What kind of welding machines you guys have ? Anyone got a Miller multimatic 220?

[Dabbler]

i wish it came with a longer MIG gun. It’s only 10ft

I wish my Mig cable was only 6 feet- then I wouldn't need a spool gun for aluminum. (really)

tig than mig because I like the slower paced flexible control

I use my Miller at a lower voltage and slower feeds and weld at about TIG speeds. It is what works for me. I use a lot more gas that way, but I like my welds when done.

 

[phaxtris]

I'll add to this

Current;
Maxstar 150
Thermal arc fabricator 211
Thermal arc 186 Ac/DC
Vantage 300
Hypertherm 45

Gone;
Deca 140
MillerMatic 210
Fabricator 141 (?)
60's model sa200
Vantage 300 (at one time I had two of these)
Thermal dynamics cutmaster 52
Thermal dynamics cutmaster 42
Edit: almost forgot Lincoln 180 mig

I've thought about adding either a cst280 or a maxstar 200 to the list to have an inverter capable of 5/32...but it's always worked out that I could borrow one when needed

 

[CWret]

@Chris Cramer - Great, I think you'll be very happy with your choice. IMO: The Miller 220 is the perfect machine for a home hobbyist.

I've been a self-taught MIG welder for 20 + years but I wanted to learn TIG aluminum so thanks to the Miller 220 & youtube + lots of hood time I got OK at TIG aluminum. I resisted getting a spool gun because I wanted to force myself to learn TIG first. Then I got a spool gun. It is terrific - so easy it's almost like cheating. Aluminum welding with either a spool gun or TIG both have their place. Glad I can do either and have the choice. The Miller 150 Spoolmate spool gun is nearly $900 now - just a couple of years ago I got mine on sale for $600. Big dollars but I would still recommend getting it.
I attached a couple of pics of my M220 setup. I have it on a 27" tool chest - I think this is way better than the welding carts that also hold the gas cylinders. This gives me lots of storage for all my welding accessories and consumables. I got a pair of 25 ft gas hoses so the bottles stay put (anchored to the wall)- much easier (lighter) than having them on the same mobile cart with the welder. You might notice in the pic that the hoses are marked with red & white tape (both ends) so that I know which is which when reconnecting bottles.
The welder sits beside my fab table - to protect it from grinding spray (and other nasty stuff) I have a piece of plywood on a metal base (red sheet in the pic) that is easy to relocate as necessary. I attached a bent rod to the top of the welder which acts as a hook to hold the welding cables. The TIG foot peddle is neatly stored behind the welder. My spool gun is coiled up on top of the welder. This is my setup -- have fun setting up your welder so that everything is convieniet for you.

 

[Susquatch]

You welding guys all suck.

Wish I could weld half as well as all of you do.

 

[Chris Cramer]

Nice setup, I like how you have your plasma cutter mounted on the wall. That could be a better way to position my evenheat kiln if I added some support. Currently I have both my welder and my plasma cutter placed on a metal welding cart that I built when I first setup my shop, and my kiln had to go under a small table I use for a mitter saw. There are definitely some arrangements I should carry out to save space. My plasma table needs to be close to my plasma cutter, and I would want my welder to be fairly close to my work bench.

 

[Chris Cramer]

I still haven't tried the ac aluminum tig, but I'm still familiar with aluminum mig with the spoolmate 150. I purchased that about 2-3 years ago for my multimatic 215. Aluminium mig is easy enough on thicker aluminum, but it's difficult on thin aluminum even at lower settings, because the purpose of a spool gun is to provide higher wire feed speeds required to weld aluminum as well as high travel speed.

 

[CWret]

Fun story:
When I was at university, my roommate was in 1st-year mechanical engineering. They had to take a night course lab during their first semester -"Introduction to welding and machining" (3 hours a week for 4 months).
The first 2 months was machine shop - second 2 months was welding.
Each night there was an hour (or so) of demonstration/instruction followed by hands-on fun stuff.
50% of the marks for the course were based on attendance.
For each lab, my roommate would tell me who was absent and at roll call, I'd be that person. Double win - the absent guy got credit for being there & I got to learn some cool stuff.
So for 2 months, I learned how to use a lathe.
With 60 students in the class, I thought i hide.
Start of the second half - welding - I showed up as John Doe (or whoever) - before roll call the lab tech saw me and said "who are you tonight?" That ended my free classes and the closest I ever got to formal welding instruction.

 

[phaxtris]

i just looked up the price on one of those mm220's , i cant believe how expensive name brand machines have gotten! 2 years ago you could buy a ranger 305 for that kinda money!

My thoughts on mig aluminum.....its easy until you try to get a cwb ticket for it....over 50% fail rate....the weld looks good but then inside there is always some little inclusion, gas coverage issue, or lack of fusion at a stop/start, plus the fumes are horrible for you...terrible, terrible process

i think i might have the laziest plasma cutter mounting setup, i have mine literally hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the garage on 2 ladder hooks, with the torch/ground coiled up on another hook....ive had that arrangement going for the last 6-7 years

 

[Tom O]

I just wheel my plasma cutter under the welding table when it is not in use.

 

[Tom Kitta]

Everlast 200 DX
Lincoln invertec 350
Lincoln 175 plus mig
Chinese plasma cutter

I just got the MIG - so far so good, learning how to weld with MIG.

 

[digitalbilly]

i want one of these for my home shop

 

[Chris Cramer]

I'm not sure how well one of those would perform, but it looks like you would get the most bang for your buck out of only $1000. However the lower capability of each process as well as the plasma cutting, would not really pay off for me buy how far I am planning on taking my welding and cutting skills.

 

[phaxtris]

What are the 7 processes? Mig, Tig, stick, plasma, Make me a sandwich, hold my beer, and ??

 

[Chris Cramer]

There are 5 processes, it does gmaw, fcaw, dc tig, stick, and plasma cutting.

 

[CWret]

In addition to the Chris’s five, it also shows that it does AC TIG (for aluminum). I’m guessing that the manufacturer indicated seven because they are including the built in plasma air compressor. That machine has an awesome spec sheet but that’s a lot of eggs in a Jack of all trades basket. I have not heard of that brand. It will be very interesting to see an independent product review, not just functionality but also service and reliability.

 

[phaxtris]

@Chris Cramer & @CWret it was a joke regarding the misleading marketing

 

[StevSmar]

Start of the second half - welding - I showed up as John Doe (or whoever) - before roll call the lab tech saw me and said "who are you tonight?" That ended my free classes

That’s too funny. Wonder if they would have let you stay if you stopped being John Doe and just hid in the class.

I have a made-in-Manitoba stick welder that has plugs to change the AC amperage. I suspect that this is good enough for what I currently need, which is the occasional bit of welding. Is DC stick that much better that I should look at a new welder? Eventually, I would like to try TIG but that’s currently several years away.

I do like collecting shiny new toys though, however I think I’m currently more likely to purchase a track-saw (I don’t have room for a table saw) than a welder.

 

[CWret]

Stick is fine for most home / farm / construction welding. It’s main limit is that it can’t do thin material (less than 1/8”)

 

[Susquatch]

Stick is fine for most home / farm / construction welding. It’s main limit is that it can’t do thin material (less than 1/8”)

Another member showed me how to do thin TIG welding by stitching.

Could you not stitch thinner sheet like say 1/16 with an arc welder too?

 

[CWret]

Yes it’ll do it, but tricky and not ideal. Like lots of things home hobby guys do. You can also put an undersized end mill or drill bit in a R8 collet- like someone once said.