I'm looking at buying a starter welder and narrowed the choices down to a Lincoln 140 or a Hobart 140. Anyone have experiences with either good or bad?

We use a hobart 140 at work.

I am really impressed with how good it works.

Will run on a 15amp circuit with no problem.

I have owned both, and use them a lot! The Hobart will eventually fry circuit board. I have had mine fixed twice. It is a good unit..but HAVE to stay under duty cycle. The Lincoln SP is a heavier duty welder..longer duty cycle and better quality.
Now I use the new Millers..best 110 welder available. You will get more hours of use and it's more user friendly. All 3 are good machines, but the Miller is the best.

Well I pretty much can get the Lincoln for the price of the Hobart so I will go that route. I know the Miller is best but for my use I think the Lincoln will do fine. Thanks!

I really like my Lincoln

why spend your money twice ? get 180 at least. with the 180 you can do rollbars, cages ect. the 140 is to light

Hobart is made by Miller. I have a Hobart 140 at home and we also have one at work for small jobs.We use the crap out of it at work and it never skips a beat. The Lincoln unit uses aluminum in their power transformer instead of copper like Miller and Hobart which is not as durable. I personally would go with the Hobart, it is a better unit than the comperable Lincoln.

The 140 is still Miller. The whip has Miller stamped on it........

The new 140 Lincoln can be used for aluminum with an add on kit - wire feed moves to the gun due to difficulty getting aluminum to feed properly through cables.

The 110 welders cannot generate enough heat (current) for anything over 3/16" thick. My Lincoln 135+ works great, but I ended up buying a second welder for welding on frames, suspension brackets, crossmembers, etc. If you are only going to use the welder for hobby welding the 140 amp will work good for you, but If you can afford the 180 amp/220volt version and have a 220 outlet buy it.

I've got a 110v lincoln and it welds what I want. I bought it mainly for sheet metal/light car frame use. It does the job just fine. If I ever need to do heavier stuff, I will get a stick welder. But the small lincoln mig is good enough for 99% of my needs.

I borrowed a friend's Lincoln something HD model. I think the HD stands for Home Depot model. It was maxed out. Would hate to use it all the time. It was flux core, so that may have added to my dislike of it. I bought the Lincoln 180C and love it. Stuck a clothes dryer type plug on the side of my breaker panel, and use a 20' 10 gauge extension cord for the 220V requirements. Whenever I use it, I'm not thinking "I wish I saved some money and got the cheap one."

Like many tools it depends on the use its going to be put through. I Have a Lincoln SP-100 (predessesor to the SP-125) that I've been using, lightly, for over ten years. Bought it used. Maybe use it 15-20 times a year, rarely on anything bigger than 1/8", but a few times yes. It performs flawlessly. Lincoln makes good stuff, as does Miller & Hobart. Stay away from Century and HArbor Freight stuff for this.

I have an older Hobart 120? (small 110v mig), and it works really well on 3/16" and thinner steel.
I have welded 1/4" with it for some brackets, and no problem as long as the edges are beveled so you can get into the steel. I have an old stick welder for heavier stuff.
Anyhow, any of the good Brand name welders (Hobart or Lincon) work well for car hobby type projects, just spend the extra money for the gas setup. The flux cored wire leaves more spatter, and I think larger in diameter than the small solid wire. Anyhow when I tried using the flux core wire it was more prone to burn through thin sheetmetal, but it is OK on exhaust tubeing and brackets.

Is the 140 Hobart 110v or 220v? Just wanted to clarify (since we can't edit anymore ) My 150 is 220 and is perfectly capable of welding 1/4" in one pass.

Its out of scope for what you asked about, however I must add to your thread that I love my Miller 210. Perhaps a used one on CraigsList would cost the same as a new 140? A 210 would be all you ever need in a MIG for auto type welding IMHO...

