What's your budget, Do you have 3 phase power availible? I'd but a miller XMT.

Most folks will be very happy with a Miller 211 or 212.

 

I don't have 3 phase available.

 

I have a 211. Not a bad unit, but you will be better off with the 212 or 252. If you have the budget, go for the 350P. The 211 will ONLY run 4043 wire.

 

I don't really know much about the wire I would need

 

i just ordered one of those eastwood mig 175 amp with a spool gun for 500 but ill let you know what I think once I try it out. nothing but good reviews online so we will see

 

I like my Eastwood 175 but would not weld an entire boat with it. To short of duty cycle

 

Get the 211 with the 150 spool gun and it will do everything you need. Including 5356.

 

This is gonna be the best bet-you won't find a better machine for the money. Not terribly expensive, easy as hell to setup and use, and it'll last forever. I've always used 4043 wire, never had an issue welding to anything. .030 size wire.

What's really nice is you can use it with 110v or 220v.

 

And we just finished building an 1872 with it. So I've run it a decent amount.

 

How thick was your boat? I saw your build looks good

 

I have the Eastwood 175 also. It does have a short duty cycle, 30% I believe. It would work but you won't set the world on fire with its speed. The spool gun works but is plastic so you wouldn't want to use it recklessly.

 

You can take this or leave it, makes no difference to me, I have been working in fabrication shops since I was 16 years old, it's the only job I've really ever had. They all have one thing in common, Red and Blue. Literally every shop I know of has nothing but Lincoln and Miller welders. So my advise to you would be to one of those brands. No offense to anyone who owns a Eastwood, probably work just fine, but that $500 unit is more than likely not professional grade. Buy the best tools you can afford, if you can't afford nice tools do not compromise, wait till you can afford them.

A quality tool is never a bad investment.

 

Eastwood isn't professional grade, no doubt about that. In tools you definitely get what you pay for. IF you're looking for something reasonably priced that will get the job done then the Eastwood is a affordable unit and you can eventually get the job done with it. However, that being said there is a lot more better choices if you are wanting an "investment grade" unit. The 350P would be my personal choice if I wanted a quality unit but I don't build enough to warrant the price of it for occasional use. If you plan on using for a fabrication shop where you'll be doing this type of work for your living then you really need something better.

 

I'm not sure if it's just that's it's being the new inverter machine that lets it run 5356 or what. But it'll run it. The 150 spool gun is absolutely worth the extra little bit it costs. This boat was 1/8 except the 3/16 transom and the 1/4" thick T bar that's running the length of it.

 

Is this the boat you kept posting on Facebook? That boat is sweet!

 

Thanks for all the replies I was leaning towards the 211 because of price and to seems to be a little more mobile as far as power source if I ever have to do something out in the yard or at a buddies house I can just use the 110. My only real concern was if it would weld the 3/16th haul that I want.

As far as Eastwood goes they work fine I have a 200ac/dc tig and I'm happy with it produces some great welds after a little time with it. But I will not buy another because if something happens to it I can't just take it to a local welding shop and have it fixed. Everyone has miller so more local parts and service. After I unboxed my Eastwood tig I made a few practice welds and started building my flush deck 1 hour in a board went bad. No big deal I guess because they have a 3 year warranty but it was Friday night so I couldn't do anything till Monday they sent a new unit and knock on wood it has work with out any issues for the past year

 

Thanks for all the replies I was leaning towards the 211 because of price and to seems to be a little more mobile as far as power source if I ever have to do something out in the yard or at a buddies house I can just use the 110. My only real concern was if it would weld the 3/16th haul that I want.

Am no professional by any means compared to some guys on here but believe that the 211 will have enough duty cycle and butt for welding 3/16" that almost any of us would be putting it thru....

 

Yes sir that's it.

 

It'll weld 3/16", but just to be safe I'd suggest using 220 for the thicker stuff. I've got mine running on 110 again, and it's turned up fairly high. Just to make sure you burn in enough 220 would be best for the thicker material.

