This is a little late, but it figures into some things that I’m going to be doing here on the site, so I’m going to go ahead and pop back in time a little and delve into my welder and how it came to be. 
I had been wanting to add a welder to the tool collection in the garage for a while. I had projects piling up that I was not working on because they needed welding here and there and I couldn’t do it myself. It was easier to just put them off and not work on them.  It ended up being much easier to do something else than coordinate with someone else to come weld the various projects up for me. Last year I figured I might want to go ahead and seriously look into getting a welder so I could tackle some of those projects on my own. I figured I was expanding the capabilities of the garage, as well as expanding my skills. Maybe welding was a logical next step.
So I started looking around for info. When I started doing research around the web in early 2007 to try to figure out which welding machine I wanted to add to the tools in the garage, I was confronted with a massive amount of information. Some relevant, some not. And as I expected, everyone had their own opinions on brands and models and most of those folks are pretty strong in their opinions. Those pages got tossed right away, I can form my own opinions. And brand isn’t really critical to me as long as the tool will do the job I wanted it to do. I tried to then sort through all of the rest of the info out there to distill it down to facts that were useful to me, rather than deal with all the marketing hype and opinions. Now during all of that looking I noticed ONE constant thing. It seems that all of the guys on the welding boards and the car boards all had the same basic bias. Small 110V welders stink. Period. End of discussion. Don’t even bother. To hear these people tell it, anything that plugs into a normal house plug is totally worthless and a waste of space and money. This I just couldn’t understand as that market segment reaches from a $79.00 unit at Harbor Freight, to big name machines that are almost $1000. If they sucked so bad, and they didn’t really work, why did everyone (Including the major players) waste their time making them? I’ve worked with professional companies that had high end gear that just did not make anything for the entry level. I wondered why that the big boys would waste their time with a product that wasn’t apparently worth the effort. With that in the back of my mind, I figured I needed to define what I was going to use the machine for. Figuring that may help me narrow down the options a little.
So I sat down and tried to make a list of what I was going to use the welder for. I came up with a really short list. I realized quickly that while there were a lot of options, I didn’t have a lot of specifics in mind yet. AllI could come up with was:
- Car stuff
- Random household repairs
- “Hobby” projects.
That was about all I could come up with that I wanted to do with it initially. I quickly realized that whatever I planned to do with it now, that plan would more than likely evolve over time as I figured out more stuff I could use it for.  Realizing that trying to determine intended usage was less than helpful for me right now, I figured I’d go the other way. Eliminate the stuff I would NOT be doing with it, and see if that helped narrow things down.
I determined really early that I had no desire to tackle any heavy duty welding. (Car Frames, anything structural where someones safety depended on the welds, etc.) I figured I have several friends that have big scary expensive welders that have been doing it a lot longer than I have. If I have a need for anything like that, I’ll call them. Maybe several years down the road, I’ll be more comfortable with that sort of thing, but not right now. So I don’t need a really huge machine. I’m learning on my own so I need something that’s pretty reliable and easy for a beginner to work with.  And I want something that’s not too huge that I have to move a car to get it in and out of the garage.
I looked and researched and did my homework and generally put off making a decision because I really didn’t have any clearer an idea what I needed than when I started looking. And then I went to a GoodGuys show with one of my cars. Wandering around the manufacturers area outside the tent, I came upon displays from both Miller and Lincoln. I figured since I was going to be at the show for 3 days, I might as well talk to the reps there and see if that helped.
