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Posted by: Todd Enlund Nov 18 2008, 05:17 PM

I'm getting a MIG for Christmas. Trying to decide between a Miller 140C and a 180C. The 180C is only $93 more... but the garage is not wired for 220.

1) Can I wire it myself?
2) Is the 180C overkill for a 914?

I shoulda bought it last week... MIG welders all took a big jump in price in the last week

Posted by: Rusty Nov 18 2008, 05:18 PM

I had a licensed electrician do it. Cost me about a hundred bucks, and there will be no quibbling with the insurance company if there's ever a fire.

Posted by: Root_Werks Nov 18 2008, 05:20 PM

If all you plan to weld is body parts, 110VAC is plenty.

A welder that uses 220VAC is something to have if you like to punch holes in 1/4 plate steel.

Posted by: jd74914 Nov 18 2008, 05:40 PM

Go with the 220 if you can swing it. Jeff Hail wrote a good post about welders once upon a time, and the general gist of his post (IIRC) was that 220V were better because since they have more power available they take less time to heat the metal which means less burning through and warpage as you get better.

I have a 220V, but we do weld up to 7/16" plate on occasion.

Its not hard to wire an outlet. You can find directions on google or in any good home-building handbook. My dad and I have both wired a few 220 plugs, if you have done 115 its no harder. That said, if you aren't comfortable with that, or your regulations are such it should be pretty cheap to get an electrician to do it.

Posted by: biosurfer1 Nov 18 2008, 05:49 PM

IMHO opinion, I would get an electrician for 220V. 110 will zap you pretty good, but 220 in getting in the "might kill you" stage so the tolerance of accidently doing somethign wrong is way lower....be careful, electricity is a scary thing when it wants to be.

Posted by: Gint Nov 18 2008, 06:05 PM

I had an electrician install a 100 amp breaker box in the garage when the basement was refinished. Well worth it. Now I can put whatever I want for breakers in the box in the garage to support my habit. No issue with my Miller 175 220v or my 220v compressor.

Posted by: wbergtho Nov 18 2008, 06:23 PM

If I can do it...so can you. Just go to Home Depot, buy the appropriate 220V breaker and the the appropriate wire & plug...and you'll be done before you know it. Shut down power to the electrical box before installing the breaker & wiring...when you are done hooking everything up, flip the power on to your electrical box and flip the new breaker on and you're ready to start welding. If you have other items in your house that run on 220V like a stove, A/C or whatever...you can study the way those 220V breakers are wired as a reference. If you feel uncomfortable doing this, I suggest you hire a qualified electrician.

Posted by: r_towle Nov 18 2008, 06:47 PM

First off, check your local code to determine if you can legally do your own wiring.

If you can, I would suggest the following method.

Go to Home Depot, ask questions, listen to the answers closely.
Wire up the plug, run the wire, DO NOT open up the fuse panel.

Get all the hard work done, then hire an electrician to do two things.
Check your work, and plug it into the panel.

This method saves alot of time and money.

Rich

Posted by: Jeffs9146 Nov 18 2008, 07:11 PM

Just get a 220v extension cord and plug it into your dryer plug when you need it!!

Posted by: scotty b Nov 18 2008, 07:15 PM

Miller 140 will do nything you need on most any car. Hell you could do frame repair on an American car with it if you needed to. If you plan to build a rotisserie or something more substantial the 180 would be in order.

Posted by: Spoke Nov 18 2008, 07:25 PM

I've got a Millermatic 135 110V unit and this has worked very nicely for me. I have 110V outlets all around my garage and I've used most of them with my welder from time to time depending on where the car was sitting.

I've also run 220V 2 phase into the garage for my compressor. If you're unsure about doing the wiring, like mentioned above, run the wires through the house and let an electrician wire the outlet and circuit breaker panel.

Posted by: 9146986 Nov 18 2008, 07:47 PM

110v really is enough. Unless you plan to weld heavy stuff, you probably won't make a bead on a 914 that's more than 1" long anyway.

It does seem though that better welders have a better wire feed/drive system though.

Posted by: kwales Nov 18 2008, 07:56 PM

I have the Miller 135 (110v) and there isn't anything on a teener that it won't weld.

I like the Miller with the all metal guts. That Lincoln plastic chassis just looks like a plastic crack waiting to happen. Not to mention the plastic pinch arm parts......Wonder if the design engineers were so fresh out of school they never heard of creep on a loaded plastic part???

