I have an opportunity to pic up a miller 135 welder. Realizing I do not have quick access to 220V, and it would cost my dearly to put in220v because I would have to install a subpanel.Is this a good 110v welder for weekend welding, and body work, or should I hold out for a 220V 175 or 180 model? I know 220 has more kick, runs a better bead, and penatrates better, but I don't see myself welding anything beyond 3/16 steel.traction bars? sheet metal? frame? to all you welders, what do you think?

 

I have a Lincoln 140 which is also a 120VAC powered welder. It has been more than adequate for all of the work I have been doing on my car.

 

I have a 110 lincoln MIG and a 220 Tig. I use the MIG more than the TIG. A 110 is perfect for whatever you should want to do in your garage. I set up my TIG with the dryer outlet in case I move and I dont have a 220 outlet handy then I can run my welder and air compressor off of the dryer outlet.

 

The only place the 110v suffers is working cyles. For small jobs and spot welds it is fine. The only big advantage to the 220v units is you can do more work per hour without cool down time. It only matters if you are welding long periods. The 110v is more portable and I can drag mine out in the driveway or even take to a friends to work. The 220v's are to heavy to haul around for what I need.

If it doesn't have the gas pack I would add it. It works better than using flux wire. I have welded 1/4" steel with no trouble with my Hobart 140.

 

the MM135 is fine, will do what you want it to do, came complete with gas cylinoid (S!) so you can run both S6 and fluxcore. My question is how much are you paying? If your paying 400 or more then I would just buy new. for the extra 150 or so you get a newer model with alum capabilitys and 3 year warrentee. Oh ya and a better welding maching the 140 kicks butt.
Some one mentioned "Duty cycle" above. - this unit is a 20% duty cycle. means you can weld 2 minuits (continuous) out of 10 min before the unit shuts down for 10 min. Every time you release the triger the duty cycle is reset. so now worries. (the 175/180 (220v) are also 20% duty cycle) Make sure your on a 20amp breaker though.

Sorry for the sales pitch ..... 13 years in the buissness, is hard not to put in my 2 cents.

 

Do I correctly understand the 20% duty cycle to be 20% at rated output?

If so, does that perhaps imply that a somewhat greater duty cycle is available at outputs less than full rated?

As a couple of side notes, I've never made my little 220V/155A Lincoln unit shut itself down, and I recently did some suspension-related fabrication for my auto-X car using 1/4" bar stock.


Norm

 

i have a miller 130xp 110v mig. its awesome. i just got the tank refilled the other day. it will do anything i need it to do on a mustang.