Not Ranked
The 120V Miller and Lincoln machines will be fine for chassis mods and sheet metal. If you need to do heavier welding- 3/16" or heavier metal or an aluminum spool gun or production type work, you would be better off to step up to a 220V machine like a 180 or 210.
Keep in mind these machines have a very low duty cycle, in the 20% area and need to rest frequently (20% duty cycle means for every 2 minutes of welding, you'll need to rest the machine for 8 minutes, if I understand it correctly.)
When I use my Miller 135 doing chassis work on my scratch build, I am constantly up against the duty cycle, wanting to get something done but the machine won't perform when I need it to until I let it rest awhile.
I'll be selling my machine soon and moving up to a 180 or 210 for heavier and more production quality work. Hoping to get into roadster building and repair/restoration in a couple years and will need a better machine.
Puppster, what amperage are the 220 plugs you wired in your garage? Many of the 220V machines will need at least a 30 Amp 220 circuit to run. Best to check into the requirements up front. I'm an electrician and I run into this problem with customers all the time.
Bob
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