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Welder choices

I haven't used a Hobart, but I've met quite a few people who said the Hobart is a quality machine, comparable to Miller & Lincoln. I bet you'd be happy with a Hobart for years to come, and $550 sounds a like a good deal.
 
Miller owns Hobart. If you look at the two they are almost identical. . . almost because internally, the Hobart is not quite as heavy duty as the Miller. It's still a great unit though, I own one of each!
 
I started off with a flux core from HF, about 99.oo, but it wound up being a PITA and the welds were crappy and the smoke it gave off was horrible. I went to Northern tool and looked at the Hobarts, but wound up buying the Northern tool brand. about 385.oo, then bought some good wire at the same welding supply where I bought my large C25 bottle. Don't mess around with the little spools of wire, the uncoil and cause all kinds of problems. So far I've been very happy with this welder, it is a 120volt as my garage doesn't supply a 220v supply. I have a small oxyacetlyne rig beneath my welder. i'm all set to go! ; ) The photo was from a while back. I see my lift that I sold, thinking I'd never use one again, now I'm having to buy another one! : (

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Dne', I'd bet $ that your northerntools MIG is made by Miller/Hobart or Lincoln! Looks like a rebadged unit, but I bet it'll save you some $.
 
Yes, it looks a lot like the Hobart as they are displayed side by side at NT's. I would have like to have bought the Hobart, buy my husband was with me and I felt I should get the lesser prices NT model, but I really wanted the more expensive brand! It gets down to, what's another 100 bucks at this point for a tool that is so critical for excellent welds. I will say this about HF! when I needed parts for the little crappy welder, I called the parts department and they had everything I needed( I had broken the weldhandle, and got the hose too, all for about 20.oo!). I think even a well made welder than handles flux core wire would probably be ~ crap! or maybe I just can't weld with the flux core. But gas shielded wire welding is great!
I guess my only complaint with my Hobart look alike, on occasion, if I have my welding tip too close before welding and the tip gets kind of "welded" to the brass tip, the wire has no where to go inside the machine and gets balled up. You know, pull the trigger, but I hear the machine running as if putting the wire out, but no wire is coming out! Then I open the side of the machine and see a little clump or wire in tidy little mess! gEt the wire cutters and begin the process of rethreading wire. I just have to be careful not to get my tip to close to the weld. This happend mostly when I didn't have a self darkening hood~ really not a problem anymore! ; )

"ZFORCE" said:
Dne', I'd bet $ that your northerntools MIG is made by Miller/Hobart or Lincoln! Looks like a rebadged unit, but I bet it'll save you some $.
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Can you lighten up on the wire tension wheel a bit to stop the clumping of the wire. The wheel can slip a bit when the wire stops moving. This worked for me on my last welder.
 
I guess my only complaint with my Hobart look alike, on occasion, if I have my welding tip too close before welding and the tip gets kind of "welded" to the brass tip, the wire has no where to go inside the machine and gets balled up. You know, pull the trigger, but I hear the machine running as if putting the wire out, but no wire is coming out! Then I open the side of the machine and see a little clump or wire in tidy little mess! gEt the wire cutters and begin the process of rethreading wire. I just have to be careful not to get my tip to close to the weld.
Click to expand...

When that happens, only hit the trigger a fraction of a second. Then, you'll have to use a file to remove the welded wire on the tip, or sometimes just bang the nozzle a bit to loosen the wire. The previously triggered wire should have enough pressure to force the wire out of the tip once the tip is opened up again. If it is a cold weld, just wait a minute or so, and try and pull the glob up off of the tip with pliers. Worse comes to worse, you have to unscrew the tip off of the gun and replace the tip.
 
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