Looking to get a welder for the house
That 211i, how thick can you go with it mig and tig? I know the house should be setup for 220v so either way I will have to get a separate plug only for 230 or 240
Well, that depends on the joint and the prep. I'd be perfectly comfortable doing 1/8 and 3/16" lap joints all day long using either process. With a 45degree bevel, doing 3/8" multiple pass is no problem. I put those to a bend test all day long. But being honest, 150-160 amps is all you need for TIG on steel anyways, unless you're talking heavy commercial stuff. TIG's with horsepower are for aluminum where the heat gets sucked up. I've welded commercial 20k pintles with 160 amp TIG, obviously beveled and multiple pass welds.
I use a Miller 211 at one of my jobs, and it welds up crankshaft counterweights with no issues. Plenty of power. I own a Lincoln Power MIG 300 at my other job and I haven't had it over 18.5v on .035 wire that I remember. IMO, anything over 180 amps is frosting unless you're doing commercial/professional welding.
This welder is plenty strong for any automotive work(or the Lincoln 210MP for that matter, but no exp). For serious metal, just go SMAW with 6011 and 7018. But that's not automotive, maybe demo derby.
Being courteous, 115v welders are for sheet metal. For body work w/.024 wire, great but serious welding, notsomuch. You start talking to professional welders and mention 115v MIG or especially flux core and you get looked at funny. 115V MIG is great for auto work because it
is low power and you're not melting everything away so quickly. Flux core has it's place, I've said as much on here before, but again, not for serious automotive work. Get back to pavement or home, sure, but I prefer to focus on doing it right the first time.
Another reason why the Tweco and Lincoln are nice, they're inverters and you have complete voltage and wire feed control. You also have inductance control, which is great when you're welding the thin stuff and trying not to burn things away or to crown up the bead too much either. S/F....Ken M
