Whats your opinion these welders?

Hey guys. Ive been wanting to get a mig welder for sheet metal, as well as the ability to do some tig work here and there. Ive been checking this these two out.
Does anyone have any input on them?


And this one


They dont seem worlds different, i havent sat down to really read on the major differences , im just wondering if anyone has any experiences to share. I got projects this summer, from body work on my 55 chevy, to exhaust manifolds for a turbo project, and im needing a decent all around welder.

Its difficult but doable to weld sheet with a stick.

I Now have a Lincoln 220 180 amp mig a friend gave me. Previously I had one of there big 220 welders from Chicago electric it was 180 Amp and it worked great for years. I gave it to a friend and he's still using it for random welding projects. I don't know anything about the Vulcan. They quit making mine when the Vulcan came out.
I'm still hoping to get an old millermattic..

I have the Titanium Unlimited 200. It's a great hobby level welder. I use a Millermatic 220 at the shop. I can do most of the same MIG work with the Titanium as the Millermatic, but also do TIG and stick. The only "major" downside is the duty cycle compared to the Millermatic. But I don't lay down enough welds to need more than the Titanium can provide.

squaredeal91 said:

I'm still hoping to get an old millermattic..

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I’m not sure how old of a Millermatic you are looking for, if it’s older, older, be sure you can still get drive rolls and other parts for it.

I picked up this SPC-200 power source, 80a feeder, and Lincoln LN-22 flux feeder for $100 for everything including leads a couple years ago. Smoking deal, except I discovered the drive rolls for these old units are NLA new, and seldom come up for sale used. It’s got a set of .045 rolls in it now. I’ve got some ideas to convert/adapt it to use newer and available parts.

Serial number dates the power source and feeder to either 1971 or 1974 (I can’t remember if my big 330A/BP is the 1971 machine or this one). If I can solve the drive rolls issue it should be a heck of a setup.

In regards to the original question, I have not used either of those machines, I can’t comment on them.

What do you see yourself doing more of? MIG or TIG work? Personally I find myself doing most of my welding with Tig, just my preference. I struggle with getting a mig machine setup and dialed in, especially on heavier material (say over 1/8”). Tig follows the 1 amp per .001” material thickness rule pretty closely. +10% on aluminum and -10% for stainless. A foot pedal machine is even easier as you can modulate amps as you go.

Any intention of doing aluminum Tig?

legopnuematic said:

In regards to the original question, I have not used either of those machines, I can’t comment on them.

What do you see yourself doing more of? MIG or TIG work? Personally I find myself doing most of my welding with Tig, just my preference. I struggle with getting a mig machine setup and dialed in, especially on heavier material (say over 1/8”). Tig follows the 1 amp per .001” material thickness rule pretty closely. +10% on aluminum and -10% for stainless. A foot pedal machine is even easier as you can modulate amps as you go.

Any intention of doing aluminum Tig?

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I believe you can buy a foot pedal for it, but yea, i mostly had aluminum in mind if i was gonna do any tig work. It and stainless are the two metals i cant weld, and i get tired of having to ask someone else to do it for me when they come up

I think i'll mostly be doing mig work

Vbb199 said:

I believe you can buy a foot pedal for it, but yea, i mostly had aluminum in mind if i was gonna do any tig work. It and stainless are the two metals i cant weld, and i get tired of having to ask someone else to do it for me when they come up

I think i'll mostly be doing mig work

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Both of those machines are DC only, so no aluminum Tig unless you were to go old school and use helium as a shielding gas and do true Heliarc on DC.

Stainless Tig is done on DC, as is steel, at a bare minimum you need a dc stick welder (or an a/c welder with rectifier setup) to do scratch start Tig.

Scratch start is “old school,” but still used in the field all the time today, very capable, and simple. The Ford Fairlane I did the coil over install on was all scratch start Tig, besides a couple spots did flux core.


Done with scratch start Tig with that circa 1978 TriStar welder




Take a look at primeweld machines if you haven’t. I think for your needs I’d look at a dedicated MIG machine over a multi process. Also to consider a transformer vs inverter machine. The new inverter technology is pretty amazing and clever with what they manage to pull off, but some times you just can’t beat a pure mass of copper that is a transformer machine.

