Dave Gorkman | Master Welder

Miller AutoArc XLT142 Portable MIG Welder

In welding, portability is a huge factor for many of us. Getting the welder to where the work needs to be done is essential, whether it’s on the other side of the garage or the other side of town. The demand for portability is what has made the Miller AutoArc XLT142 Portable MIG Welder a go-to welder in a wide variety of settings.

It’s a compact, portable welder that has the power to accomplish a diverse assortment of large and small welds on steel and aluminum. At just 73 pounds and with its compact dimensions, the XLT142 gives you greater access to work areas beneath equipment or up on scaffolding. And when you get to the job you’ll have the functionality you want to fix or fabricate whatever you need.

The Miller AutoArc XLT142 Portable MIG Welder, or Miller MLL907263, is a flux-cored wire and MIG welder that uses reliable constant-voltage DC power. It features an onboard gas solenoid and a dual-gauge regulator and gas hose. The rugged and steady onboard feeder delivers the wire you need from 40-700 IPM under load or 50-740 without load. It does all this with 115 volt power that makes it extremely versatile, a welder you can take just about anywhere there’s 115 volt power on a 20 amp circuit.

Miller AutoArc XLT142 Details
This welder is outfitted with the tools you need to get your welding done efficiently and precisely. The 10-foot H10 model MIG torch gives you excellent reach as does the 10-foot lead and clamp. The kit includes 3 contact tips at .030 along with a starter 1 pound spool of .030 flux-cored welding wire. You also get a welding set up chart which takes the guesswork out of customizing every weld. Quickly adjust the power and arc and you are ready to turn out another perfect weld, with capacity up to ¼”.

Warranty Information

Miller Electric stands behind the AutoArc XLT142 with one of the best warranties in the industry. It is a 5-year comprehensive warranty that covers anything and everything. You don’t find that every day in the welding business.

WHO USES THE MILLERMATIC AUTOARC XLT142 MIG WELDER?
The 115V functionality along with the portable size and weight makes this a popular choice wherever welding needs to be done. While not designed for heavy industrial use, it’s got the guts to tackle any weld up to ¼”, and that covers a lot of ground. You’ll find it cranking out the work in home garages and shops, light to medium industrial settings, fab shops, auto-body garages, hot rod and bike shops, maintenance garages, farms, ranches and more.

At just 73 pounds, it is also a good choice for contractors who want a welder they can take with them to the job site when the occasional weld is required on the project or a piece of equipment needs repair. Rental shops often have a Miller AutoArc XLT142 on hand as a rental unit because of its versatility and ease of use. When you want an easy-to-use, high-performance MIG/flux-cored welder this one deserves serious consideration.

Summary:

Miller AutoArc XLT142 Portable MIG Welder
Part number: MLL907263
Flux core and MIG processes
Corded 115V plug
Rated 90A output with 19VDC at 20% Duty Cycle
25-140 amp range with multiple settings for total control
Adjustable, continuous wire feed: 40-700 IPM (load), 50-740 IPM (no load)
Wire diameter to .030 inches
10-foot MIG torch
10-foot work cable
Handy setup/Info chart
Weight: 72.6 lbs
Made in the U.S.A.

Lincoln K2185 Handy MIG Welder

Lincoln offers a range of welders for all skill and application levels including the Lincoln K2185 Handy MIG Welder that takes the idea of a starter welder to great new heights. If you want to get started with wire welding or have experience with hobby or DIY welding then this kit is an outstanding choice. It flawlessly combines ease of operation with the power and performance required to get each weld exactly right.

The Lincoln K2185 is a 115 volt, single phase MIG / flux cored wire welder that only requires a 20 amp household circuit for operation. The user friendly design features 4 voltage stops that range from 35 to 88 amps of output, giving you the control you want and enough power to cover the jobs that will crop up around the house, ranch or farm. It is incredibly compact and lightweight at just 46lb so you can take it to the work rather than bringing the work to it when necessary. It’s light enough to haul up a ladder or place on top of machinery for easier access to what needs welding. Contractors who run into the occasional need for welding on the job site have found a reliable tool in the Lincoln K2185.

The Lincoln K2185 Handy MIG Welder features an adjustable continuous wire feed that keeps you working without interruption, something stick welders cannot offer. The 4 settings let you set it right every time for mild steel from 24 gauge to 1/8”. The cold contactor design keeps the wire electrically cold and safe until you pull the trigger to start welding while the fan-cooled design protects the components from overheating.

