Anything welding

I have a Miller 220 and NEVER use the Auto-set. I feel like it's a good place to start, but I always end up wanting a hotter setting with less wire speed than it recommends. I guess what I'm saying is don't base your purchase on the Auto-set feature...

 

i looked at that one, nice piece of equipment right there. I see what you mean, basically, I should learn how to do it the right manual way vs. the let me hold your hand way not knowing what i am doing

 

They have the 240 now. $630 alu spool gun. Read that the 230 is being discontinued too not discounting what you said, as it has simple and good features as I read on it.

 

The ironman are great machines. But a lot more machine then most home guys need. Great if you are doing a lot of welding and can use the large spools of wire.

 

Its a big boi for sure

 

Yup. Even with my lowly HF Titanium 170 I am usually tweaking away from the panel recommended settings depending on “feel”.

I’d put little weight on “auto” features.

 

Auto set on miller machines are cold and to much wire in my opinion. I turn the heat up and the wire down and can lay some decent beads. I have the miller multimatic215 (old version of the 220 so no ac tig or high frequency start tig) and with my own settings is great and the mig is the same as the 211. Besides getting the new 220 or a dedicated tig I have no complaints and no plans to upgrade

 

Agreed. Not sure about the 215, but the 220 allows you to "tweak" the voltage/feed speed with the Auto-set feature on. I can never "tweak" the voltage high enough and feed speed low enough in Auto-set. I end up having to turn it off to get anywhere close to where it needs to be to get a decent weld. Like I said before, I NEVER use it...

 

The 215 is the same. I took some time with scrap but made my own setting for 3/16 and 1/4 and now it works great. I still need to do the same for 1/8 metal and what not but I can get it pretty close.

 

I do the same. Have plenty of coupons laying around and like to dial the settings in prior to starting my projects. Out of curiosity, what settings do you use for 3/16" and 1/4"? I hit the bumper (3/16") with 21V/300IPM and it seemed to work pretty good. Some joints could've used a bit more feed.

 

I welded this tonight (3/16 to 3/16 besides the capture Nut is 1/4) and used 18.5 and 220 at first the. Went to 18.7 and 230 to do the 1/4 in part. I start at 19 and 230 when doing 3/16 typically.

 

Dang. Looks like I'm still pretty hot with a lot more feed. Kind of funny that the Auto-set for 3/16" with .030 wire @ 240V input is 19.7V/413IPM.

 

You can see there’s plenty of heat in the tabs and I welded some and let them cool. I start with the auto set and normally leave the voltage and turn the wire way down if I’m unsure. I turned the heat down on these cause of how small the tabs are. Frame and big pieces I turn it up to the 19.7 or 20 ish since it’ll suck more of the heat.

 

I did a fifth gen 4Runner rear coastal bumper recently. I didn’t log the hours but I estimate it was around 10 hours from start of fitting the bumper together to the last bit of weld was ground and sanded down. I only worked on it maybe an hour or so a day so overall it took me over a week to complete.

 

One needs to remember the whole auto set feature is just a marketing ploy to attract people that can`t weld yet!!

More parts to fail.

Learn to set the machine up by sight and sound because sooner or later you will be using a machine that might just have a arrow pointing up to set things up.

Another thing to consider is service and who your buying shielding gas from unless you planning nothing but self shielded wire.

Is is another concern for the machine living in a apartment . Along with input power Do you have access to 240VAC how close is your 120Vac to where you can weld ??

Learn to weld use as many different machines as you can then decide just what features you can not live without .

Weld with a spool gun we call the low end ones throw away`s for a reason

Welding Hoods are like Bras they all work the same yet are so very different . I have yet to see a distributor ever have any welding hood demos Sure you could try a hood on for fit but no real arc time.

 

I wanted a decent tube notcher but at the frequency I need one, I didn’t feel the need to buy a really good one (JD2 - $300). This one was $200 and has similar specs.

3/4” shaft vs 1” shaft
3/4”-2” OD vs 3/4”-3” OD

https://www.affordablebender.com/collections/affordable-benders-tube-notchers/products/affordable-bender-tube-pipe-notcher

I couldn’t find any reviews on the thing so it was a little bit of a gamble, but their benders seem to have good reviews so I went for it.

My initial judgement of it based on build quality is that it’s built rock solid but not super refined. A little bit of weld spatter, not the best welds, powder coat chipped, etc. but it’s all cosmetic. That’s ok though, I only care about it making true cuts. I may pick up a hole saw today and give it a go on some scrap. I’ll be sure to share my thoughts in here.

 

Wow the fact that is not on one piece is interesting.

Almost looks like the bolts are to short to catch the locking part of the nut might be the picture .

If it works for what you want is all that matters

 

I noticed that too, thought it was interesting. I don’t know the reasoning behind the two piece design, I assume for adjustability since this can be used in a drill press or mill as well.

 

Agreed. The prep for my GX seemed to take just as long as the bumper itself. The instructions want one to install a piece on the left, then same piece on the right, then next piece on left, back to right etc. It went a lot faster when I built one side, worked out all the fitment issues then moved to the other.

 

The comment on the apartment was more so to store the welder, I will be performing the welding at a friend's shop with access to 240 and such, yes I can probably leave the welder there but I can't be doing that indefinitely. Point is looking for something with ease to move in an out if needed. For example I looked up the Ironman and it is solid but bulky to move.

Noted on the shielding gas, I did identify a local company who sell welding equipment and provide gas bottles and service them. Took a powertank there to fill it up and got a glimpse on what they do.

Noted on the auto set, and per previous comments that's exactly what I concluded on what the purpose of it is.