Suffolk JK

Is a 120V welder rated for 175A and states that it's good for mild steel up to 5/16" thick a good enough welder for welding 3/16" and 1/4" plate to the Jeep.

Let's say welding c-gussets, control arm skids, axle sleeves, trusses, etc...

Home Depot has a Lincoln Electric one with these specs for $200.

ironworkerlu21

Those welders are only good for 1/8th in. Yes you can weld thicker with it, but i wouldnt. Especially structural components for your vehicle. And their power output is determined by the extension chord you use...ie. gauge and length. Look at miller welders. Hope that helps.

Suffolk JK

What type of welders would be good to look at that can solidly weld up to 1/4" steel in a "stuctural" manner that would be used to primarily weld brackets, skids, etc.?

Thanks.

Benchmark Designs Inc.

Depends on your budget, but there are a number of 110V wire feed welders that will do 1/4" with a little practice. All of them are going to be a lot more than $200 new though. Look at the Millermatic 135 or 140.

chuck45

To really do what you want to do I think you need to bump up to a 220V machine. A 180-187 is a good starting place. A machine that is a lot of bang for the buck is the Hobart 210. It has a nice smooth arc and a decent duty cycle. It is hot enough to get good penetration on 1/4 to 3/8 material. I've got one and buddies who are professional welders who have used it have been impressed by it. But it's around 900.00.

ironworkerlu21

For a quality machine your looking at about 1k....You want more than you think you'll ever need. A single phase 220 machine would be the ticket at home.

JIMBO 702

Any opinions on this welder ?

chuck45

The Miller 211 is the Miller version of the Hobart 210 that I have (Miller owns and makes Hobart). While I have no experience with the Miller I hear that they are very similar and I have had great luck with my Hobart 210. A friend that works in our fab shop at work, and who has been welding professionaly for 20 years, used it recently and he was quite impressed with it. He thought it started nicely and had a good smooth arc. His comment is valuable because he works with high end commercial Miller and Lincoln machines all day long.

The 211, or my 210, are a bit more expensive than the smaller machines but if you can swing the dollars you won't regret the choice unless you are running a commercial production shop where you'd like more duty cycle.

An additional edit. The MIG gun is on a 10 ft cable and I wish it were longer. I'll probably just put bigger wheels on my cart so it is easier to move around and get closer to the work. Actually what I'm going to do is build a HD cart so that I can mount my MIG and Plasma cutter on the same card and have a reel for my 30 ft 2 gauge extension cord. The Miller and the Hobart are spool gun ready so it is easy to convert to welding aluminum. The spool gun is about 400.00.

Don't forget that if you want to run non flux core wire you'll need a bottle. I went a head and bit the bullet and bought one as the math said it would pay for itself in a couple of years.

heaffie

I bought the Hobart Handler 210 that was referred to earlier in the post. I love it. I went ahead and bought the gas bottle for it so it would be better for welding. All together I have around $1200 in it with the wire and all. I made my bumoer with it and am goin to start on a rear bumper and sliders. It is a good ll around welder. It is also 220V. I think the step under that is not going to be what you want. If you already had a 120V welder you could at least tack it all together real good and then take it to a welding shop and get them to weld it and probably come out a lot cheaper. Then you dont have to buy anything but the metal.

RCJeeper

I agree, you will want a 220V welding WITH the CO2 argon mix sheilding gas but I don't think you need to spend a G plus. I got my Lincoln 170 (older) wire feed mig with tank and regulator used, for $270. Its the tapped model so I'd like to upgrade to a nicer Miller in the future, mainly for the quality of the mig gun. Those smaller lincolns use a cheesy little plastic gun that goes off accidently alot when you have heavy gloves on. Drives my batty. I see the Lincoln 180 on ebay and craigslist all the time for $4-500. Though this machine has the cheesy mig gun, it'll easily handle most jobs on the JK. The next step is a more professional Miller but the price is more "professional" as well. Stay away from the China imports. There's a reason everyone knows of Lincoln and Miller.