Infinite voltage control?

[Brian18]

Hey everyone.. I have a question about some different welders I've been looking at lately. I need to get a better machine, and noticed there are welders with infinite voltage controls and some with taps. I plan on doing some sheet metal work (body repair work on my car). But anyways, my question is if the infinite voltage control is better for sheet metal work since you can dial it in a little better? Or would a machine with taps do just fine for sheet metal? If the machine with taps is ok, I'd rather get that.. Because people keep telling me that an infinite voltage control can be a pain because it's easy to accidentally bump the dial and mess up the setting you had. Any information would be great. Thanks.

[Roger]

I have infinite voltage control on little Lincoln MIG welder I use on sheet metal. Yes I have bumped Volt setting off while adjusting wire speed. You can also waste time fine tuning volt setting unless you treat it like tapped voltage switch with large adjustments that you can see how weld is affected.

Infinite voltage control does help prevent manufacture making welder with too high lowest voltage tap that makes welding 22ga and 24ga hard to impossible even with .024" wire. But the welder could still have poor inductance, transformer with excessive droop, bad wire feeder and many other problems.

Best to post what welder your thinking of buying here, other welding mboard or news group. Look at old posts about the welder your thinking about buying and how dealer/manufacture fixed problems. Remember even great welders can have problems. Most people will post good or bad about the one or two welders of that class they owned.

[Dan]

One of the best sheetmetal units that I have ran is the MM 210, which is of course a tapped unit. I ve also ran several other tapped units, and they all performed very well on sheetmetal. I tend to feel that a variable units starts providing some advantages once you reach 1/8" and thicker. For sheetmetal though, as long as the unit is designed properly, a tapped unit is my preference for ease of operation. Actually the same is true for 1/8" and thicker too.

[Roger]

I forgot to say my sp125+ is a great little welder that easily welds 24ga. steel with .023 or .030 solid wire and welds up to 1/8" steel in one pass using .030 fluxcore wire. It would now be called a SP135+ with a few minor changes.

[Brand X]

I have used that little welder and for some reason I prefered it to the 135 t model I used.
I had a MM 130 XP at the time and I thought it was = to the Lincoln even with tap output settings on the Miller. I guess it would of been close to a Hobart 135 but I still liked the other two better.

[Dan]

I forgot to say my sp125+ is a great little welder that easily welds 24ga. steel with .023 or .030 solid wire and welds up to 1/8" steel in one pass using .030 fluxcore wire. It would now be called a SP135+ with a few minor changes.

I ve ran the 125+ and 135+, and they both were (are) definitely very good little sheetmetal units with solid wire and C-25. The HH 135 that i use to own, was also a very good thin ga sheetmetal unit with .023 solid wire and C-25.

[Brian18]

Sorry, I forgot.. I should of posted the welder I was actually interested in.. I'm looking at a HH140. I don't need a lot of power because like I said, my purpose for the welder is sheet metal work. Anyone have opinions on this machine for thin metal?

[cope]

Sorry, I forgot.. I should of posted the welder I was actually interested in.. I'm looking at a HH140. I don't need a lot of power because like I said, my purpose for the welder is sheet metal work. Anyone have opinions on this machine for thin metal?

I just welded some 28 ga to 24 ga to repair my old garage door. I had to weld almost parallel to the 28 ga into the 24, but it made a decent weld. The 140 is a great little machine and very popular around this site.

[Sundown]

The HH140 is a very good choice for thin stuff IMO, I keep .023-.025 wire in mine all the time. I use a friends SP-135+ very often, even though it is a very nice welder and I like to use it, I still prefer using a tapped voltage mig and Hobart/Miller service is excellent.

[moe1942]

I'm glad I don't have a lot of MIG time. I have a MM175 and find it to be a sweet machine. I use the door settings and find they work great for me. I get great looking welds and good penetration. Those are the only two things I ask of a welder.

I used a MM135 at trade school when I was in the VA rehab program. Thought that was a fine machine also. IMHO I would stay away from Century. That was my first MIG. Piece of kaka. Finally gave it away.

[Brian18]

I think I'm gonna wind up getting the HH140.. I was looking on Ebay, and there seems to be good prices for them on there.. But I kind of worry about buying something like this there.. Anybody every buy one on Ebay? Did it all go ok?

[ddrewyor]

Hh140

My wife bought my HH150 for me about 8 years ago when I was restoring my first car. It handled the job with awesome results (the welder worked great, I was learning ). The unit did the sheetmetal repair and heavier torque box replacement very well. Now I am starting to work on fabricaiton projects that require heavier materials: 3/16" - 1/4" sheet, angle, and tubing. All I did was step up the voltage and change the wire from .024" to .030" and the welds turned out great. My suggestion is to go for the HH180 because it will allow you to grow into other projects that always seem to happen along. Just my $.02

Dave

[Brian18]

Really all I'll ever be doing with the HH140 is sheet metal.. I'm gonna save money and when I need to weld something thick, I'm gonna go out and get a MM210. I've heard really good things about that machine.

[_TJ]

I think I'm gonna wind up getting the HH140.. I was looking on Ebay, and there seems to be good prices for them on there.. But I kind of worry about buying something like this there.. Anybody every buy one on Ebay? Did it all go ok?

Yes all went GREAT! Just check the feedback and you'll see if they're a reputable company or not.

[storts]

Cope

I just welded some 28 ga to 24 ga to repair my old garage door. I had to weld almost parallel to the 28 ga into the 24, but it made a decent weld. The 140 is a great little machine and very popular around this site.

I Just sold my commerical building in ct. and have been in the buisness for 28 years, dont do a lot of migging, sold 3 lincoln older models 200 amps ,single phase, they were ok, held onto my miller cp-200 3 phase,and what a gem it was, put a 3 phase converter in my garage, with shop to follow in the spring, I have 10.5 acres, so plenty of room, and its legal in my town, sold the cp-200 3 phase,and bought off of e bay a lincoln 175 plus, No taps, and they set your wire feed speed,You tune your heat in and wire speed,all I can say is HOLY CRAP,,,,I cant believe how nice it is, runs nicer than the 3 phase miller,only draw back is it has a 10 ft gun, compared to 15 ft, and the duty cycle is 30 percent wide open, which i never use, but have tried it,,Paid 400 bucks for it,it had 10 hrs on it, and the man never sent the warentee card in,Its a pleasure to use!!!!!!!!!! I use it on all 1/8 now,,Cant say enough good about it, and thats less that half way open,Believe me you wont go wrong,,,Good luck,Jack
Or you could go with the LATEST Lincoln that just came out,,I just recieved it in my e mail box,NOT 2 Minutes ago,,Have a look, Jack,,Next page to big to download