 of the on-line price and offered to eat sales tax if I use real paper money. What do y'all think? On-line or brick and mortar?

Personally, I vote Brick and Mortar. For $100 I'd support the little guy. Like you said before, it helps avoid the 'looks' when you go in for gas or maintenance parts and definately helps for warranty. My two cents

Scott

I think for $100 I would go w/local, if by some chance something happened & it didn't work or went out in a few mos, your local guy will prolly just replace it, whereas who knows if Miller will even honor the I-net deal. I guess I am just too cynical, but it would be my luck to get one online, have a problem, then be told I was sold a second w/a bogus warranty etc etc. It jsut seems better to be able to look somebody in the eye on a large purchase. And you gotta buy your gas there regardless. Brian

"Brick & Mortar" my 2 cents

Go with the local guy. If you have any problems, shipping or otherwise, that 100 dollars will be nothing compared to the hassle. Plus you have a real person that you can visit for tips.

John

Go with the local shop and don't even haggle the $100. Local welding shops take very good care of loyal, repeat customers. Down the line you might get free tips, fresh consumables, free liner replacements, free domos on new machines, etc. If you use your own "owner" bottles they'll make sure you get the one that's nicely painted. The advantages of buying local are numerous. Oh, I do alot of welding, home and work.

Go with the local guy! I did and don't regret it.

I have the Miller 180 (Christmas present from the little lady!). Here in Canada, it comes from the manufacturer with the regulator for the shielding gas. I'm using the 75/25 Argon/CO2 mix. Currently wleding in patch panels (18 ga) and it works great.

The welder comes with the 2 lb spool of wire (flux core). I got a 12 lb spool of solid wire for less than Canadian Tire/Peavey Mart/Rona/Home Depot were asking for the same stuff. He's always there should any warranty issues arise.

Thanks guys. Took your advice and went with the local guy. He's a good guy, friendly and helpful. You don't get that much around here. I told him about Stovebolts and that the response was unanimous in favor of the brick and mortar guy. He really appreciated that. Took him $1000 cash on Monday afternoon and had my machine today, Wed afternoon. With bottle and big spool of .035 wire it was a little over 1k and he said don't worry about it. He knows me pretty well now and it's great to do business with someone you know. Anyways, I got it home and put it together real quick, played with it for a few minutes. Works great! Lots of welding to do to the dump box. New post of that project when it's done. Thanks again guys!!! Skip

hi i bought that same welder for doing up my 1949 cab and i got the gas; that was the most cleanest weld.i think it is great, having the machine makes me look like a pro. mike

I've been welding up a storm on my dump bed. No pix yet but I'll do a new post when I'm further along. In any event, the Millermatic 180 works very well. If only the guy operating it was a little better...

Orchidskip,

. . .and anyone else for that matter.

Would you recommend the Miller 180 for fram fab? I'm about a week away from ordering the same model and from what I've seen it should be okay for installing IFS and rear 4-link setups.
Please, anyone out there with experiance chime in.

thanks

PS: orchidskip - I look forward to your pixs. let us know when there up.

Heavy-Chevy,
I think you'd be very happy with it for that purpose. The catalog I have here in front of me says 24 gauge to 5/16 mild steel. I've been welding mostly 1/8 sheet but I'm working my way towards the rear bumper and spacers for the frame rails of my dump bed that are going to be pretty thick. Using 0.35 gauge wire, I think you could probably weld 1/2 steel if you were to grind a good v-groove into the pieces and make multiple passes. I'm sure it's hot enough to give good penetration.
Woohoo! It's almost Saturday! Work on the truck day!!!

orchidkskip,
Thanks for the info. I headed off to my welding class last night after work and the first thing I did was ask the instructor about the flux core and gas shield question. He looked at me like I had two heads . . .
Of course you can do that he said. You just have two types of shielding for your weld.

At any rate, I'll be picking my Miller 180 up next Friday. I got a quote for $600. for the welder and cart/stand. I'll need to buy the C25 too which should run me somewhere in the neighborhood of $100.

It's a lot to plunk down at once, but it'll definitely be worth it. I keep thinking about how much stuff I could've bought for the truck with that kind of cash.

Jim

Correction on my last post!

The quote I got was incorrect. I just wanted everyone to know that, incase you read that someone picked up a Miller 180 for $600. It's actually going to run me $800 w/cart. Then my supplier's going to cut me a break on the tank and sell me an 80cf for the cost of a 40cf.

Just wanted you all to know.

Jim