 

Mine will run 1/4" no problem. That's running 3/4-4/5 of the way wide open. So I don't think it's got a whole lot left in her. But 3/16-1/4 is no problem at all.

 

If your going to use the 211 on 110v make sure its a 20a as opposed to a 15a. My 211 will pop a 15a breaker trying to weld thin material.

Use 220v if at all possible.

 

Absolutely. I wouldn't PLAN on doing aluminum welding with 110. Not saying you can't do it. But I would get 220v set up for sure.

 

I'm going to assume he's using a drier plug or something similar. Spend the money and buy the componets necessary to put togeother a HD power cord. 4ga or 6ga at the lightest.

More than a few times I've gotten a call to come see why their welder doesnt run right. More often than not the have their 110v strung out 100' on an 18ga cord that wouldn't power a weedeater properly. A heavy duty power cord is a must.

 

Yup. I had a 50 amp circuit run specifically for my welder. And if you get the 150 gun with the 20' cord you shouldn't need an extension cord for most the work.

 

I have a 220 source also made a 20 ft heavy gauge extension cord only time I'd be using 110 is when I didn't have a choice.the tig I have now can run off 110 but I only did that once before I made my new cord

 

I have a miller xmt304 what do I need to get for it to weld aluminum

 

A wire feeder, a push pull gun, and a tank of argon. Can you run a spool gun with that machine???

 

I could give a squirt of piss about mine not using 5356 etc. My machine is also the 'older' version of the 211. I've laid down a few miles of 4043 and I've never seen a reason to change.

Is there sumptin magical about the other alloys? Honestly I've never played around with anything else to my knowledge, but I can't see much improvement over what I'm using now.

Next year I'll spring for the better spooly for mine, the 150, but I'm very satisfied with the machine itself.

If for some reason you do get a spoolmate 100, make sure you modify the barrel to accept standard sized tips-the tiny turds Miller uses don't hold up worth a chit, they are expensive, and hard as hell to find. The 150 gun doesn't have that issue, just the 100.

 

pretty much have to use 5356 when building a boat from scratch. 4043 isn't as strong and doesn't have as good corrosion resistance. There is a new 4943 wire that's supposed to be the best of other worlds.

 

Oh that's horse shish Bob- 4043 is fine, you just have to lay down WAY more of it :laugh:

 

Afflicted sent me some pics of the new 4943 in action. Friggin beautiful welds with no black soot to brush off.

 

The Lincoln 350MP pulse on pulse on pulse, beta ray, dark matter generating MIG welder I used on my last boat laid down welds that almost NEVER had black soot on em. It was a pretty fancy getup, with the ability to computer program every conceivable aspect of the weld. Too fancy for my taste actually-I set it up so I could sqeek out some basic welds, and after the boat was finished I sold it for what I had into it.

What I miss most of all is the 20' push/pull gun and the ability to use 25lb spools....sigh... And it had a funky 'hummmm' when it layed down a bead, instead of the classic sizzling bacon sound. I prolly shoulda kept that thing and learned how to use it, but for my occasional use I couldn't justify a $5k machine.

 

Yea I bought a spool of it. Welds really pretty.

 

Where did you get it at Bob?

 

well I said I ordered an Eastwood 175 mig, but their customer service has been horrible and I haven't even got the welder in. I ordered it more than 2 weeks ago and their still wasn't any conformation of shipping. it was "still processing". I called Friday to inquire about why it hasn't shipped and I got the run around from a guy and his answer was "I don't know why it hasn't shipped, call back Monday". so I canceled my order and i'll be going with blue! Yall talked me into it haha. Ill be picking up a miller 211 this week.

 

You can't go wrong with a Miller. Be sure to google their Build with Blue Promotion, they have some really good rebates going on right now. I just bought another Trailblazer for my mobile welding business and got $400 back.