Need welder advice

Millermatic 140 with auto set on Ebay

I am thinking about getting this for Chuck for christmas. He has mentioned this one before but enough time has passed that I am pretty sure he doesn't think he's getting it. He welds small stuff and it could possibly be used to fix the holes in my Celica, so I have alterior motive in getting him this. We are pretty much limited to a 110/120v unit until we get a larger capacity box for the house.

Does anyone have any experience or imput on this one? It seems like a good price and you can't ask for better feedback than 100% positive.

Thanks! :D

IOC is a great company to deal with. I bought my Miller from them via ebay. They have the best prices and will speak with you via phone if necessary.

As for the welder, you picked the right brand, but I've never tried this particular one. I'm not too fond of 110v welders in general, but many people like theirs.

Some say auto-set is somewhat of a gimmick.

There is a Miller MIG called a DVI which runs on 110 or 220. Don't know about the cost off-hand, however.

Great gift, regardless.

-James

I have that model - its great. It can easily weld 3/16" plate and roll bar tubing all day long... and it has excellent fine control for thin sheet metal.

The "Autoset" is a gimmicky thing I guess, since it really isn't that difficult to set the old fashioned way but it is actually pretty decent at getting you close to the right heat/feed so I find I need less practice runs on scrap to get setup.

If you don't need to weld big stuff (thicker than 5/16") often or don't mind making multiple passes when you do need to then its the right choice... I also hear good things about IOC but I gave the local guy a shot and he came close on the price of the machine & cut me a nice break on the cost of a bigger gas bottle, a pile of supplies etc... I figured it was good karma for when I need repairs later.

+1 for both IOC and the Miller. Bought mine there, got excellent service. When I dropped it and broke the circuit board (my fault) they sent me to a local repair place that fixed it free. I asked the guy at IOC how they could maintain a 100% feedback, and he said with UPS shipping it was a miracle!

jamscal wrote: IOC is a great company to deal with. I bought my Miller from them via ebay. They have the best prices and will speak with you via phone if necessary. As for the welder, you picked the right brand, but I've never tried this particular one. I'm not too fond of 110v welders in general, but many people like theirs. Some say auto-set is somewhat of a gimmick. There is a Miller MIG called a DVI which runs on 110 or 220. Don't know about the cost off-hand, however. Great gift, regardless. -James

I love the DVI. Works great on 120 and can adapt to 240 when I upgrade my house. It has done all of the fabrication on my pinto to date and then some.

When I got it a few years ago, it was $1000+/-