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Anybody got the 110V 135A eastwood mig?

63K views 42 replies 15 participants last post by  gow589 
#1 ·
For 299 it looks pretty decent. Anyone got one? I really want something just to tack weld my panels in place before I haul it to the shop.
 
#27 ·
Unfortunately, I'm not an experienced enough weldor to give you the answer you're looking for. Case in point is I've never even seen a Hobart welder in person. I was using my neighbor's Lincoln before this and he also has a few Miller products. My local Airgas stores have Lincoln and Millers on their floors.

My Eastwood welder is exactly what you see in the pics except it has the cheaper stamped copper ground clamp shown in the off brand pic.

I am happy with the purchase. It has performed very well for me so far.

I hope this is still helpful.
 
#28 ·
Look at my Lincoln SP135 Plus next to the Eastwood.

The knobs, switch, screws are all in the same place. The bezel is identical. Even the printing for the controls looks the same.

One thing is for sure. My Lincoln has been a dandy little welder for me.

The Eastwood looks like a great deal to me. And it's a lot cheaper than what I paid for my Lincoln.

 
#29 ·
roger1...timely post, I called Eastwood today and asked the same thing as others, "Who makes this rig". The guy wouldn't give a name but said that its made by a big name company. I said it looks like a Lincoln, again he said ...its made by a big name company. So my question to you, can you weld 1/4" plate with your 135...and whats the listed duty cycle. You have a nice outfit with the argon gas and cart. Looks like I have some research to do.
 
#30 ·
327NUT said:
roger1...timely post, I called Eastwood today and asked the same thing as others, "Who makes this rig". The guy wouldn't give a name but said that its made by a big name company. I said it looks like a Lincoln, again he said ...its made by a big name company. So my question to you, can you weld 1/4" plate with your 135...and whats the listed duty cycle. You have a nice outfit with the argon gas and cart. Looks like I have some research to do.


I know you were directing this question to someone else but let me assure you that you can weld 1/4" with that welder. You may not do it in one pass but that generally would not be a good idea anyway with wire that small however with a bit of preheat from a torch and multiple passes you are not limited as to what thickness metal you can weld, those claims of "welds 1/4" etc" just don't make much sense and are nothing but sales pitches. The only limiting factor with these little machines is of course the duty cycle but that limits the time you can spend welding between cooling periods and with proper preheating and a willingness to give the machine ample time to cool between weld passes there really is no limit to the metal thickness you can weld, 1/4" would not be much of a problem at all unless you are talking about big items. Things like brackets or frames would be no problem but the trick is to preheat the weld area to about 400 deg or so (just too hot to touch with your bare hand), this is a good idea anyway no matter how big your welding rig. When you get your welder try welding two pieces of 1/4" while still cold then weld two more after preheat and you will see what I am talking about, even a propane torch can be used for this if you don't have a welding/cutting rig.



BTW, When the guy at Eastwood said those machines are made by a "Big company" he might want you to think that they are made by Lincoln because they look like Lincoln but the reason these machines (all the brands not just Lincoln and Eastwood) look the same is that they are all just rebranded Chinese imports that they all buy from the same "Big (Chinese) company! They are the same and this has become a common way of selling things these days, be it welders, machine shop equipment, etc, they buy from a Chinese supplier and slap their name on it! Some people seem to think that while they look the same the insides are different but they come from the same Chinese company and if those guys want to pay more money based on the idea that the more expensive brand is better then fine but from what I have seen (based on looking at welders and machinery) that simply is not true, it's your money and your call on the brand.
 
#39 ·
BTW, When the guy at Eastwood said those machines are made by a "Big company" he might want you to think that they are made by Lincoln because they look like Lincoln but the reason these machines (all the brands not just Lincoln and Eastwood) look the same is that they are all just rebranded Chinese imports that they all buy from the same "Big (Chinese) company!
This!

There are some gullible people if you think these are different machines than all the other chinese machines.

Now, that being said, I am quite happy with 99% of all my chinese machines/tools (HF Plasma comes to mind!). Just do your research. I'm sure this mig is fine. Nobody seems to have any problems with it.

And to the guy who keeps breaking everything, and couldn't make it through his lawn once.. I think he's doing something wrong.
 
#31 · (Edited)
327NUT said:
roger1...timely post, I called Eastwood today and asked the same thing as others, "Who makes this rig". The guy wouldn't give a name but said that its made by a big name company. I said it looks like a Lincoln, again he said ...its made by a big name company. So my question to you, can you weld 1/4" plate with your 135...and whats the listed duty cycle. You have a nice outfit with the argon gas and cart. Looks like I have some research to do.
I bought my Lincoln in 2005 after doing a lot of research. I paid $530 for it and that was the best price I could find at the time.
I bought the cart and autodark helmet from HF. Had to modify the cart a little to fit the welder and the 80cf tank.

