Thread: Compact Migs

Hi Willy,
My vote is for the Lincoln.This company is WELDING and is fair dinkum about it.They went off track a few years back,but it appears they are back and mean business. Its common to walk into welding businesses and find 30 ,40 and even some 50 year Lincolns still being used.I helped a grazier out at Longreach get a replacement face plate for a 1951 engine driven stick machine.The writing had been worn away from LONG use.Lincoln was still able to supply him a spare.

While still pricy the Lincoln has so many advantages over the Kemppi.Price is only one. Ease of changing out a liner,big PITA in a 180 Mini arc Mig.Better wire wire drives, no tools req, and all round better build. Look for parts in twenty years and who will be likely to have them ?

A spool gun is a rather expensive bit of kit designed specifically for welding aluminium. The wire reel (spool) is around a kilo of product and driven right of the torch handpiece. The down side is the unit cost of spools.It adds up on a big job.
While a standard mig set up will run aluminium, it is never without difficulty as the soft ali wire is pushed ahead of the wire drives for a couple of meters or so.

Any deviation off a dead straight gun cable results in a build up of friction.The more curved or even looped the cable is,the more friction and increased likelihood of a snarl up in the wire drives. It is not if you will have a snarl up,but when. There are other ways to avoid this too,but its a bit long and I have discussed them before.

The spool gun really does not belong on a smaller machine as ali needs more grunt.One eighty amps is really the bottom limit of the operable range.If you only were going to run ali once in the blue moon the 180 amps may be acceptable. On a continual basis or big job 220 and probably 250 amps capacities are the way to go.

Grahame

Thanks Graham for your words and yep I will only run ali oncè in a blue moon maybe not even that so I will go a hunting a Lincoln .

MMMMM any Idea who sells them in the Mid North Coast lol.

Sean

I bought a Maxmig 210i by Liquidarc about 10 years ago.
They are made by Lincoln and it has not skipped a beat

We had a Lincoln 170 compact Mig at work for a few years with no real problems but it only took 5kg wire rolls, so was dearer to run than the full size ESABs.

The Lincoln was a transformer unit so quite heavy compared to the Lincoln inverter 180 Tigs that we had which were about the same size. The inverter Tigs didn't like any sort of power surges, they took out a power board on average every three months.

Well Guys Thanks for all the help I ended up buying a Lincoln 180c hard to find but got it for a good price of $1045 apparently a bit of a shortage of these units at the moment.

Should have it early next week so its time to do some searching for for steel to practise on, I am also going to need a bottle as well I have only been doing glassless so far.

Recommendations on gas Graham?

Hi Willy

Good choice. Whilst recently buying a new welder the bloke from the welding shop thought that the little Lincolns were one of the best portable migs on the market. They have a full warranty as well, always handy. Shame about only being able to fit small rolls of wire though, but if your not welding flat out you probably wont mind.

On gas, Ive been using Argoshield light for general purpose welding, but I dont know what other options are available, Grahame might be able to fill us in?
You would probably only need a E size bottle should be just under $100 would last you a while if you only weld every now and then. Thats what I thought last time but ran the bottle out in a few weeks, have gone to the G size now.

Have a good one.
Mitch

Hi All
Argoshield light would be ok for general steel applications,but not for S steel or ali.
Grahame

Well guys I just thought I would do a newbies Review on the Lincoln 180c as I have been using it a fair amount mainly small jobs and also at the neighbours and at my sisters etc etc etc.

Well I would like to say that all the documentation that came with the Mig was clear and concise most info came on a DVD so I sat with the laptop and watched it twice No real Documentation came with the Migmate when I got it so I was presently surprised.

Then after that I put it together didn't take long about 30 Min's as I was double checking things and making sure I didn't stuff it up its all so neat tidy.

I didn't have any gas to start with so I just decided to go with the Lincoln innershield (I think thats what its called) mag wire.

My thoughts were here we go lots of playing to get the settings correct but on the inside of the cabinet they have a cheat sheet for wire speed voltage to thickness and type of material. was thinking that yep those are really going to work sure but anyway I had a 4.5mm piece of angel and used the settings on the cheat sheet, he MigMate came with nothing I had to check the voltages with a meter to work them out.

Well I pulled the trigger and I started welding a beautiful sizzle started straight away something I hadn't really experienced with the MigMate sizzle that had more of a pop to it no matter what settings I tried. I ran a bead (correct wording ?) down the angle about 15cm not event one pop no nothing it just sizzled like bacon.

