January 12, 2020, 11:42 AM
Larry Woodfinupgrade to new MIG machine
My Miller 175 is 20+ years old and I am ready to upgrade to a new machine. I weld mild steel tube as small as .062 thick and plate as thick as 3/16 mild steel. Which new MIG machine will fill my needs?
January 12, 2020, 12:29 PM
Chuck Rothermelunless it's worn out or the power supply is dead I would put a new torch on it and run it, the new stuff isn't as good as the old machines,just my thought as I just changed the torch on a miller matic 200 that's 30 yrs. old and it welds great
January 12, 2020, 01:24 PM
AlaskaracerI have an HTP Mig200 and I love it. It's been able to weld everything I need when I didn't need a tig. Jeff Noland is the president of the company and he's a good guy to deal with. They also do no interest layaways if you don't want to pony up the cash up front. They are great machines, and well supported. Priced better than most as well. I've had my mig for almost 20 years now and never one single issue with it. Had my tig for about 10 and other than sucking completely at tig welding, it's been flawless as well. Before you drop any bucks on anything, it wouldn't hurt to give them a call, even if you are considering a different brand.
www.usaweld.comJanuary 12, 2020, 07:52 PM
rascalI have used a fair amount of Mig and Tig welders over the yeras. I have purchased 2 Miller 211s the last 2 years and I am impressed with them for the materials that you have mentioned. Just use 75/25 gas and with any welder use premium wire. Good luck
January 13, 2020, 07:14 AM
Larry WoodfinAfter a time of research, I bought a Hobart Ironman 230 from Cyber Weld.
January 13, 2020, 09:29 AM
SCDIV1Cyberweld is located in Linden NJ....
JW Goodliffe (?spelling)
Nobody sells at better pricing and when I'm wondering what a machine costs, I go to their website.
We don't sell machines, only repairs....
Hobart is made by Miller and is a less expensive version of machines Miller sells.
Illinois tool works is the parent company of both....and has been for 20+ years...
Miller bought the Hobart name/company 20+ years for consumables and to sell machines they build at retailers other than a Miller dealer....
The modern Hobarts are fine.....
January 13, 2020, 12:21 PM
HS professorI recently purchased two new Miller 255's for school and on the first day of shop use, I had a student weld the wire to the tip and it blew out the gas valve !!!!! No idea how or why it happened, but the gas valve is now not working ??? Literally less than 2 hrs old. Bad luck maybe, but so far I'm not a fan lol.............
January 13, 2020, 01:14 PM
SCDIV1Bob that sounds like the gas valve didn't work or stuck shut and that's why the student burned the wire back...Gas stopped flowing and caused the burnbackā¦.
Weld ouput is isolated from other internal circuits....
Could even be as simple as something got in the valve....Teflon tape if it was used.....
January 14, 2020, 09:26 AM
HS professorThanks for the input Rich, I haven't had a chance to look into it yet. Hopefully it's something simple. Around here strange things are known to happen lol