Help with choosing a welder!

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I bought a Harbor Freight mig 100 welder just to experiment. I want to buy a good welder for making trailers and go kart and chopper frames. I have heard Miller makes a Mig/Tig/Stick welder. How do I choose the right size?  I want to make mc trailers but also be able to do gas tanks. ThanksRegal Harley
Reply:No one machine does everything but the Miller Dynasty 200 would work well all around but its pricey. You can weld all metals with it and its a fine stick machie too. Very stingy with the electric demands also.  A Maxstar is cheaper but wont do aluminum.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:Miller also has the millermatic dvi new this year for about 1250 list price it runs on 110 and 220 and has a 40 percent duty cycle 170 amps
Reply:If you are not doing aluminum, HTP has The MTS 160 combo unit.  It is a self contained inverter unit that weighs about 34 pounds, 220volts, mig, tig, and stick.  It is dc only though, and will not do aluminum.  I bought mine and wouldnt trade it right now for anything.  Customer service and shipping is great also!  It sells for about $1200.  Check it out at their web site:  www.usaweld.com.A few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:What kind of aluminum are you gonna weld?  If it is thin, then you need to TIG.That said, for trailers and frames, whether steel or aluminum, a Miller 210 w/spoolgun will work.If you want to multi-pass and won't do aluminum look at the Hobart 180 or MM175
Reply:I would like to comment that there are a few machines that do mig, tig, and stick but they dont come as an all in one package, you do have to purchase the various pieces, torch, stinger, and on some a wire feeder.  Lincoln for instance makes the powermig 350mp and it is a mig welder but it will do stick and tig.  Miller has the XMT which is a powersupply and you have to supply a wirefeeder for mig, torch and stinger for stick and tig.  But there both really good options.   Just go to millerwelds.com or lincolnelectric.com and look under the multiprocess section.   They are more expensive, but there good machines.
Reply:HTP's MTS160 IS an all in one unit!  It comes with the mig gun, gas solenoid, gas regulator, the wire feed is built into the unit not external.  If you want to Tig, just add tig torch, if you want to stick weld, just add electrode stinger, the machine is ready to do all three without adding any additional units or modules except for the tig torch or stinger.  It comes with everything else including the ground cable and clamp.  Features of the unit include adjustment of slope down, arc force, gas post flow,wire feed incher, continuous and seam mig mode, and burn back time.  If there is no such thing as an all in one package, this one comes pretty darn close!A few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:The guy bought a small machine to experiment. So I don't hink he wants to jump in and build aluminum trailers. Harley, you have the small mig unit for thin stuff. You can do repairs lite duty fabrication and gas tank work with that(use gas tho). If you want to build trailers a descent stick welder would be good to have. It's okay to have 3-4 machines ya know. You can buy a nice Lincoln red box for a few hundred bucks and they last forever. 6011 is a great all position rod you can build your bike trailer and a couple more to buy a tig machine later on............just my .02
Reply:I agree with tig man,I bought a millermatic passport a few weeks ago and am totally impressed I can do bike frames or trailers,gas tanks or whatever.I can weld 3/8" in one pass and it works on 120volt or 240volt single phase,it is also portable at 55lbs. with 8"spool in it.30 amps to 180 amps and 60% duty cycle.It can also do aluminum with add on and when I get proficient with this machine I will go back to a good stick welder then a tig later.I am going to start building a plasma cutting machine shortly to cut my sheetmetal fittings.So definetly I am all for buying the right machine for the projects as they come up.I believe when you get the so called all in one machines you get a machine that may do all but is good at none.(IMO)Nobody moves nobody gets hurt(safety first)millematic passportmiller 375 plasmacutter