I need advice on a welder. I got some experience with welding from school(years ago) but I'm totally clueless on what to get. I remember that what ever units we had at school all were miller, had digital read outs, and could go up to ridiculous amps. However these units are a several thousand bucks out of my price range.

I have someone offer to trade one of my vehicles for a miller syncrowave 180sd. Any one know how much one of these is worth?

I was planning on using to to weld up a front winch bumper, rear bumper with a tire rack, and maybe a roof rack. Will this be able to handle that?

thanks in advance

 

A 180 is plenty it depends on what you want to do with the welder also like suspension bumpers sheet metal

 

Wrong thread haha just a matter of time before it is closed.... put the question in technical or chat

 

look pretty beefey should handle all your needshttp://www.ebay.com/itm/MILLER-SYNCR...449#vi-content

 

http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o360j_mil.pdfinfo here...

 

A miller synchrowave is a TIG welding machine. Awesome machine cabable of welding pretty much any material and any thickness. Unfortunately it is not ideal for fabbing bumpers and what not as it is a MUCH slower welding process and MUCH more difficult. Also there is so many ways to adjust so many things on that machine getting it set right and learning what each **** does and where its applicable takes time and practice. I would recomend a MIG machine. If your looking at the MILLER brand search the MILLERMATIC series machines. Not sure what your budget is but in my opinion the MILLERMATIC 211 is the best intermediate MIG machine.

 

We've got Millers at school too. Do yourself a favor and get a 220v instead of 110v. Our 220s even do a better job on sheet metal!!

 

I was planning to use 1/4 inch for the front and back bumper

 

I already know how to stick weld, and the 180 is a stick/ tig cross over

 

what is the thickest metal you are going to use and how much money can you spend on a welder

 

Yes. It is a stick/tig. I forget that some people still stick weld. I have not done it for years. Kinda miss it sometimes. Anyway. If your cool with stick welding everything then i would say go for it. Learn to TIG with it to.

 

Realisticly probably only 1/4 in. But, i like the idea of going up to 1/2 in. My cap is 1400

 

Get it.....when you can do a exhaust and a bumper with the same machine others will be jealous

 

I'm a welder and personally I prefer MIG/ Fluxcore for fab work I do on my Jeep. TIG is way too slow and all of your materials have to be perfectly clean. It's also expensive. Stick is only good for thicker stuff if you want it to turn out well. MIG can do thick or thin metal and you can use fluxcore if your metals cannot be cleaned very easily. I have a Hobart Hanger 187 at the house, I love it. Just my .02

 

X2

I have both a TIG and MIG. 90% of the time I use the MIG. I use the TIG for thin aluminum and chromoly thats about it. MIG is the best all around machine you could put in your shop/garage. Use flux core wire if you weld outside or can't get the metal clean.