[AT] Mig welders for antique tractor sheet metal work??

[Steve W.]

Miller and Hobart are under the same roof. Also Century is now (since
2000) owned by Lincoln. The guns used on all of them are Twecos, and the
drives are almost identical as well. I have used all four (as well as
ESAB) and as long as you did routine maintenance like keeping the drive
rollers and wire clean, and changing the tips when you should they all
worked very well.  I own a Century portable as well as an OLD Lincoln
stick machine and a Miller TIG machine. They all have strong and weak
points but overall they work very well. My personal opinion is that you
need to buy the ones that are supported locally. Since you will be
needing consumables make sure that you can buy them easily. Oh and buy
as large a machine as you can afford. Keep in mind you can adjust a
larger machine down to weld thinner stock BUT you cannot make a smaller
machine handle the real heavy stock.

Steve Williams
Near Cooperstown NY


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "charlie hill" <chill8 at cox.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 7:24 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Mig welders for antique tractor sheet metal work??


> David, I think that Miller and Hobart (at least in the engine driven
> machines) are the same machine.   Check out this link.  They sell
both.
> http://store.cyberweld.com/index.html
>
> Charlie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Myers" <walking_tractor at yahoo.com>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 8:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] Mig welders for antique tractor sheet metal work??
>
>
> >
> > --- Dean VP <deanvp at att.net> wrote:
> >
> >> About every 6 months I fall into lust attack for a
> >> Mig welder. Never have
> >> owned one but would like to some day.
> > Dean, my opinion is that Hobart, Century, etc., are
> > names to stay away from.  Personally have used Miller,
> > and Lincoln commercial welders and own a Lincoln
> > Weldpac 100.  Also (unfortunately) have to use a
> > Hobart commercial type welder at work.  The Lincoln I
> > own is great for sheetmetal and other small stuff,
> > someday I will get gas for it but for now use fluxcore
> > wire.  BTW, flux core is fantastic outdoors where your
> > shield gas will blow away.  Also flux core penetrates
> > better and cuts through crud where solid wire wants
> > clean steel.
> > The cheap welders like Hobart are NOT the same quality
> > as  Lincolns or Millers.  You may not be able to feel
> > the difference but trust me, you will always be
> > fighting the cheap ones, usually wondering what it is
> > that YOU are doing wrong.  The current or wire speed
> > varies and it is really aggravating.
> > I still like stick welders and use a Lincoln 250 AC/DC
> > at work for all heavy work.  At home I just have a
> > Lincoln 250 buzz box which does 90% of what I need.
> > After all this dissertation I would recommend breaking
> > down and getting one of the small wire welders from
> > Miller or Lincoln (with gas buiilt in).  Also, unless
> > you really need it (probably not) don't spend your
> > money on tri-mix or similar gasses, just stick with
> > straight argon, much cheaper and will do 99.44% of
> > what you will ever do.
> > The preceeding represents the views of only me and not
> > neccessarily those of the general list, to paraphrase
> > the hated info-mercials. <g>
> >
> >
> > =====
> > Dave Myers
> > Paw Paw, Michigan
> > The older I get the less I look forward to winter.
> >
> >
> >
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