Input from Experience Welders on MIG unit

[myhondas]

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?

[vf1000ride]

I've never personally used that model but can tell you two general things when looking at welders. Make sure they take gas, watch your duty time. Something like what your looking at will accept a gas bottle so that is good. Next thing to watch is your duty cycle time. At max power you can only run that welder for 12 minutes of every hour or it will overheat and possibly be damaged.

[myhondas]

Where do you find the duty time on the specs? I didn't see anything about it. Is it in a % format?

[vf1000ride]

They kind of hide that number. It is on the specs tab right behind the current and voltage numbers. It is 20% duty rated on 110 and 30% rated on 220

Rated Output

120V:90A/19.5V/20%

208V: 130A/17.6V/30%

230V: 130A/20V/30%

[Gixxus Christ!]

A 110 mig capable of working anything above 14 ga steel is going to suck massive amounts of juice. Run a 220 line to your garage so the breaker doesn't pop if the air compressor or beer fridge kicks on.

[Gump]

http://m.northerntool.com/northerntool/product/detail.do?itemId=20859&categoryId=&path=&productName=false

I have a Hobart 220v like the above link should mention. I can use flux core wire or solid wire with gas. Aluminum also. I prefer solid wire .030 with gas. It does it all. Thin to thick. Came with the piping for gas already. Spool runner is for the aluminum. I have also welded stainless with it. You can reverse the polarity also. Which if u do stainless is almost impossible to grind.

Next to the gas pressure washer its one of the best tools I've ever bought to have around.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Gump

[myhondas]

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

special thanks to speedytriple for his offers which I really appreciated.

[TRMN8TR]

I recently won a raffle for that exact welder (minus the dual voltage input, 230 only) and I love it. It's one of the better "hobby" level welders for the home user. I'm not a super experienced welded either, so I use the chart on the back of the door and it gets me pretty close.

I have heard the spool guns for aluminum work, but they are definitely not an industrial strength piece. Would never survive an every day work environment. If you're just using it at home and you take care of it, should be fine.