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

[Francis Robinson]

At 12/3/04 1:00:00 PM, you wrote:
>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
>
>




	This is the kind of good common sense post I like to see. Too many folks get all hung up on brands 
they like and call everything else junk even when the stuff is made by the same company. Nobody makes junk 
anymore except John Deere...   ;-)    ;-)   There, that should generate some talk.   :-)

	Son Scott and I bought a portable wire feed w/ gas hookup a couple of years ago. We thought we 
really needed it but neither of us has used it much. I still generally use the arc with a sheet metal rod or grab 
the torch. I sometimes use mild steel or sometimes use brass. Anything but thin stuff I just use arc so I don't 
care that much about welding heavy stock.



"farmer"


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net