Lincoln K2185 Handy MIG Details

This kit is ready to go out of the box. It comes fully equipped with all the parts you need to get welding – just add a cylinder of shielding gas and fire it up. The gun and cable assembly is included along with the work cable and clamp. The gas hose is equipped with a gas nozzle and regulator. Lincoln Electric has also included a spool of solid wire and another of flux-cored self-shielded wire. Extra contact tips, a brush/hammer combination and a handshield are all part of the package. The Lincoln Handy MIG 115/1/60 has a rated output/duty cycle of 70 amps @20% and wire speed adjustable from 0 to 300 IPM.

Warranty Information

Lincoln Electric backs the Handy MIG welder with a 1-year warranty on parts and labor, with 90-day coverage on the MIG gun and cable.

WHO USES THE LINCOLN K2185 HANDY MIG WELDER?

This compact yet powerful welder is a top-rated model among homeowners who handle their own welding projects in the garage or shop. It’s also popular on farms and ranches for light and medium duty welds to equipment and machinery. Contractors with welding projects on their list often carry a Lincoln Handy MIG in their truck or tool crib for time-saving convenience.

Summary

Lincoln K2185 Handy MIG Welder

115 volt gas/no-gas welder for flux core and solid wire
4 voltage settings from 35 to 88 amps
Duty cycle: 70 amps @ 20%
Material thickness: 24 gauge to 1/8”
Electric: Corded
Weight: 46lb
All in one kit
Warranty: 1 year warranty on parts and labor, 90 days on gun and cable

Lincoln K2403-1 Power MIG 350 Welder

What welder do you reach for when you need it all? The Lincoln K2403-1 Power MIG 350 Welder might be the right choice. It is loaded with today’s most innovative welding technology and won’t become obsolete any time soon because it has the capability to download future waveforms of advanced welding processes as they become available.

This 230 volt high capacity welder can do it all: Flux core, MIG, pulsed MIG, TIG, stick and advanced processes like pulse-on-pulse and Lincoln Electric Power Mode. The features of this powerful machine offer unlimited capability to weld anything that comes your way. These include Lincoln Chopper Technology that puts total control over the welding arc and power into your hands. The Pulse-on-pulse mode offers state of the art cleaning functionality for welding aluminum and delivers a TIG-style look to the completed bead.

In Power Mode you’ve got the enhanced ability to keep a stable, controlled arc for short-arc welding on thinner metals and better arc length control when aluminum is your material. The Syngeric Control mechanism is pre-programmed for various procedures so you can set up the welder for each task with just one switch.

The wire drive on the Lincoln K2403-1 Power MIG 350 Welder is durable, tough cast aluminum and is equipped with a numeric tension indicator that is easy to adjust, brass to brass gun connections, dual drive wire rolls and Lincoln’s split-wire guide system. When you are working with aluminum you’ve got options: Use a push/pull gun, a straight push gun or choose a spool gun. The MIG 350 comes ready for all 3 without any PC additions required.

Lincoln K2403-1 Power MIG 350 Details
This heavy-duty welder has the guts to get the heavy work done quickly and correctly. The rated output/duty cycle is 300 amps @ 60% with input current of 76/64/37/29A. The output range is adjustable from 5 to 350 amps. Choose cored wire from .035 to .045. The Lincoln Magnum 300 gun sports a 15’ reach and includes a gas hose and regulator. The unit has a 230 volt power cord with plug and a 115 volt AC auxiliary receptacle for accessory tools you may be using. The large storage compartment with tool tray can be locked for security.

Lincoln is one of the most innovative companies in the industry, striving to make your job easier and your welds stronger and more precise every time.

Warranty Information

Lincoln Electric offers 7-year coverage on main power rectifiers, 3-year coverage on wire feeders, and 90-day coverage on gun and cable assemblies.

WHO USES THE LINCOLN K2403-1 POWER MIG 350 WELDER?
This powerful welder is chosen wherever heavy welding takes place. It’s a mainstay in fabrication shops, auto-body repair garages, muffler shops, hot rod and bike shops, and on the factory floor. It is fully equipped to handle every aspect of repair and fabrication – an all in one welder that won’t back down from any job.

Summary

Lincoln K2403-1 Power MIG 350 Welder
230 volt flux core and MIG, plus pulsed MIG, TIG, stick, pulse on pulse, and more
Input current: 76/64/37/29A
Variable settings from 5 to 350 amps
Duty Cycle/Rated Output: 300 volts @ 60%
Material thickness: up to ½”
Wire diameter .035 to .045
Electric: Corded
Weight: 255lb
All in one kit
Warranty: 7-year coverage on main power rectifiers, 3-year coverage on wire feeders, and 90-day coverage on gun and cable assemblies.

Welding Stainless Steel

What are the best techniques for welding stainless steel? That’s like asking what is the best way to go fishing? It depends on a lot of things, doesn’t it? Lots of things like what type of stainless, what thickness, what is the application, and for what industry?

Let’s focus on three industries: Food service, Aerospace, and Nuclear.

