Wire Feed Welder Recommendations

rnscustom wrote: I have the 190 and very happy with it . Bought it thru amazon refurbished for$500 . I had to buy the .023 feed roll separate . Also I think the tips need to be Hobart but tractor supply has them . I also bought the spool gun but havnt tried it yet .

I was told today that the new Hobart 190 comes with a roller that has two grooves. One is a groove for .023 and the other groove is .030 or .035. All you need to do is flip over the roller to change the size.

I could buy another tank with tri mix . Just wanted to try welding stainless . I had read a couple welding posts that said you could use regular mig mix . The wheel that came with my 190 does look like it can be used for .023 but it doesn't say it on the wheel. So maybe they changed it and I just never tried it .

I ran out of wire at one of the places I was working years ago. The shop owner sent his wife to the local NAPA to get a new spool.

When she brought it back, I had to do a lot of readjust on the wire feed rate, and amps to get a weld to satisfy me. Later she mentioned that the 2 lb spool had cost almost $30. I went out and looked close at it, it was stainless steel wire. My weld, once I got it adjusted looked ok. I did some welds on scrap pieces, and tested the welds, they were just as strong as usual.

So if I could weld regular steel with stainless steel wire, I don't see why you couldn't weld stainless steel with regular steel wire.
Just that stainless steel welded with steel wire will be subject to rusting at the welds.

I did do the stainless exaust on my sons car , I had the stainless wire but he just wanted to get it done and not play with it . ( too excited after not having a car for months with a bad motor ) . When I wasn't looking he zip tied it up and took it out for a ride , needles to say it now needs header gaskets again and patches needed to be put on the new stainless mufflers . But all welded up fine with regular wire . ( darn kids ) . Take care of that depression , life's momentary spells are tough enough to deal with . Lost a brother 20 years ago to that horrible disease .

I've got a Lincoln 180C. It has an aluminum handle and the wire feed stuff is in aluminum rather than plastic. Also the electronics are supposedly embedded in epoxy for longer life. I had originally bought the cheaper version with the plastic handle but returned it still in the box and got the better one at a welding supply place. So far I am very happy with it.