ericfx1984

My brother in law and I have been sharing a Lincoln Weld-Pak 3200HD welder for around 7 years, basically it is the largest 110v welder out there which will run up to 135 amps... but you can really ell it is not up to larger jobs...

I am tired of having to get a hold of him and drive 1 and a half hours every time I need to use it

as a result I am looking into a Chicago Electric 97503

http://www.harborfreight.com/welding...der-97503.html

it is a 230v (single phase) on sale for $199.99, and my garage is prewired for 230v

the duty cycle looks decent

and I like the idea of going to 230v

any reason NOT to go to this unit

Zj heep

If it will be used for small jobs it will be ok but would not be something I would want to use every day it won't last

DaddyCat

I don't know this welder (Chicago Electric 97503)
but I saw someone sold a used unit for < $35 on e-bay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...eiy7ZJnpQ%253D

I have a 120 volt Clarke 130en using CO2 gas and it's been good to me. If I was going to get more serious about welding I would buy the Hobart Handler 187. If you plan on welding sheet metal flux core is not going to work well, you need shielding gas.

Hoooper

Only reason I can think of is if you don't have 230v in an area that you plan to be welding.

Cnwxj

You get what you pay for. If you're experience is with a lincoln, you won't be happy. Look for a domestic welder used on cl, may be more money but well worth it. My .02

ericfx1984

from what I have found online, most of the replacement parts are from a Miller welder

EVILXJ

I would wait it out and spend a little more. You'll be glad u did trust me.

Tankerblade

x2. I used that welder with flux core one time. I wanted to destroy it after about 10 minutes...now my little 120 lincoln, with flux core, welds great even for flux core...save up, dont skimp out and waste your time and money on a POS...especially on something you'll have for years. Lincoln is proof that these things are ment to last and have for a long time

Cnwxj

You can replace (generally) any welders parts with millers parts. The weak part of hf welders is how they weld. Erratic wire speed, voltage output, to name a few. Some people have "re built" hf welders so that they work well( most of these people are elec engineers) but were talking total overhaul. Save some money and frustration, just buy one of the big 3. (lincoln, miller and Hobart ) you'll be so much happier. I started with a cheap 110 flux from hf, now I have a miller 211. It's like night and day, but worth every penny.

Cnwxj

Also you can usually convert from flux to mig later.

Tankerblade

you can, but its a pain, why not just spend a few extra $$$ to be able to swap out wire when needed and not worry about that and have a BETTER welder to begin with...

trug

Some thing for the gee wiz file...
if you end up looking at a hobart don't pay too much.

A few years after miller bought hobart(1995), miller down graded components to meet a lower price point. As a result a newer used Hobart is not directly comparable to a miller or Lincoln and you should not pay like it is. This is not to imply that a Hobart is not a good unit, just not as good as it used to be.

slk88cherokee

Save up and get a quality welder for sure. I just got a Rhino 145 amp, can run flux or gas. I use flux right now in it and it has very mild spatter. They are made in china...(insert flame here) but so far it welds as good as my lincoln, miller and penetrates as good as my miler 220v with 98-2 gas. The price was good..cheaper than lincoln and so far welds just as good. Id put up pics but the site won't resize for me. Make sure you swap polarity on whatever welder you get if you run flux. If the welder is gas capable it will be wired for gas. That's why a lot of people hate flux cuz they don't swap hot and ground on the welder and flux wire needs to feed current from the gun to ground, gas pulls from ground to gun. Hope it helps a little.

ericfx1984

well I ended up getting the Chicago Electric Dual Mig 151

first thing I did was made a 25ft 'garden hose' thick extension cord with nema l14-30 twist lock on one end, and a 50 amp stove connector on the other

picked up the cord clearance at lowes, came with the Nema l14-30


so the welder uses nema L14-30 male

the extension cord uses nema l14-30 female, and a 50 amp 3 prong range MALE range plug...

the wall is a 50 amp female range plug...



it has WAY more power than my old Lincoln hd3200 which claimed it was capable of 135 amp... lol but it can only do 90 amp @ 20% duty cycle...

well I can tell you this... the CE 151 has way more power... I think if I wanted to I could burn through 1/4" steel...

just playing around with it I was able to get a nice deep smooth penetration... this is something my old welder could not do... anything over 3/16 on my lincoln required mapp torch preheating... lol

also the transformer in the CE 151 is HUGE!


I also upgraded the fan, the issue is that the stock fan sits 2" from the intake... so I installed a 120mm 230v, 110CFM ball bearing fan, $16 locally purchased, made a big difference on internal temps and arc stability...

also added a better ground clamp... only have about $215 tied up in this thing

ericfx1984

well I am convinced that it is a rebadged older model Clarke, the gun is the same and exchangeable, the feed system is the same, the internals are similar to modern Clarke welders, the cheap wire brush/chiiping hammer is the same, and even the cheap hand held face shield is the same as what they give you when you buy a clarke welder package