1. Food Service

Most stainless steel in the food service industry is 300 series stainless. Type 304 .063″ thick stainless sheet metal to be exact. If you go to any Fast food counter and check out all the counters, shelving, cookers and such, you will notice it is all made from welded stainless steel sheet metal. Food service codes require 304 stainless steel to be utilized in food preparation areas because it does not rust easily. All welds are supposed to be performed in such a way to not trap bacteria and other crud. Back sides of stainless steel welds should be shielded with argon so that they are not sugared and full of pits that could trap bacteria like salmonella. All wire brushing should be done with a stainless steel brush and welds that are not perfectly smooth should be blended smooth with some type of abrasive wheel and then cleaned with alcohol.

Tig welding is almost always the best process since spatter and slag are absent. Tig welding rods should be 308L for welding 304 stainless. L is for low carbon because

Carbon is bad when it comes to corrosion resistance in stainless.

Tips for welding SS sheet metal : 1 amp per 1 thousands of thickness, keep the hot tip of the filler rod shielded and snip it if it gets oxidized, use chill bars made of aluminum, copper, or bronze whenever possible. Filler rod should generally not be bigger than thickness of metal welded. Keep bead width to around 4 times the thickness of the sheet. Use a gas lens style cup, a #7 or bigger. A 1/16 thoriated or lanthanated electrode will easily weld 16 ga .063″ sheet. Keep electrodes clean and sharp.

2. Aerospace

Stainless steel alloys used in the aerospace and aviation industries are a bit more varied. There are lots of them. Austenitic stainless steels like 321, 347, 316, and 304 are common, but so are martensitic stainless grades like 410 steel , Greek Ascoloy, and Jethete M190. Another family of stainless used on commercial aircraft is the Precipitation Hardening variety. A PH at the end like 15-5ph, 17-4ph, 15-7ph, 17-7ph indicates that the steel is precipitation hardening. That means holding it at high temperature for extended time allows the steel to harden. PH grades are sometimes much more difficult to weld than the straight 300 series because of alloy elements and complex metallurgical reactions to heat while welding.

Tig Welding and automated plasma welding are the most commonly utilized processes.

Tips for Aerospace tig welding SS : Clean, Clean, Clean. Use as big a tig cup and possible 3/4 ” –1″. Use minimal heat and use any means to prevent distortion (skip welding, fixturing, small beads) shield the back side of everything you weld with argon using tooling, or home made purge boxes.

3. Nuclear

Nuclear piping systems use a lot of stainless steel and most of it is TIG welded. Or at least the root pass is tig welded. Most of the stainless piping is basic 304L stainless but other grades like 316 are used also. Tig root passes with stick fill is pretty common with heavy wall pipe but anything under schedule 80 is usually just Tig welded all the way out because x ray results are better that way. Stick welding is kind of hard with stainless.

Instrumentation lines that are 1/2″ and less in diameter and are often done with orbital tig welding because it is so repeatable. Welding small diameter tubing manually is tough.

There are all kinds of other applications for welding corrosion resistant alloys like boat propellers, headers and exhaust, and marine hardware like sailboat parts. One thing to remember is that they distort easily so precautions like heat sinks, chill blocks, and minimizing heat input are all important techniques to use.

Tips For Welding Stainless Steel

Before jumping right into the welding tips it is important that everyone reading this understands that there are different types of stainless steel and they are not all welded the same. There are in fact three classes of the product we call stainless steel. There is also a mixed class called Duplex, and it is recognized by their metallurgical structure, to be more precise by their microstructure. They are Ferric, Austenitic, Duplex and Matrensic.

Tip for Welding Austenitic Steel

These are the ones that are considered to be the best for welding. When purchasing stainless steel you will no doubt here them called the “300 series”, that is their classification form the American Iron and Steel Institute. Not all of he 300 series respond well to welding as in the case of the 303. It has a propensity for hot cracking that makes it almost not worth the time or energy to weld.

Welding Ferritic Stainless Steel

This material responds better if you use the arc welding process. Most car exhaust systems are made of ferritic materials. They do not tend toward hot cracking. If there is a limit amount of ferretic in an otherwise austenitic material it tends to be much easier to weld. Below are a few more tips about how to weld stainless steel.

You must first clean the piece thoroughly. Using a wire brush to aggressively scrub the surface should do the trick. This is to remove any chromium particles that have built up over time and also dirt, grease and other contaminants. To take a good weld it needs to be clean.
Use the lowest possible heat. Stainless steel comes in such thin sheets it can be easily warped. Starting out as cool as possible and increasing gradually if needed will prevent you from totally destroying the material. Use small burst from the arc to make the weld. It should be done in 3-4 second intervals, following this procedure will also help you to keep the pieces in alignment.
There is a big difference between using a rod and an electrode. For welding stainless steel use stainless rods only. Any one that ends with “-16” is what you want to use with a AC current type welder. If you have rods that are “-15” it takes a DC current welder to get a decent weld.