My primary need for this welder was to weld sheetmetal. And this welder does that absolutely great. In my research I found statements that this welder was better for sheetmetal than the larger 220 Volt units were.

The thickest I've need to weld with it so far has been 3/16" thick brackets (side motor mounts, transmission crossmember and rear shock mount bar) to the frame of my '55 Chevy Bel Air. I think the frame is probably 14 gauge or so. This welder performed perfectly doing this too.

IMO, if your primary welding will be welding 1/4" to 1/4", then you should consider a larger welder. But, if 1/4" is only occasional and your primary welding is smaller, then this is a great size to get.

Specs:
"Rated at 90 amps, 18 volts, at 20% duty cycle on a ten minute basis. It is capable of higher duty cycles at lower output currents."

I can tell you I have NEVER had this welder cycle off on me.

Edit:
Here's a link to the product sheet on my welder:
Lincoln SP 135 Plus
 
#32 ·
I have the Hobart 135 (before the 140). All an all very similar. I have used it to weld a 1000 things and would do it all over again.

In a word about duty cycle, if you exceed duty cycle it means you are operating the machine beyond what it is intended and if you melt it, the manufacturer may not be so kind to repair your machine.

Some time AFTER you exceed the "Rated" duty cycle, if you continue to weld, it will heat up and trigger a breaker.

I can tell you welding plows, tractors and many things I should have never been welding, for the duration I was welding, that MY Hobart 135 clicks off, till it cools and has caused no damage. I have exceeded this many times doing extensive heavy welding which I surely could use a larger machine for.

I don't think Hobart would support my welder for how I have treated it but it has more then stood up to my abuse and paid for itself a 100x over.

Not bad I don't think for a low budget machine.
 
#33 ·
roger1 said:
IMO, if your primary welding will be welding 1/4" to 1/4", then you should consider a larger welder. But, if 1/4" is only occasional and your primary welding is smaller, then this is a great size to get.


That is a very good point and one that I should have made when talking about using that 110 machine to weld 1/4" and thicker, I just assumed that his primary purpose was to weld thin sheet. My point was that the 110 outfit could weld heavier stuff in a pinch with proper prep but you are exactly right a 110 volt MIG should not be considered for heavier than light sheet metal except for an occasional small job.
 
#35 ·
For what it's worth I can vouch for Eastwood's backing up their products, especially the welders. I have the 135 MIG welder, and after a year and a half of use, the welder did fail. It kept pumping gas out the nozzle even with the trigger off. I called them up, talked to their tech line and they gave me a choice- either send me a replacement valve, or a replacement welder. I went with the valve as that is all I really needed, but they were willing to replace the entire welder. I was impressed.
 
#36 ·
I might have missed this in the discussion, but did anyone consider that the cheap Chinese-made similar welder was in fact a copy of the Lincoln and/or Eastwood. They do a lot of re-engineering of good products, producing a cheaper (inferior) copy. For example - I talked to the folks at Trique Mfg - they make bear claw latch kits for classic trucks. They used to buy the latch mechanism from a supplier - turns out the supplier started getting copies of the latches made in China. The Chinese latches were inferior, and would pop open. As soon as they realized this, they started manufacturing the latch in-house to insure the quality. The Chinese latches looked the same, but internally were made of inferior materials.
 
#37 ·
The welder in question, is most closely related to the Century Wire feed/ Mig 140, actually it's exactly the same. A welder I think that has been discontinued ( cent 140 ). Century is made in China basically as a cheaper line to Lincoln. These 'knockoff's started coming in, around the time the Century model was discontinued and it's price was around $450 at that time. They could have fired up production of the knockoff's after Century shut down the production using the same tooling.. All I can attest to is, mine works well.
 
#41 ·
Well chances are you won't need parts in 5 years (I mean, I've never used this welder, but you know what I mean).

However, most welders all use the same parts. My Solar uses lincoln gun parts.. I assume this does as well (Tweeco? That what I'm thinking of).. Everything INSIDE the welder can be bought from any electronics place.. I wouldn't be too cnocerned with parts, except maybe the whole circuit board, but in that case, Lincoln and miller would charge you an arm and a leg for their boards anyways.
 
#43 ·
I just finished about my 50th 10lb spool of .024 wire in my Hobart 134. I am always amazed at how well these 110v units do thick metal. I have abused mine to no end and it has always done well. Here is a typical thick metal project, bucket from 1/2". Yea, I put the sharp edge on the inside (brain dead) But I later re-cut it with the hand held grinder again:










Narrow bucket good for removing trees; over 20 large trees so far:







 
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