mig welders...

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i'm in the market for a new mig, need something that can do up to 1/2" with a semi decent duty cycle, but don't want to spend an arm and a leg. its primarily going to be used on cars for basic sheet metal fab, and heavy bracketry/frame mods. saw the fp260 by firepower going for 1200 new and it seems cool, but only has seven voltage taps. i used a snap on muscle mig with eight taps and the low level voltage control sucked to work with sheet metal. i am looking for something with a little more fine tunablility, but not enough dough to put me in the hole. saw htp's mig2400, looks nice but they're italian right? are they any good? any recommendations??? all advice appreciated... thanks
Reply:I personally would recommend the MM210 its runnin oh msrp I think around 1500.  Its a good machine.  Id say htp, lincoln, esab will have roughly same quality and service from youre local welding supplier.   IMO this is your best route.  Good luckOh, and the tapped machines in this class are still very good.  They will handle wellIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:What will dictate a migs ability to do sheet metal as much as anything will be it's rated bottom end, just like a stick or anything else. If the specs say "30 amp minimum" then it's got a 30 amp minimum whether it has two taps or ten.  You'll have to do some comparisons and try for one that has maybe a 20 amp minimum and still has an acceptable top end then compare that to the ole billfold. Iy would be "sweet sweet mig machine" that would do 24 gauge, 1/2 inch in a single pass, good duty cycle and not cost a lot.
Reply:the gas you use and wire will have some efect on the welding tooChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:Well for the first welder I've had in years I went with a Lincoln SP175 Plus.    Not likely to do what you want, nor all that I might want to do in the future, but it will cover the low end very nicely.    I'm pretty muched convinced that you just can have it your way, when if comes to welders, unless you want to spend a lot of money on high end inverters and the coresponding feeders.    Te SP175 would be to little for your thicker stuff so from Lincoln atleast you would need to look at the Power Mig class of machines.    The 255C might be just the ticket but it runs around $1900 new.    Of course there are the Miller machines none of which stands out any more than the Lincons exept the Passport, this is one interesting machine but a little rich for me.My suggestion would be to get a new MIG welder that is known to be able to handle your thinner stuff and use the money saved to buy a used stick welder.    When a used one becomes available, it seems to me that welders are rare on the used market.   At least around here.I know many here don't want to hear about kingdom building but there is some wisdom in that attitude.    It doesn't matter if we are talking about welding professionally or not or wood working or whatever, to do well you have to build up a collection of tools optimised for specfic jobs.    One wouldn't try ot use a table saw to do the work of a scroll saw for example.   This is pretty much the same with weldiing at least up until recent times.    With the advent of computer controlled invereters it is possible to have one machine that does just about everything well.   Well for a price they do.   ThanksDave
Reply:Well I will tell ya...If I had a table saw I would be finding it mighty tough to limit it only to table saw applications.  All I gots is a circular saw and I find it to be a very common everything saw.  its kinda like my cutting torch.  its old, been around forever, everyone has one.  Noone seems to know how ot use one properly, yet funny thing is until you can afford the fancy stuff, it seems to do everythin gyou need Ive always been a a big advocate of a small cheap mig welder for thin stuff, and a 200 amp stick for the thicker.  BUt I Know most auto folks wont be happy wiht that cracker box.  Its up to you man...whatever you chooseIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:well i already have a thermal dynamics plasma cutter, which i'm extremely happy with. i know firepower and thermal arc are both owned by thermadyne as well, so i guess i'm going to be going with either the fp 260, or the fabricator 251 based on my experience with their other products quality. kinda like going with the underdog too.  i absolutely agree with you concept of having a dinky mig for the sheet metal stuff and a 200 + stick for the heavier stuff, and i did this for a while, but mig does produce a prettier weld with less spatter and i was never a fan of grinding down structural welds for appearance. nice unground welds add character to a rod... just out of curiosity, how come not many people rock the thermadyne welders?
Reply:To be honest I went with what my local welding suppy house offered.   They do have plasma torches from Thermal Dynamics but have nothing in the way of welders from them.   Plus I had a minor amount of experience with a Lincoln welder at work.   There are several welding supply shops in the area whom have a differrent set of welders on hand but they are a bit out of the way.   I know this may not be much of an excuse, but in the range I was buying at there is not a lot differrence in performance.     The fact that the supplier is a 3 minute drive away is very nice.I'm not even going to geuss why they do not have the welders to go along with the plasma torches.    Maybe it is a cusotmer perception problem.    It does seem like they are in tight with Lincoln even though they also handle Miller.Now if I weren't buying at th e low end then I would very likely shop around more.   That would include used if such could be found.    Actually I did shop around a bit especially on line and came to the conclusion that, in the class of Mig welder I purchased, it just didn't matter what color it was.   So focused on closeness of the supplier, the price difference was extremely modest.Dave  Originally Posted by xdeadboox... just out of curiosity, how come not many people rock the thermadyne welders?
Reply:changed my mind and went with the htp mig2400... just got it today and tried it out. very nice welder, kool features, and a very happy me. way nicer than the snap on mig i had. i really like the 24 voltage taps, lots more fine tunability. all in all i'm pretty **** happy
Reply:Good deal. Let us know how it does in all ranges. I'd be interested in the top end if you ever get into something beefy someday..Have fun.
Reply:Hello a brand new member to this site sound sounds like a lot of fun.A friend has a Snap on YA-205 looks like it has never been used.  He does not know it's vault but wants to sell.  I am looking for a welder to do light body work but also weld heavy equipment when needed. I don't want to sell my house for the welder because I wouldn't use it that much.  Can any of you Rod/wire burners help me out?Freddy
Reply:Originally Posted by xdeadbooxwell i already have a thermal dynamics plasma cutter, which i'm extremely happy with. i know firepower and thermal arc are both owned by thermadyne as well, so i guess i'm going to be going with either the fp 260, or the fabricator 251 based on my experience with their other products quality. kinda like going with the underdog too.  i absolutely agree with you concept of having a dinky mig for the sheet metal stuff and a 200 + stick for the heavier stuff, and i did this for a while, but mig does produce a prettier weld with less spatter and i was never a fan of grinding down structural welds for appearance. nice unground welds add character to a rod... just out of curiosity, how come not many people rock the thermadyne welders?
Reply:I'm sure you'll like that HTP MIG2400.  I've had my HTP MIG200 for almost 15 years and I like it alot.  It does great on thin stuff and sheetmetal.   1/4" or 5/16 seems to be about the max for a single-pass weld but I've welded thicker in multiple passes with it and it does fine.I can think of 2 MIG machines that would do thin sheetmetal and 1/2", as well as alumium, but neither are cheap:  Millermatic 350P, and Lincoln Powermig 350MP.   Those are about $4000 machines...  We have the 350P's with Python push-pull torches at work and they are quite nice .
Reply:Hi again out there in welding land,Does anyone know anything about the snap on YA-205 welder?  I need a welder real bad and hope this one will do the job.  Any feed back would help.  Snap on will not help, guess they just want to sell new ones.Thanks in advanceFreddy