Hey guys I am a ag teacher and I am looking for a good mig machine for my high school shop. I am looking for something to do mainly mild steel possible some stainless and alum. I have told to lots of reps from miller and lincoln and they all say different things.

So I am asking guys that use these often on which ones they like. I am going to be operating on a small budget so I am looking for my best bang for my buck.

I would like to thank yall in advance

 

Well I have a Lincoln power mig 255 with a prince spool gun that will handle just about anything you can throw at it. The spool gun will do aluminum or stainless. The setup worked flawless for about 6 years now.

 

I remember in my ag fab class in high school we had mostly Lincolns. My favorite was the Power Mig 215(I think) but we had one miller that had a spool gun setup for aluminum. I never used the gun but I didn't care the miller machine at all. I don't even remember which model it was.

 

I'm a Lincoln fan myself but for beginning welding the Miller/Hobarts are easier to use. The Miller's have pretty automated controls on them, set your heat and wire speed and turn it on. The Lincoln's generally offer far more customizable controls but this adds an additional learning curve also. No way you can go wrong with either of them, just be sure you get a plenty big one to handle the long term use it's gonna see.

I use a Lincoln AC/DC stick and a Miller/Hobart Mig and have never had an ounce of problem with either of them.

 

How big of material do you want to weld? The larger the machine the less it likes doing smaller thicknesses a rule of thumb choose the machine that run in the mid-range of heat for your thickness of metal. All welding manufactures have base models and higher end ones for adjustments(heat, burn back, post-flow, pre-flow, ect). If you want to run Aluminum I'd go for the spool gun because if you try and push Alu. wire through a longer whip it like to kink and bind in the liner been there it's not fun. Most welding supply shops will let try out or rent a welder to see how you like it what it all boils down to is what you like/want in your machine. I hope this helps you.

 

I bought a Hobart 125(not the 125ez) mig welder about a year ago and had never touched a welder before then... I've had NO training other than internet research... I've damaged some metal and also welded some strong beautiful welds and i've not yet had one single problem with this machine...

I got the small welder for two reasons... 1) I'm using a smaller generator to run it at 120volts, and 2) I assume i can always make multiple passes if i ever needed to weld anything real thick... by default I can weld thin metals and with a $89 conversion kit, i can add gas for thinner metals and alluminum...

The problem with this is that they don't sell this welder anymore (at least where i shop), but it is highly recommended on my part for small projects and quick fixes, and easy to use... keep in mind, it's the only type of welder i've ever touched... Hope this helps!

 

Hobart iron man 250

 

well it dont look like im going to be able to buy a welder for a little while the school im at hasnt had much ag mech/ metal fab in the past and im only working on a 3k budget for 7 classes for the whole year so maybe later in the year or next year i can get a new one

 

sucks that we give more money to other countries kids than our own born and bred AMERICAN kids... Sorry to hear that man...

 

get a esab