I talked to the Lincoln guys first. (Mainly cause I ran across their booth first). I explained that I was a clueless beginner, told them a little about what I was looking to do with the machine, told them what I was not planning to do with the machine, and finished up with my concerns about everyone saying that a 110 machine was a waste of money. I then asked for recommendations for an entry level 220 machine.  To their credit, they listened attentively, and then took some time to address some of my concerns before getting into machines. I was told initially that while they had some smaller 220 machines, for what I was talking about doing, a 110 Machine would actually be better. They were less expensive than the 220 machines, and I was told that they were totally capable of doing what I was planning on using them for. Part of the problem it seems that that all of the 110 machines get lumped together. And its just not fair to compare a $100 unit with a $700 unit. One is made in china to be cheap, and will perform like a $100 unit. The more expensive units have the same engineering and components as the 220 units with the exception of the power supply hardware.  Aside from all of that, they put the gun from their 110 machine in my hands and let me play with it a little. Then we moved to the entry level 220 machine. (Both of which were inside my budget. The 220 machine being JUST barely inside the budget). I was pleasantly surprised by how well the little 110 machine worked. For the brief testing I did there was not a noticeable difference between machines.
I then made my way down the row to the Miller Booth and went over all the same things with them. Oddly enough, I got a lot of the same answers. They too asked about projects and budgets and how often I thought I’d be welding, and came to pretty much the same conclusion as the Lincoln Guys. A 110 machine would be fine for what I wanted, and it wouldn’t break the bank. I tested several Miller machines and took a ton of paperwork and headed back to the car to do some thinking. With the budget that I had, I could get either a 110 or a 220 from either vendor. They were all capable machines. And they would all do what I wanted them to do. So what did I end up with?
I bought a Miller 140 with AutoSet.
Now to be fair, the Lincoln machine was very capable and every bit as nice as the Miller. There were a couple factors that swayed me to the Miller.
- Their “Show Special” pricing was good for the entire month at my local dealer.
- The local store reps were at the show in the Miller booth and were every bit as knowledgeable as the Factory guys. The Lincoln guys were great, but there were no local shops represented in the booth. It was just corporate guys.
- With the Miller, I was able to get the AutoSet feature which Lincoln didn’t offer. (which has proven to be VERY handy when I want to just fire it up and run a quick bead.)
- With the show special, I was able to get the machine, a tank of gas, some accessories and supplies, and gloves and a helmet. The local vendor also put together a package price for everything I wanted that included the show special on the machine and discounts on all the other gear.  With either vendor, had I gone with a 220 Machine, I would have gotten just the machine. Anything else would have put me over budget.
Had the show special been better for the Lincoln, I would probably have one of those in the garage right now. And I would not hesitate to recommend a Lincoln machine to anyone. The Miller was just a better deal for me at that time. The local dealer has been fantastic, and every time I’m in there, I’m treated excellent. These guys work hard to keep customers happy, and that’s huge in this day and age. They are happy to sell me stuff, but equally happy to answer questions and talk welding. They have earned my business, and I have no desire to go anywhere else at this time.
As for the machine itself? Fantastic! Its been a great investment. I’ve used it for automotive projects ranging from repairing exhaust systems, to repairing suspension mounts, to some small panel repairs. And the welds have all been fantastic.  I haven’t found anything that I want to do that it can’t handle yet. As shown in the last few posts, I’ve also been using it to build a trellis for some gigantic rosebushes that we have in the back yard. And the machine has worked flawlessly. Some folks told me that the duty cycle was not enough on the 110 machines to support a days worth of welding. And while there maybe truth to that, I can tell you that I’ve spent the better part of a couple of Saturdays out there welding and the machine is always ready when I want to lay a bead down. So apparently its duty cycle is better than mine. 
So if you are looking for a small welder for hobby use and tinkering around the house and don’t have a 220 outlet handy, the 110 machines from the major players are well worth the money. Don’t let the people out there on the internet that like to slam these machines get you down. These are very capable machines, and well worth the money in my opinion. If I was depending on a welding machine to put food on my table, I’d get a bigger machine obviously. But I’m not. For hobby and homeowner and general use these are excellent machines. It does what I want it to do, it does it well, and its fun to do. All pluses in my book. For my needs, I’m very happy with my “little” Miller 140.  If I was buying it today for the first time, would I still get the 140? Absolutely!  Its a great little machine. As your needs may be different than mine, Your mileage may vary. But get out there and test machines until you find one that works for you.
Happy welding!