So you see, there are a lot of things to consider when welding stainless steel. This is only a small portion of what you need to know in order to do a really good job of the weld. You can find out more online.

Lincoln Electric K2185-1 Handy MIG Welder

Rated Output: Current/Voltage/Duty Cycle – 70A / 17V / 20%
Output Range: 35-88A
WFS while welding: 0-300 ipm
Max. OCV: 29V

Lincoln Handy MIG is very good portable mid range mig welder. This unit plugs in anywhere to 110 v. 20 amps. and works great on light gauge steel. It doesn’t come with a gauge to see how much gas is left in the tank, but welder works well with the pre-adjusted regulator it comes with.

With the inert gas the machine holds a nice arc from 1/8″ to 3/8″ from the surface, welds are nice and smooth.

Lincoln Electric K2185-1 has plenty of power for any home use. The machine has a 20% duty cycle and that is rare in this price range. But if you want to weld material thicker than 1/8″ you should look elsewhere.

And get a real welding helmet, as it comes with just a hand held face shield.

Miller MIG/Flux Core Welder, 120V, 90A, Millermatic 141 – MLR 907612

Millermatic 141 – 120V input MIG Welder.
Max Weld capacity – 3/16″.
Amperage Range 30–140 A
Net Weight – 51 lb.
Dimensions 12.5 in.(H) x 11.25 in.(W) x 20.5 in.(D)

Comes with:

6.5 ft. power cord with plug, M-100 MIG gun and cable assembly, 10 ft. work cable with clamp,
Hook-and-loop cord wrapsArgon and AR/CO2 mix flow gauge regulator with gas hose.
Two contact tips for .030 in. (0.8 mm) wire
Hobart ® spool of .030 in. (0.8 mm) solid wire
Material thickness gauge 229895
Quick Select ™ drive rolls for .024 in. (0.6 mm) or .030/.035 in. (0.8/0.9 mm) solid wire, and .030/.035 in. (0.8/0.9 mm) flux-cored wire

Auto-Set ™ operation mode sets welder to the proper parameters. It’s available for welding 24-gauge through 3/16-inch mild steel, and only works with .024 and .030 solid wires and C25 shielding gas (75% argon, 25% CO²).

In Manual Mode you can set manually wiring speed (15–360 ipm) and Voltage/Material Thickness (about 8-27V).

Miller Welder Duty Cycle Chart — Miller Welder, MIG-or-Flux Core Duty Cycle Chart

Hobart Handler® 210MVP MIG Wire Welder

MVP – Multi-Voltage Plug – allows connecting to 230V or 115V with no tools required.

Processes GMAW (MIG), Flux Cored Flux Cored (FCAW)

I really like it because you can use it at 115v and later expand from a shed to a workshop with larger service. And when you upgrade to 230V, you still retain the 110 portability. Besides, in my opinion, running welder from 240 will often make a great difference, 120V is in most cases a poor circuit to weld from.

The HH 210 MVP offers 7 taps (output voltages) and stepless speed controller for wire feed. So unit is easy to adjust for different thicknesses, wires and materials.

For 115V HH210MVP utilizes 4 voltage taps and 140A of weld output. For 230V – 210 amps of output and All 7 taps.

Pay attention that HH 210 is relatively heavy and not so easy to carry (net weight 79 lb) and 12-3/8in(H), 10-5/8in(W), 19-1/2in (D). I have to “grab and growl” when pick one. On the other hand, a light duty cart is all that’s needed to move it around the shop.

210MVP has much better (see the picture below) duty cycle and makes good single passes on 3/16″ and C25 gas. The lightweight ground cable and lightweight MIG gun may hinder the “210 amp” output.

More power is always better. You always can turn down the settings but if you don’t have the amps, you won’t be able to turn it up.

Handler® 210MVP duty cycle curves for 115V and 230V . 10% for 135ams (115V) and 35% for the same current (230V). Max current – 210 and 135 amps (115V and 230V relatively)

SpoolRunner welding aluminum — SpoolRunner for aluminum welding

You can bought a spoolgun for aluminum that will easily burn holes in 3/16″ aluminum. It has 10 ft cable. Rated 150 amps, Includes carrying case and shipped with .030 in. and .035 in. contact tips.

Apply a tiny bit of silicone to the o-rings before assembly to ease seating the power pin and help avoid cutting an o-ring. The unit will make better welds.

Installing the SpoolRunner is easy – plug the power pin in

to the feedhead, attach the trigger lead, and flip the switch on the inside panel for spool gun operation.

Check out this video:

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