So after that I checked the weld, If I rate it to the last weld I did with the MigMate I would say that the weld looked 10 times better and was effortless.

I have found that the Unit is outstanding for what I am using it for mostly small work, need to build another enclosure for my CNC mill and I will be welding the frame together had to fight the whole way with the MigMate when I built the last one.

The Unit itself is very well built very little plastic the Wire Feeder is all metal and well thought out its just a real pleasure to setup.

The MigMate did its job for the price and I got mine cheap (2nd hand) but I feel that if anyone asked me what I would get to start with I would say the Lincoln 180c for sure as I haven't had an issues with it and its a joy to use.

The duty cycle well I cant even remember what it is because I haven hit it yet.

Last time I checked the MigMate was $600-700 and I got the Lincoln for $1045 after using it I feel thats it worth 3 times what the Migmate is just don't tell the Lincoln Australia .

The MigMate was only 150amp the Lincoln is 180amp but even at the lowest settings the Licioln outperfoms it by a Country Mile.

I would like to thank you Graham and others for puhisng me in the right direction I still have a lot to learn more on the techniques of welding then worry about if its the welders fault .

If I was to give it a mark against a the MigMate for a Newb I would say 9/10 the only way it could get a 10/10 would be if I got it for free but then I do as its really is a good product.

Hi Wal
Its great to hear you report back with good news.

I had a Sip and while it might have been be ok for sheet metal up to 2mm.any thickness ,above that ,it was plain hopeless.For a major European maker the SIP home Diy products sadly are very lacking.

Lincoln have a century in the business so they know what they are doing.They went off the boil for a few years but they are now back on track.They have been well made. I have seen quite a few thirty and forty year old Lincoln machines still functioning.

Now you have your welder,there will be a stack of projects to do.
Your only problem will be in being able to afford the damn steel.

There has been a 35% raise in 3 months and more to come.

Grahame

I'm with you, Willy, the cheat sheet has helped me dramatically.

So its been about a year. I was looking at buying the Lincoln 180c too. Have been looking for reviews on it and stumbled across this post.

How has it been so far? Any problems? Have you had to buy any replacement bits (not including consumables) They been alright to get parts for?

Have you done the aluminium welding with it also? Has that been ok? or have there been issues?
If so, did you just change the liner in the Gun and use different tips and rollers etc? or did you use the spool gun they have as an extra?

Cheers

Ross

Originally Posted by RJB510

So its been about a year. I was looking at buying the Lincoln 180c too. Have been looking for reviews on it and stumbled across this post.

Hope I can help .

How has it been so far? Any problems? Have you had to buy any replacement bits (not including consumables) They been alright to get parts for?

I havent had a probelm with it at all Its a pleaseure to work with even when using flux core (no gas) its a pleasure my welding still needs some work but its 10 times better then the cheapo unit I had before and I can move it around easy enough in the back off the station wagon and off I go.

As for parts well I moved to port macquarie about a year and a half ago and if I need anything like tips I just order them in as I am unsure if we have a lincoln stockist in port but havent really looked either as for wire I prefer the Licoln wire but at a pinch I can use others like CIG etc but as I said I prefer the Lincoln stuff it will be easyier for you would say to get parts etc if needed quite quick nothing happens quicky in port and they never seem to have what you want when you want it .

Have you done the aluminium welding with it also? Has that been ok? or have there been issues?
If so, did you just change the liner in the Gun and use different tips and rollers etc? or did you use the spool gun they have as an extra?
Cheers
Ross

Well I havent given that a try yet I have a project in mind as for the spool gun I cant see why it wouldnt work without it but as I said I havent tried it and they way things are going probably wont untill xmas.

All I can is that I am very happy with it actually so happy if I if got stolen I wouldnt hesitate in buying another to replace it thats for sure.

Awesome, Sounds pretty good to me.
Surely the tips are a universal fit or thread for the end of the gun though aren't they?

Originally Posted by RJB510

Awesome, Sounds pretty good to me.
Surely the tips are a universal fit or thread for the end of the gun though aren't they?

To be honest I have no boody idea never thought about I just take the part numbers to my guy and say I want 5 or that and 2 of that and I get in in about 4 days ill have to look next time as for wire I can say it all aint the same.

If I stick with th Licen stuff I wont have a problem maybe a little more expensive but it works for me and I am guranteed if the weld is crap its me not the tools .