Kj, I am no expert welder for sure and weld little, basically for fun. I have played with big TIGs, some MIGs, stick a long time ago, but I have only a 120V machine at home, the HH140. It is more than powerful enough for body work and light structural work IMO. (To repeat, it can do 3/16" -being careful here- in one pass and 1/4" multiple.) (I have done 3 and 4 layers thick welds, sawed across them and I see only beautiful solid steel with not a hint of poor fusion, inclusion or what not.) And I think that it will be a long time if ever for me when I'd feel handicapped by it having only tapped voltage control. And I can't see myself needing to weld more than 1/4" for a very long time. At which point the welders will likely be much better than now and I'll buy a new one, or I will be dead of old age. When I was thinking about a welder I kinda thought everything strong shoudl be made of 1/4" steel on a truck, but look a bit carefully at some of the better bumpers etc out there and see how many are actually made of 1/4"... 1/4" is damn thick and heavy in actuality for most purposes.
The pro welders guys know better than I do about equipment and welding subtleties for sure. However, I wonder sometimes if some of the advice out there (not here of course... ) is not colored by folks used to working with big steel for a living, which would of course justify having very powerful and quite expensive equipment, but also perhaps way overkill for regular folks. Kinda like me advocating the armored locked 80 to somebody who's really only going to go on graded dirt roads that in actuality a Pilot can easily do. Sure the 80 is better etc, but is it really needed?
I was tempted by the 210MVP or equivalent. I like the double voltage feature as that is potentially handy indeed and would take care of possible increased needs later on. However, I do not currently have 240V readily available in my garage. Also, I think that it is much easier to resell a 120V welder than a 240V one because many folks either don't have 240V or don't want to spend that kind of money for hobbyist type welding. I'm sure that I can sell my 140 for not a whole lot less than I paid for it if I keep it nice. And fast on CL. Altogether I'd much rather give up on 1/4" single pass with my 120 only, than not being able to take a 240V only welder to many places where I might want to do some welding, like a friend's house who does not have 240V, say. Frankly, I would not consider a 240V only machine for my uses / needs if I can only have one. But again, I'm no pro and have no pro needs.
At this point, with what I now know, and for me, I think I made the right decision. One vague regret is that I think I might enjoy doing aluminum some time down the line which is not obvious with the HH140. But I can do without that capability for now.
The pro welders guys know better than I do about equipment and welding subtleties for sure. However, I wonder sometimes if some of the advice out there (not here of course... ) is not colored by folks used to working with big steel for a living, which would of course justify having very powerful and quite expensive equipment, but also perhaps way overkill for regular folks. Kinda like me advocating the armored locked 80 to somebody who's really only going to go on graded dirt roads that in actuality a Pilot can easily do. Sure the 80 is better etc, but is it really needed?
I was tempted by the 210MVP or equivalent. I like the double voltage feature as that is potentially handy indeed and would take care of possible increased needs later on. However, I do not currently have 240V readily available in my garage. Also, I think that it is much easier to resell a 120V welder than a 240V one because many folks either don't have 240V or don't want to spend that kind of money for hobbyist type welding. I'm sure that I can sell my 140 for not a whole lot less than I paid for it if I keep it nice. And fast on CL. Altogether I'd much rather give up on 1/4" single pass with my 120 only, than not being able to take a 240V only welder to many places where I might want to do some welding, like a friend's house who does not have 240V, say. Frankly, I would not consider a 240V only machine for my uses / needs if I can only have one. But again, I'm no pro and have no pro needs.
At this point, with what I now know, and for me, I think I made the right decision. One vague regret is that I think I might enjoy doing aluminum some time down the line which is not obvious with the HH140. But I can do without that capability for now.
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