new welder!

[chumly]

i am looking at buying a new welder in the 135 amp. range.what is the difference between the hobart 135 and the millermatic 135 ? this is just a hobbie,have small things to fix,something to play with! is the cost worth the diffence ?

[ZACHV]

Use the search button as this has been covered many times. Basically, most hobbiests confirm that the added expense is not worth it between the machines. The differences are minimal.

[chumly]

i've been looking at lincoln,hobart,@miller,ruled out lincoln,blue seems to be more popular aroud this area.hobart has a composite feedhead and a 4-tap voltage control.miller has a metal feedhead and infinite voltage control.are the transformers the same?are there pro's and con's to these features?

[Dan]

Chumly
I ve been on this site for about two years and in this time frame I have never read any negative feed back on the HH 135. Multiple owners of the machine have posted positive feed back on its performance. The only time people have actually stated any thing negative is when they had bought the machine intending to use it on a lot of 3/16 material and soon discovered that the machine doesn t have the duty cycle to handle the work load.

Now as far as voltage selections I have stated multiple times on this site that my experience has been that an inexperienced operator has a much easier time tuning the machine in on a tapped voltage machine then they do with a variable voltage control.

One of my wire feed machines is a HH 175 , which uses the exact same wire feed assembly as the HH 135. I have had this machine for 2 years and in this two year time frame the machine has probably been used more then the average home hobbiest would use the machine in probably5 to 10 years. What Im trying to state here is in my opinion the plastic used on this feed assembly isn t really an issue for the light useage that a home hobbiest weldor will put the machine through.

[chumly]

i appreciate the feed back you guys have given me,would i be wise to look at hh 175? i was told buy a dealer that the hh 135 and the hh 175 were the same machine except the hh 175 was wired for 220 volts,making the duty cycle longer.would appreciate any thougths on this.

[Al T.]

I wonder about your dealer, The hh175 is a higher amperage machine, 40 amps higher than the hh135.

The duty cycle for the hh135 is: 20% at 90 A

and for the hh175 is: 130 A at 30% Duty Cycle

I would say that is an important difference.

[Dan]

Originally posted by chumly
i appreciate the feed back you guys have given me,would i be wise to look at hh 175? i was told buy a dealer that the hh 135 and the hh 175 were the same machine except the hh 175 was wired for 220 volts,making the duty cycle longer.would appreciate any thougths on this.

Chumly

In my opinion, any day of the week a HH 175 is going to be a much better choice then a HH 135. First thing the HH 175 has more available output power, which amount to sounder welds in thicker material. With a HH 175 you should be able to use a E71T-11 self shielded fluxcore wire and multi pass up to 3/8" material. I wouldnt even think about trying this with a 135 amp machine. Then of course the HH 175 has a much better duty cycle in the same amperage range that the 135 covers.

As far as the same machine and just being wired different I don t think this is true. I looked in my owners manual which is a manual for the H 135 and HH 175 . The parts list shows different numbers for the transformer, diodes, reactor, fan motor, and circuit boards. Also, the HH 135 uses 53,000 micro farad capacitors, and the HH 175 uses 100,000 micro farad. Looks like two different units to me.

[Roger]

If you have infinite voltage control as a beginer you must learn to treat the voltage control like the switch on a 4 tap welder. Infinite votage and wire speed is like adjusting rifle sights make big changes you can see affect getting on target fast before fine tuning.
Infinite voltage control is easier to knock out of adjustment with gloved fingers while adjusting wire speed than 4 tap switch.

[chumly]

thanks for the feed back,i've found that it pays to ask questions from people who know from expierence!i was leaning towards 110v. machine,but very strongly will look at the hh 175.i would to weld up 1/4-5/16 when the need arises.agan many thanks!

[chumly]

one more question!can you weld 24 gauge material with the tap ajustment ? the hobart advertises 22 gauge w/taps and miller 24 gauge w/adjustable voltage.

[Dan]

Originally posted by chumly
one more question!can you weld 24 gauge material with the tap ajustment ? the hobart advertises 22 gauge w/taps and miller 24 gauge w/adjustable voltage.

All I can state on this one is that my HH 175 is a couple years old and it has settings for 24ga. This thin of material is best welded down hill. And the best success rate is going to be acheived by using tack weld technique

[super vw]

cant say anything about the 175 but i will second that the 135 is great for thin stuff (thats all i do though)... havent had a problem with it yet

[Al T.]

This past weekend I kicked up the voltage on my hh175 from 3 to 4, solid wire. On 1/8 material it lays down a better looking weld, I have it set on 20ips speed. I like to take my time and get a smooth bead.

The lower voltage setting 3 seemed to have a problem getting good penetration. Would increasing the ips from 20 to 30 also do the same thing as raising the voltage?

[Al T.]

Aaron
Thats good to know about the feed rate instead of ips.

I'm using .030 wire, 20% rate on number 4 setting, very predictable now and controllable. I running at 20% due too I'm apprehensive about beam forming too fast. As you can tell I still have years to go in my learning curve.

[Al T.]

Aaron,
That's a great atmosphere to try out new idea's and learn new technics.

I'm finding that the sequence of assembling is teaching me some lessons right now. It determines final length of all pieces and how the finished product looks.

I also try to hide (sorry!) my weld joints, so it looks like its held together by magic. That comes from my woodworking background.