Welding Tips and Tricks

Am a hobbyist and am considering a new Mig. What are your experiences or opinions on inverters in a Mig. Portability is one selling point but not a factor for me. More concerned with a better weld quality and also reliability. Thanks for all suggestions and opinions.

Tough to beat an old transformer MIG for reliability. Look for an old L-tec or ESAB Migmaster 250 (really nice arc characteristics) also hear the Millermatic 200 is really nice. The other factor is that you need a 50amp power outlet for a 250amp transformer. A 30 amp outlet is fine for the same size inverter.

I'll take a transformer mig any day over an inverter mig
I'll take an inverter tig any day over a transformer tig

Thanks guys for the input. Miller has 2 Mig's I was looking at, the MM190 (inverter) and MM211 (transformer). The 211 is a little more $ but not that much. I hear you saying that you would get the 211. Was just wondering about the performance of a Mig with an inverter. Thanks again

Juwan67 wrote:Dear I don’t want to buy transformer, I love portable honda generator 3000 which I have since last 3 years. It’s really easy to start and best part is that it is fuel efficient.

Huh?
I thought we were talking about the question flip asked. Nothing about generators, (unless you're selling them maybe...) Hmmmm

Yep, I banned him.

flip wrote:Thanks guys for the input. Miller has 2 Mig's I was looking at, the MM190 (inverter) and MM211 (transformer). The 211 is a little more $ but not that much. I hear you saying that you would get the 211. Was just wondering about the performance of a Mig with an inverter. Thanks again

What thickness of metal are you going to be welding?
And what types of metal? Steel only?

Do you need a duel voltage machine?
What size breaker to you have?