What kind of welder do you own?

Is this the same welder that you have?

so you guys are saying a decent 140 amp will do anything you need our trucks including frame mods? i was convinced on a 180 amp but if a 140 wil do it then there is no reason to buy a 220v machine.

No that is not the same welder I have. I have had no problem welding on my frame and doing sheetmetal work with mine. Has worked out great for me. I didnt want to jump up to a 220 welder. Mine has been fine.

yes and no, if you have the 220 accessible I would recommend going that way. BUT! if you say build you mini in a storage shed that you rent and don't want to run a whole slew of romex to something that not yours you make do. I went from a lincoln 100 to a hobart 140 and it is definitely a notable difference in heat. It will make 1/4" glow red hot. 3/16th will burn in nicely all day long, you just need to know when the arc is burning in, and have a very good understanding of technique. Like you do not weld a vertical seam down hill with a 110 at least not any real thickness, it takes practice on speed going uphill but the welds can come out just as nice looking. Anything like 3/16th and 1/4 you must bevel the edges to allow more burn in.

I will give hobart another prop, the fact that the drive wheels can do all wire sizes .035" and smaller just by flipping the wheels. I know my last lincoln if you wanted to change wire size it meant buying wheels also. Right now I'm building my toyota backhalf with .030" flux wire, and will switch to .024" solid core with gas when it comes time to do sheet metal mods.

here is my 140 on two pieces of 1/4" I know image quality sucks but can't figure the camera out

^ good lookin weld just a lot of build up.

you mean all the flux crap on the sides?

no, a lot of material build up. too much filler wire in the weld. i'd turn my wire speed down a bit, but only if the welder had the balls to really blast the metal, and penetrate well. that way it looks more like a TIG weld. thats the advantage of a more powerful 220v welder. you can really crank it up, and use less filler wire and get a better looking, stronger, more penetrating weld, with a smaller heat affect zone, because you don't have to spend as long on the trigger 'warming' up the metal before you get penetration.

Welds my friend did with my Hobart 125 and gas







Still adding 2 more gussets ontop of bag plate once UCA mount hole is capped off


The breaker would pop occasionally

I have a Hobart 187. It's an awesome little machine....

Anyone tried comparable lincoln or miller 180 amp welders?

I like the price on the hobart 187 mig, but im wondering how annoying the set voltage selector is gonna be.

i guess unfortunately i was spoiled with welding school, learning to weld mig with a nice miller worth quite a bit more than my truck...
infinite settings on voltage and wire speeds, not 4-7 presets only. damn fancy shit.