Which welder to buy?

Jeremed

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I have the option of buying a Clark 135, Lincoln 135 or a millermatic 135. I have used the Clark before, but not a miller or a Lincoln 135. I am just using for small projects. I have access to 220 volt if I need it. All welders are slightly used. The miller is significantly more money than the Clark or Lincoln. Just lookin for some advice. Thx
 
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You can never go wrong with the miller or Lincoln. The clarke welders still do a good job but the only one I have ever used only had a 5 foot torch on it. My miller has a 10 foot torch and its to short sometimes.
 
We run both millers and lincolns in our shop and the lincolns are always the last one chosen. Everyone of my guys prefer to run the millers
 
Miller or Lincolns are both good machines, I have Lincolns, 8 different machines, all good. The only Clark I have ever run was an old one, and I was not as impressed, but it could have just been that one machine.
 
i have used lots of millers 115v and 220v and only 2 lincolns that said i liked the 211amp 220v lincoln best, after we changed the liner it welded better then the millers i have used but i own a miller 135 and it work great too so either one will be great, but id go for the lincoln
 
The other question I have is, do I buy a used miller 135 or a new Lincoln 125?. They are about the same price.
 
i bought a used millermatic 135 for 400 and it welds pretty good but has problems like the connector for the wire feed will randomly stop working, you have to open it up and unplug it and plug it back in, i checked the wiring and connector pins and they are all fine. It oucld be a fluke problem but its really annoying sometimes. Just a thought when buying used. Either way if you buy used change the liner for sure and make sure the rollers arent worn out
 
the little welders we had were abused like no other. concrete poured on them, dropped from heights (one didn't make it when dropped from the 3rd or 4th floor) thrown around....like stated, change the liner, they are easy to get kinked and that wont make welding pleasant. sometimes though when people have the wrong rollers for the size of wire, like to small, it will take off little shavings of the wire and clog up the liner. so if you do get a used one, i would first take the whip off and use some compressed air to blow out the liner. the connections going from the whip to the machine (the little pins that have a part that screw on), are not the strongest so be careful with them. the one benefit with new though is the warranty. if i were to buy one though i would have no problem buying a used one as long as i could run a weld to test it out and see if any problems occur and what it would take to fix.
 
I personally have never ran a Clarke but I used to weld with a Lincoln and it was an okay welder, but it used to trip my breaker ALL the time, don't know why and never looked into it. However for the past couple of years I have been welding with a Millermatic 250 that I bought from my high school that I went to. I have only great things to say about the millermatic. Love mine.
 
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