Miller 130 for $150?

   / Miller 130 for $150? #1  

ultrarunner

Epic Contributor
Joined
Apr 6, 2004
Messages
22,664
Location
SF Bay Area-Ca Olympia WA Salzburg Austria
Tractor
Cat D3, Deere 110 TLB, Kubota BX23 and L3800 and RTV900 with restored 1948 Deere M, 1949 Farmall Cub, 1953 Ford Jubliee and 1957 Ford 740 Row Crop, Craftsman Mower, Deere 350C Dozer 50 assorted vehicles from 1905 to 2006
Neighbor is a contractor moving to Thailand... he shut down his business and liquidating.

Tonight he saw my garage door up and said I should buy his 120v Millermatic 130...

I guess he has had it for sometime... his business was setting up and modifying fast food restaurant... also has a plasma and a small tig to get rid of...

Figured I couldn't go wrong at $150... no tanks or regulator... flux core wire included...

Any Miller 130 users with tips?
 
   / Miller 130 for $150? #2  
Don't have that model but by what you've described it should be good for light welding maybe 1/4" single pass. Heavier if multipath. Use a good quality wire and for most DIY projects you should be fine.
 
   / Miller 130 for $150? #3  
If it works and isn't stolen, that's a good deal. If you set it up with some gauges and tanks, you could do some body panel welding with it. Would be very handy with the 110v.
 
   / Miller 130 for $150?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
If it works and isn't stolen, that's a good deal. If you set it up with some gauges and tanks, you could do some body panel welding with it. Would be very handy with the 110v.


Thanks for the replies RPW and 2manyrocks!

Do you think welding with gas shielding over flux is worth the cost to set up?

I can get CO2 for free in small qty... we use it at work and typically will swap out a cylinder if it doesn't have at least 500 lbs at the start of a surgical procedure... don't want to have to swap tanks in the middle of surgery... so the tanks are between 25 and 30% full.

He came over tonight and said he would sell his plasma and tig set-up for $1800... it could be a deal... he says he pd 4k with tax in 2006... although it's only a deal if I use it... the tig is very small and the plasma comes with a compressor...
 
   / Miller 130 for $150? #5  
Do you think welding with gas shielding over flux is worth the cost to set up?

i think that all depends on what you expect for a finish quality of the work. if you are going to weld stuff up and leave it exposed to the atmosphere then flux core is fine. if you intend to do automotive quality finish work, then gas shielding is a must. if you are somewhere in the middle, then it's a judgement call. i personally prefer the lack of cleanup with gas even when i brush or rattlecan paint most everything i do.
 
   / Miller 130 for $150? #6  
Gas, no gas. Depends on what you're welding and where. If welding inside the gas will give a cleaner weld with less cleanup. If you need to weld outside then flux would be more handy. Not say that you can't do either in both enviroments but ideally you would want to be shielded from any wind when using gas. One thing to consider is the tanks you can aquire do they have the same fittings as regular welding bottles? $1800 for both a plasma cutter and TIG is nice. Remember TIG requires pure Argon except for some very special welding.

Good luck.
 
 
Top