Ken

Posted by: So.Cal.914 Nov 19 2008, 08:17 AM

220 three or single phase? If single you can pull it off of two 110 breakers with a pigtail. I would go 220v, smaller wire, uses less amps and you will have 220 for other uses after. You can weld all day long with a good 220 welder on heavy or light material.
BUT, as said before electricty can KILL you, so if you are not comfortable with a power panel maybe you should leave it alone. I saw a post that sounded like your best bet, do all the prep work run all your rough, pull your wire, install your plug but don't crack the panel. Let an electrician place the breaker and hook up the + - and neutral. My .02

Posted by: pktzygt Nov 19 2008, 08:33 AM

Have you seen the price of 220v extension cords? Or even 220v cord by the foot? Might be cheaper to install the outlet.

Posted by: Brett W Nov 19 2008, 09:15 AM

I use a 20ft long extension cord to get my welder and plasma cutter around to different locations in the shop. I think I paid 60 bucks for the cord and maybe 40 dollars for the plug and receptacle. Works great. But you have to make sure you use something like 8ga for a 220 welder.

On the topic of 220V vs 110V. Get the 220 and use .023 wire. It works better than the 110V welder on pretty much everything. Plus you can always use .035 wire to weld up to 1/2in plate if properly prepared. Always buy more welder than you think you will need. That way when the day comes when you need to weld something you didn't plan for you can easily do the job.

Posted by: wbergtho Nov 19 2008, 09:43 AM

I agree with Brett. Who knows...some day in the future you may want to create your own trailer, etc.

Posted by: Bartlett 914 Nov 19 2008, 09:45 AM

Remember that using 220 is half the amps. The wire gage required goes down when the voltage goes up. I have 220 (it doesn't allow 110) and the wire is about 14 ga.

14 ga. is good for 15 Amps. 12 ga. is good for 20 amps and 10 ga. is good for 30 amps. Read the specifications for the welder and you will know the size of the wire that will be needed. The breaker should not exceed the wire capacity. Putting 14 ga. extension on a 30 amp circuit could be a problem if there is a short circuit. In that case, the wire would burn and the breaker may not trip.

Posted by: Jax914 Nov 19 2008, 09:55 AM

I purchased a Miller 135 almost two years ago - 110V. I run it off a 15 amp circuit and never have an issue. I've used my big 220V AirCo buzzbox once since then.

I've heard that using a 220V at 10% capacity is more efficient that a 110V at 75%. I'm not a pro welder - so I don't use it at the max capacity anyway - and I've only had to jump to the arc once in two years - that was for an exceptional case - not 914 related.

Make sure you go with the shielding gas. Flux core wire is a mess.

If you go with the dryer circuit / welder plug or extension - just make up a little sign for the dryer that says "Do Not Use - Welding!"

HTH,

Posted by: Jeffs9146 Nov 19 2008, 10:52 AM

West Marine Supply puts them on sale every once in a while for $49-$59 for a 30ft one!



Yes, don't use the dryer "circuit" I unplug the dryer and use the plug!

Posted by: Gint Nov 19 2008, 03:31 PM

I bought a 220v Miller 175 instead of a smaller 110v unit because I didn't want to buy a welder twice.

Like I did with the compressor. That's how I learned the lesson.

YMMV

Posted by: Twise Nov 19 2008, 05:59 PM

220 is the way to go. 110 welders are great and there is not very much you can't do with them. But, for $93 more you eliminate the ceiling and that seems like a great deal to me. I use an old Miller 220 / 250amp that has been around here for quite awhile. I kind of adopted it and after 20+ years of service I just rebuilt the damn thing like new for less than $200. Miller is the way.... I say go for the 220 and hire someone to do the outlet. I paid a guy to do it, and it would have been easy to do myself. The liability aint worth it. Licensed contractors are insured. If your house goes up, you are gonna be covered. Get a quote, it shouldn't cost more than $200 in the worst circumstances.

Posted by: charliew Nov 20 2008, 09:09 PM

Also if you need a compressor the 5hp 220 will run cheaper than the 110 compressor. Three phase is even more economical. I've had welders since the early 60's and never even considered a 110. I did get a ac stick welder first though as wire welders were not that plentiful. Most body panels were torch welded back then. I never thought I wanted to pay someone else for something I could do myself. Wiring is just like anything else. There are instructions available to do anything.

Posted by: kwales Nov 20 2008, 09:31 PM

Let's see, if it's only $93 bucks more and it needs $200 worth of wiring to make it work, that's about 1.5 times what I paid for the 110v Miller.....

And how much power consumption would that be for the more "economical" 220 volt circuit to pay off that extra $290 cost???????

Kennydoingthemath

Posted by: Gint Nov 20 2008, 10:22 PM

A mig welder might possibly last a guy his lifetime. Is a 914 the only thing he's ever going to weld in the next 30-60 years?