I do think you will get all you need for 95% of garage work with the smaller MIG you are looking at though, so not too big a deal on the upgrade to a 210 unless you can get a good used deal.

I second the suggestion to get a 210. I could not live without it. I had a 110v model and had a miserable experience. They don't regulate well, causing unnecessary burn-throughs/lack of penetration. Plus, the duty cycles are generally pretty low. The 210 has welded everything I've ever thrown at it, from an automotive perspective. I wouldn't get rid of it for love or money..

Buy the biggest welder you can afford with the money you can spend.

The difference between a 110v and even the 175/180 class 220v machines is huge. There's MUCH more to a welder than the material thickness it's capable of welding.

The ONLY reasons IMHO to buy a 110v machine are 1) cash 2) portability 3) lack of 220v service. Service is easy to put in. Portability isn't a big deal unless you plan on dragging it to friends to weld. Cash is the biggest issue.

You can find a complete 1-3 yo Miller 175/180 with tank/cart and occasionally helmet for around 450-750. Just have to look. Craigslist is a good place to start. There's a Lincoln 250 in Tulsa for $700

And the comment about it's just for this... never works out the way... You'll end up doing other projects that require more oooomph. DAMHIK!

I've had the Lincoln 3200HD and two 140s. Stinkin thieves!

I really like them and never had a need for anything larger. I've easily welded everything from sheet metal to 1/4" without ever saying "I wish I had a bigger welder."

The portability is a biggie. I've hauled it around to several different places (stolen from two other homes ) to use it for structural steel and building the off road buggy amongst other things.

Unless you get into something really crazy, I doubt you'll out grow one of these. If you do, save your pennies as best you can and get a SECOND welder. That way you've still got one that can be used wherever you go.

I've seen some guys break important stuff on their cars at the track. They needed a welder. If they had the 110V unit, they could have powered it off a generator and fixed their ride.

You can do a bunch with the little $400 units. More than most people think.

However, if you decide to build ocean-going container ships or multi-lane freeway bridges, something larger would be handy.

even though its not the question get a Miller mig 140.
they die hard and run anywhere.
ive had them all and i mean in ###
and the miller is the only one still going and my 10 yr old nephew said it was the easyiest to run too.
yea i got a Miller Syncrowave tooo so i can compare to the best.

OK, I'm going to throw this out there because I've had a good experience with mine:
Clarke 180EN 220V/180A MIG

I searched for several months to find a used Miller, since there's a Miller store not far from me. Not sure what was going on, but you couldn't touch a used 110V unit for less than $700 back then (6-7 yrs ago), and I really wanted a 220V for the extra flexibility. I finally got to where I NEEDED a welder for my LCA project and couldn't find the Miller I wanted, I bit the bullet and ordered the Clarke. I got it delivered in 3 or 4 days for about $560, including the cart, autodark helmet & regulator. FWIW, the cart is functional, but a PO$, and would make a good project if you have the time. I also ordered a small pile of consumables, but most TWECO-style gun parts will fit.

I wired my garage with a single 220V outlet near the door, and made up a 15-20' heavy extension cord so I could reach anywhere in the garage and most anywhere under the carport. So far, I've made an engine cradle, a set of boxled LCA's, subframe connectors, torque boxes, and a number of small engine accessory brackets. The unit has worked perfectly, with the only problems I have ever seen related to me forgetting to turn the gas on (snap-crackle-pop), forgetting to turn it off (empty tank - again!), and wire so old it gets crud on it and doesn't push well. Those have all been easy fixes. Some day I hope to have time to weld more often and avoid all three situations.

Is the Clarke a great welder? Probably not. It doesn't have the infinite power/feed adjustments that other higher-dollar units have, but it seems (to this rank amateur) to do the job I need it to do. I've called their tech support (in OHIO) a few times for questions about how to weld or what to do, and they've always been helpful. For me, it was - and is - a great "starter" welder, and should last me a long time given the limited amount of welding I do.

Clair