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Input from experienced Mig Welders


myhondas

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I am looking to purchase a light portable unit and I started by looking at units from Lincoln and Miller. I want a unit that I can use at both work(220) and home (110) and portable enough to toss in the car. BUT I want something that will DO what I need it to do. I will mostly be working on 10ga and smaller steel and some aluminum stuff. My past experience has been oxi-acet and stick only. This will be my first MIG and I consider myself a noobie at best.

I have been considering buying this LE unit.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/Equipment/Pages/product.aspx?product=K3018-1

along with a spool gun for the aluminum stuff.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/Equipment/Pages/product.aspx?product=K2532-1(LincolnElectric)

along with a tank of gas.....I expect to spend about 1.4k on this.

SO....What do you guys with welding experience think about this system?

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Piss on miller Midget LOL! Buy the lincoln keeps me busy at work making the consumables for it. LOL! Man is that stuff pricey! You are local to cleveland? if so pm me with what you are interested in from lincoln I will see if I can do anything on the price for ya. Not promising anything on specific models they have discounts to employees but only on over stock items.

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I have an older Lincoln ( sp 170) similar to this. Does not have the spool gun option which would be nice. What you have picked out looks to to be a nice set up. Lincoln is my favorite welder to weld with. Never any problems. When I read this thread on my phone I thought I saw a mention of duty cycle ? Duh. Click the product info pdf on your link. It lists duty cycle at a specific voltage. 30% duty means how long you can run it continuously at that voltage for 10 minuetes. 30% = 3 min run and 7 min rest. This is usally at the higher end of it max output. Quite happy with mine.

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Lincoln welders aren't bad. I've got a Miller 350 pulse I use every day. Also have a few different Lincolns. Duty cycle isn't all that impressive on the one you're looking at but you aren't going to get much better with that small of a welder.

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I own an old stick welder generator but the few times I have used it, it worked.

I can only imagine that this is directed toward me. The title of the thread isn't Input from PROFESSIONAL mig welders. The title is Input from EXPERIENCED mig welders. I my not be a certified ship builder, but I was trained by one for 2 years, and now have 22+ years of experience. I kind of thought I was qualified to comment.

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You must have misunderstood me? I meant no disrespect toward your input you have more welding experience then me. Was just stating that i only weld a few times a year. And I work for them not weld for them LOL I just make the stuff not know how to use it. Bad I know but have never had time to learn. I do plan on taking the welding school at work since it is free to us just hard to get into.

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You must have misunderstood me? I meant no disrespect toward your input you have more welding experience then me. Was just stating that i only weld a few times a year. And I work for them not weld for them LOL I just make the stuff not know how to use it. Bad I know but have never had time to learn. I do plan on taking the welding school at work since it is free to us just hard to get into.

It's all good. I misunderstood what you were saying.

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Thanks ALL.....I went ahead & ordered it. I went with the dually for the versatility of the unit. I agree that for me, the duty time won't be that significant of a factor. I am just getting Argon gas for now, but might get some mixed gas later. The spool gun will be used for aluminum only and they gave me a free welders kit $255 value. Ended up at $1380 total. Not too bad. Now comes the learning curve

I appreciate the offer Speedytriple of the employee discount. If I had more time to work on it, I might have taken you up on it even though I hate to take advantage of peoples generousity.

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