Welders: Lincoln/Century better than HF?

[D60]

Friend No. 1 was looking for a welder to repair some rusted metal fencing around the perimeter of his property. His friend No. 2 who is a fabricator told him to avoid DIY/HD Miller and Hobart. Affordable yes, but when they break the cost of repair makes them essentially disposable.

No. 2 recommended Fronius. No. 1 finds a distributor and buys a Fronius Transteel 2200 120v. Holy wallet Batman!

No. 1 takes his new welder and sees No. 2 for guidance. No. 2 helps No. 1 developing a schedule and remarks how well the welder performs for a 120v.

Partially true. If boards or other large components go south on ITW the repair does cost as much as a new machine.

However I've also seen Hobart send out parts free of charge for smaller things like switches, triggers etc.

I wouldn't necessarily worry about ITW -- the odds of a significant failure early in the life of the machine is very, very low. Odds are it will live long enough for the average consumer to not be too upset when it dies. Obviously if you plan to use it commercially you should step up to a better machine.

Fronius made the battery powered Dewalt TIG that never really took off. Worthless trivia.

 

[CarbonSteel]

I went with the Lincoln 211i. After looking at multiple machines, this one checks all the boxes. Now to get a tank and start my next fab project!

 

[Rand]

I'm cheap I was looking at this one currently 300 after coupon

https://www.amazon.com/YESWELDER-Digital-MIG-205DS-Multiprocess-Aluminum/dp/B07TVCWDGW/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3M0MJPM0JRQTV&keywords=yes%2Bwelder&qid=1681411918&sprefix=yes%2Bwelde%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-5&th=1

Have an old tombstone stick welder at the shop.

 

[Soft Cars]

That looks like it might be the MIG only version of the Power MIG 215 MPi.

 

[billt460]

I’m not a HF fan but I saw a guy using one of these to replace our car wash tracks. They wear out where the unit rides back and forth.

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Seemed to work just fine honestly. I was impressed with it seeing it in action

I have a small Hobart that works for most things I need. Body shop has a nice miller if I need more

I'm running that welder, and so far so good. For 95% of home welding jobs, it will perform most any task. I'm also running this Prime Weld CT520-D.

It does TIG, stick, as well as Plasma Cutting. It's a lot of machine for the money. And does everything I could ever want. Both of these machines run fine off either of my Westinghouse 9500 Watt generators.

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