Subject: welding equip

From: [email-masked] (Marc Davis III)
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 20:00:15 -0800

If you had your choice of welders 

120 volt, 125-130 amp wirefeed mig with 20 cu feet gas mix
for $649.00 which would you choose?

Miller matic 130:
infinate wirefeed and 4 heat settings

Lincoln 125 :
has infinate wirefeed and heat
a little smaller and lighter
the guy claims parts for lincoln are easier to find

Thanks

Marc3

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From: "Joe B. McGlynn (415) 855-5707" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 07:50:06 -0800 (PST)

Hi all,

My $.02 on choosing a welder:

The first questions to ask yourself is "What am I welding" and "How am I
welding it"?

If you are welding a lot of heavy steel components and are less concerned about
the appearance of the weld bead then perhaps a wirefeed is a suitable choice. 
On the other hand, I am a BIG fan of "TIG", AKA "Heliarc" and more properly
"GTAW".  With TIG you have the ultimate control over the finished weld - both
in mechanical properties and appearance.  If you weld a lot of different types
of metals in the course of your work then (IMHO) it's the only way to go.

Changing from one metal to another with TIG just requires (possibly) changing
the front panel settings and picking up a different filler rod.  With a
wirefeed you have to actually change spools in the machine.  The newer "square
wave" TIG machines allow you to vary the ballance between penetration and
cleaning in the arc waveform.  You can execute a much more precise weld with a
TIG.

Again, just my opinion.  I have both and I *NEVER* use my wirefeed.  With the
TIG I have welded aluminum sheet, stainless steel, 4130, mild steel, cast iron,
cast aluminum.  Just recently I had to repair some cast bronze sculpture and I
used "silicon bronze" filler rod.  It welded VERY nicely.

Anyone have any other thoughts?

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From: Steve Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 96 9:15:33 MST

There is some useful discussion about wirefeed welders "Which mig
welder should I buy" in the web page:

plains.uwyo.edu/~metal/whichmig.html

This stuff is essentially from the metalworking news group. If you
can't get news or web stuff, I can email you the info in a file.

--
Steve Smith
[email-masked]

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From: Steve Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 96 9:21:32 MST

I have an old warhorse 250 amp. DC welder made by Lincoln (AC motor
driving generator type). I have seen some add-on sets to convert a DC
welder to a TIG box. Does anyone know anything about these?

--
Steve Smith
[email-masked]