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I think I am into my miller 211 for 1500 with autdark helmet, cart, 80lb bottle of gas, gloves, 8lb spool of wire. Spool gun is another 200 but unless you are welding aluminum right away you can always get it later. IMO
Thats what I have^
Paid $1k for it in brand new condition for 80lb bottle, car, welder, 3 spools of wire, all the tips, etc
Paid $1k for it in brand new condition for 80lb bottle, car, welder, 3 spools of wire, all the tips, etc
I think I am into my miller 211 for 1500 with autdark helmet, cart, 80lb bottle of gas, gloves, 8lb spool of wire. Spool gun is another 200 but unless you are welding aluminum right away you can always get it later. IMO
That's what I'd get cheeny. That or the 180.
The 180 has a cheaper entry price, but the 211 has a better duty cycle and more powa.
My 175 (precursor to the 180) has a duty cycle that makes me want to kick small children when I'm trying to finish weld an assembly. It is soo nice using the CP-200 power source at work and just blazing through it all.
<---wants a 251/2
If you're just getting an entry level helmet go snag a HF auto darkening unit IMO. I have a Speedglas utility and it's not much different but costs 2x as much. HF mig welding glove 3pks are alright too. For $10/pk they don't make you feel bad picking up greasy parts or anything as well.
Pick up at least an 80 cuft bottle. I have an 80cuft bottle on my mig and when I got my tig I grabbed a 160. I find myself filling the 80 too often. Smaller would be miserable.
You don't need a spool gun unless you're welding aluminum. Even then the results are meh. I'd not drop the money on one up front.
Get a 10lb spool of .030 ER70s6 for the machine and it will do most everything you need. A 2lb roll of .023 is helpful to have for auto sheetmetal work. .030 just needs to much juice and you'll fight burn through all day.
Word of warning, you will grow to hate the Miller gun and ground clamp. You will find yourself spending $150 at some point replacing both and asking yourself why you didn't do it earlier.
My 175 (precursor to the 180) has a duty cycle that makes me want to kick small children when I'm trying to finish weld an assembly. It is soo nice using the CP-200 power source at work and just blazing through it all.
<---wants a 251/2
If you're just getting an entry level helmet go snag a HF auto darkening unit IMO. I have a Speedglas utility and it's not much different but costs 2x as much. HF mig welding glove 3pks are alright too. For $10/pk they don't make you feel bad picking up greasy parts or anything as well.
Pick up at least an 80 cuft bottle. I have an 80cuft bottle on my mig and when I got my tig I grabbed a 160. I find myself filling the 80 too often. Smaller would be miserable.
You don't need a spool gun unless you're welding aluminum. Even then the results are meh. I'd not drop the money on one up front.
Get a 10lb spool of .030 ER70s6 for the machine and it will do most everything you need. A 2lb roll of .023 is helpful to have for auto sheetmetal work. .030 just needs to much juice and you'll fight burn through all day.
Word of warning, you will grow to hate the Miller gun and ground clamp. You will find yourself spending $150 at some point replacing both and asking yourself why you didn't do it earlier.
You are absolutely dead on.
.I wouldn't waste money on a spoolgun. Everything I've seen done with it looks like poop.
I hate that gun and ground clamp. I was welding a welding table together and making some pretty long welds and the shielding close to the ground started to melt.
So in your opinion, just rock a HF autodimming hood? I'm badgering a guy on GMFS for a lincoln hood, but I'm in no hurry. I've been welding alot with the old school helmet... kinda sucks.
Oh, and a Miller 252 is a dream machine. Had one at the machine shop I worked at and that thing was incredible. You could burn anything together with it... great duty cycle as well. It just all in all could make a newb lay good welds... hard to even screw up with it
On another note, what do people do for getting further away from their 220 socket? My gun and ground lead lengths leave something to be desired, so I'll probably make an extension cable thing but wasn't sure if there are other options out there
Only way to really learn is to do it. I can help you out on here and give you pointers if you take pictures of them. Kyle is the pro though... I only know from doing it and screwing up... I had no one teach me or show me, just read a ton on the internet and took pointers from people. Its something you can make huge leaps and bounds in really quick with practice.
For a cheap auto dark, yea. For $50 on sale they're hard to beat. I really want a Miller big window elite, the adjustable shading would be nice and the bigger window, well yea.
Just build an extension cable. I have a 30ft extension cable made from 4/3 stranded rubber cable and used it to adapt from the 10-50P wall socket to the Miller 6-50 plug.
Far from a pro.
I'm only learning the same way you are, just might have some more trigger time doing it.
Kyle please eloborate on the gun replacement. If there is something nicer I would def take a look. Thanks
i may have some extension cables you can convert the plug ends. They are currently l60 twist locks but the cable is beefy we use them for our servers. i will look and see if i have 2 extra give you 15-20' of stretch.
No worries, I'll grab something from the local home depot and wire it up. Just wasn't sure I was overlooking something more simple. Its what we used for Brianz71s build and it worked ok, but he used some really thick wire so it was a pain to deal with because it didn't bend or roll up easily
I'm running this Parweld on mine now.
WeldingDepot -- Parweld® 180 Amp 15' .023 - .035 interchangeable w/ Tweco® 1-15
That's the 180a version, obviously size what you need based on your machine. Love it, the extra reach is nice too (15ft version). Trigger works when I want it to, itsn't held together by electrical tape, cable strain relief spring so I don't pinch the liner, 360* of head rotation, all kinds of good.
WeldingDepot -- Powerweld® Ground Clamp 200 - 500 Amp interchangeable w/ Tweco®
Ground clamp is awesome. Actually holds onto things, transmits a ton of juice and has built in cable relief. Combination makes the welder much happier.
The extension I have, stranded rubber cable, rolls up to about a 2' diameter.
Im running 110, I hope my shit doesnt break in half! Been doing frame pieces and notches and shit with it. You can really feel it when it needs a break!
finished it today and was jumping all over it trying to break it, even took it for a ride for the first time in like 5 months
Anybody else hate welders burn? I wear a denim jacket, leather gloves, jeans, and an auto dimming helmet and my hands and arms still feel burnt!
Anybody else hate welders burn? I wear a denim jacket, leather gloves, jeans, and an auto dimming helmet and my hands and arms still feel burnt!