There’s a lot of options these days, and a lot of very competitive and good machines too.

legopnuematic said:

Both of those machines are DC only, so no aluminum Tig unless you were to go old school and use helium as a shielding gas and do true Heliarc on DC.

Stainless Tig is done on DC, as is steel, at a bare minimum you need a dc stick welder (or an a/c welder with rectifier setup) to do scratch start Tig.

Scratch start is “old school,” but still used in the field all the time today, very capable, and simple. The Ford Fairlane I did the coil over install on was all scratch start Tig, besides a couple spots did flux core.

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Done with scratch start Tig with that circa 1978 TriStar welder

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Take a look at primeweld machines if you haven’t. I think for your needs I’d look at a dedicated MIG machine over a multi process. Also to consider a transformer vs inverter machine. The new inverter technology is pretty amazing and clever with what they manage to pull off, but some times you just can’t beat a pure mass of copper that is a transformer machine.

There’s a lot of options these days, and a lot of very competitive and good machines too.

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You know, you got a point there... being DC only machines.
I think both of them you can get a spool gun for, which will let you weld aluminum. But the more im thinking on it maybe i just need a dedicated mig setup.

I have an AC 225a stick welder, which i guess can do stainless, and i have a small flux welder.

I rarely do anything aluminum. Maybe i ought to just let the idea go of getting the multi process machine

Tell me a little about this scratch start @legopnuematic , one of the welders i listed has a DC stick wand on it

Been using this coupon for 7 years without issue on consumables.

Vbb199 said:

I have an AC 225a stick welder, which i guess can do stainless

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With a rectifier setup to convert to DC, yes. Which if you look online there’s plenty of people who have done so to the vulnerable AC 225 tombstone. Then you can run scratch start tig and also regular 7018 instead of 7018ac.

I have a few friends that have Primeweld for their home units and all seem to like it.

Vbb199 said:

You know, you got a point there... being DC only machines.
I think both of them you can get a spool gun for, which will let you weld aluminum. But the more im thinking on it maybe i just need a dedicated mig setup.

I have an AC 225a stick welder, which i guess can do stainless, and i have a small flux welder.

I rarely do anything aluminum. Maybe i ought to just let the idea go of getting the multi process machine

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I have both a Hobart MIG and a PrimeWeld for TIG. I'm not real good with the TIG at this point, but have had very limited opportunity to practice with it yet (have only had the machine for a few months and the 1st 3 months of the year are my "zero free time" period). It is a nicely made machine with high frequency scratchless start and the ability to use foot pedal or on-torch trigger button operation. TIG is a pretty steep learning curve as I'm discovering.

Vbb199 said:

Tell me a little about this scratch start @legopnuematic , one of the welders i listed has a DC stick wand on it

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So in the Tig world, there are a few different arc start methods the main ones are:

-Scratch start, the most basic utilizes a torch with gas valve on the torch (will be designated with a V for valve), and a DC power source, either a “Tig machine” or just a DC stick welder. DCEN (electrode negative). To initiate the arc the tungsten is flicked like a match to the material to be welded and that will begin the arc, do your welding then pull away from the material to break the arc. Can do steel, stainless, any DC Tig process with this.

-lift arc, uses some circuitry magic, you touch the tungsten to the work, hit the pedal, lift off and it initiates the arc. Typical will have a solenoid valve for gas in the machine too.

-high frequency start, used for DC Tig, uses high frequency to jump the gap between the tungsten and work, think of it like a spark plug on steroids. High frequency on only when starting, once arc initiates high freq is off.

-high frequency continuous, used for AC Tig, same as above, but runs as long as the arc is on. This is needed to keep the arc stable and on while switching from DCEP to DCEN as it crosses the ‘0’point on the sine or square wave.


This is a good introduction to scratch start

Just my opinion but I’d spend the money for a Miller or Lincoln product.
They will cost more but are worth it.
The Millermatic 200 would be my pick.