Welding Tips and Tricks

OK guys in the next few months, I'll be making my first ever purchase of a mig welder. I've narrowed it down to 2-the Millermatic 211, and the Hobart 210 MVP. I see alot of references of Miller tied in with Hobart. Is one owned by the other?
OK I read that the Hobart 210 is capable of welding 3/8" thick in Mig and flux core. Is that accurate? I thought flux core could weld thicker metal than mig.
What I was really looking for was a Lincoln, but Lincoln doesn't seem to have a welder similar to the two I'm looking at now. They do have the Powermig 210, but I'm not interested in multi process welders. I wonder if Lincoln didn't miss an opportunity in this area.
About the Miller 211, my question is why is it so much lighter(38 lbs) than the Hobart(79 lbs) or even a Lincoln 180c at about 80 lbs? Makes the novice wonder if it's made with cheaper materials. But I think that's not the case, as I've yet to read one thing negative about the Miller 211. Thanks for any input.

The Miller 211 is going to be a better machine than the Hobart in my opinion. The reason it is lighter is the Miller is an inverter machine while the Hobart is a transformer. Basically, inverters create an arc by means of a computer circuit board rather than your typical heavy copper wound iron core. As a result, the machines are dramatically lighter without sacrificing efficiency. Both machines are made by Miller, and Hobart is a less expensive version of Miller machines.

Differences between the machines:

- The Miller211 duty cycle is 115 amps @ 20% while the Hobart is only 90 amps @ 20%, so the Hobart is weaker.

- The Miller211 has a metal drive roll assembly. I believe the Hobart drive roll assembly is plastic.

- The Miller211 has auto set features. This is really cool dude! I own a Miller 141 and it has auto set, but for my machine, the auto set only works for solid wire mild steel. The Miller 211 has 5 different auto sets for 5 different welding scenarios, whether it be self-shield flux core, stainless solid wire, mild steel with c02, mild steel with c25 gas, AND even an auto set for aluminum. The Hobart not only DOESN'T have this, but the voltage knob on it is a tapped click setting which means no fine tuning your voltage.

- Lastly, the 211 has one drive roll with 3 different grooves in it, so if you want to switch between .035 wire to .025, all you have to do is push and twist and the drive roll locks in at the appropriate grooves. The Hobart doesn't have this.

No contest for me, if I was choosing between these two only, it would be the Miller.

I couldn't afford the 211 at the time and settled for the 141, it too is an awesome little machine.

Basically Hobart is a Miller with a slightly different number and orange and white paint. We have a transformer 211 at my school that we run self shielded flux core on and it is a solid machine. Auto set works phenomenal as well when I feel like using the auto set. The Miller as said before is a different style, inverter, making it more compact and light. Never had the chance to run a 210mvp to see if there is much of a difference other than price and paint.

I have the HH210, I bought it last Nov. it has a metal drive roll assembly and while it is quite heavy I don't carry it around in my shop. My cart has wheels. I purchased mine at Mills fleet farm and it was on sale plus I signed up for a credit card and got another 10% off so the total price was 675 bucks pre tax. My self I'm just a hobby welder and have had zero issues with the duty cycle. For a full time pro it could be an issue. The LWS house that I do business with is a miller service center and will honor all warranty work on it even though I bought it at Mills Fleet Farm.

They do have the Powermig 210, but I'm not interested in multi process welders.

Why? Jody seems to love this welder. It handles hardware flux core and dual shield flux core with ease. It makes no sense to me that you would disqualify this machine because of some extra features that it has? These features only cost an additional $70 over the Millermatic 211. Have you seen the videos Jody has done on the Lincoln PowerMIG?

Both the Lincoln and the Miller are inverters which is why they are lighter than the Hobart which is a transformer machine. Being inverters not only makes them lighter but it can add useful features. The Lincoln especially has a number of useful features not found on the Miller or the Hobart that you might value: adjustable inductance, adjustable run in speed, and a spot weld timer.

Louie1961 wrote:

They do have the Powermig 210, but I'm not interested in multi process welders.

Why? Jody seems to love this welder. It handles hardware flux core and dual shield flux core with ease. It makes no sense to me that you would disqualify this machine because of some extra features that it has? These features only cost an additional $70 over the Millermatic 211. Have you seen the videos Jody has done on the Lincoln PowerMIG?

Both the Lincoln and the Miller are inverters which is why they are lighter than the Hobart which is a transformer machine. Being inverters not only makes them lighter but it can add useful features. The Lincoln especially has a number of useful features not found on the Miller or the Hobart that you might value: adjustable inductance, adjustable run in speed, and a spot weld timer.

I've been looking at the Miller 211 and the Lincoln 210MP, wanting to add MIG and FCAW capabilities to my shop. Even though I don't need the multi process of the 210MP it seems better equipped for FCAW. If I want to run .045 FCAW wire I will need to buy a new gun for the Miller, the Lincoln comes ready to handle the .045 wire.

I already have a Dynasty 210DX and would welcome another blue machine but I think Lincoln has the better unit between these two, YMMV.

The 210 mp needs a liner change to run .045. Mine came with a liner that goes up to .035.

Poland308 wrote:The 210 mp needs a liner change to run .045. Mine came with a liner that goes up to .035.

Very well then, still probably less expensive then a new gun

Definitely! New liner is like 30$. I pretty much just use mine for the mig. I love the extra features it has.

I'm leaning toward the 210 MP for a couple reasons.

It's digital and I can remember numbers but can also write them down, let's say, for welding 16 gauge tubing. The thickness of 16 ga. varies so I'm thinking I could measure and set amps for the slight variance of one amp per thousandth. It seems like it would be more difficult to return to the same setting with the 211.

It does portable stick welding with adjustable hot start and arc force settings. Again, digital.

The TIG seems a bit primitive with manual gas feed. Has anyone found the TIG feature useful?
The $200 HF TIG has an auto gas valve, but not adjustable.

Has anyone tried the spool gun to weld aluminum or other metals?

Wood Welder wrote:I'm leaning toward the 210 MP for a couple reasons.

Has anyone tried the spool gun to weld aluminum or other metals?

If you've watched Jody's videos you'll know his friend JD Brewer uses a 210mp for FCAW-S and I found one video of him using a spool gun for aluminum. Video HERE

You won't see much in this vid, but having watched the videos with Jody and JD, I know JD thinks highly of the 210

Once you adjust your settings for a given metal thickness and wire diameter. it saves those settings. Even if you switch to a different thickness setting when you go back to the other thickness it will hold your settings.

Not sure if you purchased yet, but you might want to check out Esab's Rebel, I've heard some good things on those also. My garage is filled with mostly blue boxes but I do have one of ESAB's first gen inverters that I bought back in the early 90's SVI300I and a MIG 4HD and It does have a very sweet arc. It's going on 24 years old, who says inverters don't last! LOL
I probably just put a mojo on myself for mentioning that!!


Pete

pgk wrote:I probably just put a mojo on myself for mentioning that!!
Pete

Man I hate it when that happens!!

Poland308 wrote:Definitely! New liner is like 30$. I pretty much just use mine for the mig. I love the extra features it has.

Miller has a rebate out on their multimatic 215 for $200. Ill be ordering one as soon as my extra check from work guys