Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys. I’m new to welding so take it easy in me. I’m looking for a <$1000 mig machine to live in my garage and run off 230v. What I have been looking at is mostly hobby machines from the bigger name company’s. the Lincoln pro-mig 180 ($700) and Hobart 190. ($700) I was curious what you guys thought about these machines. One other consideration is the Hobart 210 mvp. It’s on sale for about $800. I’m not interested in the dual voltage setup but would the extra amps be worth the up charge. Thanks guys. I’d love to have a Lincoln 210 MP so I could also replace my old tombstone buzz box stick welder but they’re about $1500 everywhere I have seen. Is it drastically better or worth double to hold out for and save up to get?


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It's really hard to go wrong with Hobart. I owned and loved the Hobart HH 190. I am extremely interested in the Hobart Multihandler for right around $1,000

i can't comment on brands
but i would get something with removeable mig gun (ie euro connector). inverter not transformer and has wire feed and voltage displays. also inductance setting.
that makes life a whole lot easier.

the other important thing as you mention beginner, is this mig for you to learn on?
if so, a stick welder is much better to learn with. just a cheap basic a little inverter stick welder (or 2nd hand transformer machine) is good to learn with and comes in handy for other stuff later on.

I’ve been playing with a Lincoln tombstone a/c machine for the past year. Have probably burned about 30lb total of 6011, 6013, and 7018ac rods. I enjoy it and feel pretty comfortable with it but anything less than 1/8 inch I have a hard time with it getting too hot. I do a lot of woodworking so I’d like a machine that I can make decorative trim pieces for tables or legs with. I’ll keep the tombstone for the heavier stuff. This machine will live in my garage and get used a couple times a week maybe. Doesn’t need to be very portable. I’m leaning towards the Hobart 210. The Lincoln 210 MP is my first choice but it’s about $700 more. It would give me the ability to try dc stick welding however and even tig if I ever decided to give it a try. Since I have a stick machine I am having a hard time justifying the cost tho. That’s where my mind is at right now.


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I actually have, or at least I'm pretty sure I have, a Lincoln Pro Mig 180. I've almost never used it but as I recall it's actually a pretty nice welder. It was purchased to do some aluminum Mig work on thin stock but after wasting money on a spool gun it was decided not to bother with it and it's been sitting under the bench in the welding booth for a decade or more since.

Downsides of them are as mentioned above, they have the meaningless one through 10 analog voltage and wire feed settings.

WVDeere wrote:I’ve been playing with a Lincoln tombstone a/c machine for the past year. Have probably burned about 30lb total of 6011, 6013, and 7018ac rods. I enjoy it and feel pretty comfortable with it but anything less than 1/8 inch I have a hard time with it getting too hot. I do a lot of woodworking so I’d like a machine that I can make decorative trim pieces for tables or legs with. I’ll keep the tombstone for the heavier stuff. This machine will live in my garage and get used a couple times a week maybe. Doesn’t need to be very portable. I’m leaning towards the Hobart 210. The Lincoln 210 MP is my first choice but it’s about $700 more. It would give me the ability to try dc stick welding however and even tig if I ever decided to give it a try. Since I have a stick machine I am having a hard time justifying the cost tho. That’s where my mind is at right now.


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excellent.
your not really a beginner which is great.
i personally would not get either one. get something with better features.

there was a post on here a while back where someone got caught out. the wire they had ran badly and their machine had no inductance adjustment to be able to adjust it to the recommended settings.

tweake wrote:

WVDeere wrote:I’ve been playing with a Lincoln tombstone a/c machine for the past year. Have probably burned about 30lb total of 6011, 6013, and 7018ac rods. I enjoy it and feel pretty comfortable with it but anything less than 1/8 inch I have a hard time with it getting too hot. I do a lot of woodworking so I’d like a machine that I can make decorative trim pieces for tables or legs with. I’ll keep the tombstone for the heavier stuff. This machine will live in my garage and get used a couple times a week maybe. Doesn’t need to be very portable. I’m leaning towards the Hobart 210. The Lincoln 210 MP is my first choice but it’s about $700 more. It would give me the ability to try dc stick welding however and even tig if I ever decided to give it a try. Since I have a stick machine I am having a hard time justifying the cost tho. That’s where my mind is at right now.


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excellent.
your not really a beginner which is great.
i personally would not get either one. get something with better features.

there was a post on here a while back where someone got caught out. the wire they had ran badly and their machine had no inductance adjustment to be able to adjust it to the recommended settings.

Any recommendations?


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Deleted. Double post.

Multi-process machines have their place, but they do have some tradeoffs, and the less expensive ones seem to have bigger tradeoffs that wouldn't be worth it for me.

For the price differences you're talking about, you could buy a Hobart 210MVP for MIG and a PrimeWeld 225X for TIG and have two nice machines for around $800 each. The Hobart is a solid MIG welder, and the PrimeWeld is a solid TIG welder that also has decent stick capability which would let you add DC stick to the mix. If space isn't a huge concern (and neither machine is large) I think you'd be happier with that combo in the long run.

Makes sense to me. Thanks for the reply.


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WVDeere wrote:

tweake wrote:

WVDeere wrote:I’ve been playing with a Lincoln tombstone a/c machine for the past year. Have probably burned about 30lb total of 6011, 6013, and 7018ac rods. I enjoy it and feel pretty comfortable with it but anything less than 1/8 inch I have a hard time with it getting too hot. I do a lot of woodworking so I’d like a machine that I can make decorative trim pieces for tables or legs with. I’ll keep the tombstone for the heavier stuff. This machine will live in my garage and get used a couple times a week maybe. Doesn’t need to be very portable. I’m leaning towards the Hobart 210. The Lincoln 210 MP is my first choice but it’s about $700 more. It would give me the ability to try dc stick welding however and even tig if I ever decided to give it a try. Since I have a stick machine I am having a hard time justifying the cost tho. That’s where my mind is at right now.


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excellent.
your not really a beginner which is great.
i personally would not get either one. get something with better features.

there was a post on here a while back where someone got caught out. the wire they had ran badly and their machine had no inductance adjustment to be able to adjust it to the recommended settings.

Any recommendations?


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not really, our market here is a bit different to the usa.
hence why i recommend to look for those features rather than actual brands.