FieryFurnace Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Hey folks, I'm being offered a Lincoln V350 pro power welder on trade. The welder is described as "nice," with a brand new mig welding gun, an almost new 40 pound role of .045 wire, with an IF-72 wire feeder. Trade value is to a trailer I'm trying to sell for between $1200-$1500. The Lincoln website says it will do mig, tig, and stick welding and will run off of single and three phase power. Does anyone have experience with this model and what are your thoughts on Lincoln machines in general. I have a Miller 175 mig welder. I'm wondering if the mig capabilities and welder quality will be comparable to what I have already or a step up. Stick and tig capabilities would be a huge improvement for my shop I know, but what about machine quality? Thanks for any input! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Out of 45 or so industrial welders in the lab, our community college training program uses about (20) 300V or 350V Lincoln multi-process machines, 6 days a week, 7am until 11pm. Some of them are 10 years old now, and have had no more problems than Miller or ESAB units of the same ratings. If these knotheads, er, darling genius students can't kill them, then it should last you a long time. Plus, the price is right, list is $6K new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I can't directly comment on the V350 as I haven't used one, but it will be a definite step up from your MM175. Power wise that Lincoln is roughly on par with a machine like a Miller XMT 304. Price wise it sounds about in the same range as I'd expect a used XMT 304 with feeder. 40 lbs of .045 wire is a lot of big wire. Many times .045 size wire is either FC wire or dual shield in industrial applications. I mention this because you may find the wire a bit large for "average" projects. It's certainly too big to say do auto body sheet metal. Often feeders with big wire have large liners that don't always feed tiny wire well. the wire can bunch up in the liner and feeding can be erratic, especially if the gun is really long. That's not a big deal if you keep your MM175, but it may be if you plan to sell off the Miller and do a lot of work requiring small wire, a new gun or at least new liner may be needed. If on the other hand you have a need to weld a lot of 1/4" + steel, you have the right machine/wire combo for the job most likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 The Lincolns are a top notch machine. Just keep in mind, it's a dirty little secret in the welding industry that they all keep, inverter welders have a short life expectancy. I usually tell folks about 5 years, our warranty repair guy says 4 is average with 11 being the oldest he's ever seen. So if that machine is a few years old, it could go for a few more years or die tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 The Lincolns are a top notch machine. Just keep in mind, it's a dirty little secret in the welding industry that they all keep, inverter welders have a short life expectancy. I usually tell folks about 5 years, our warranty repair guy says 4 is average with 11 being the oldest he's ever seen. So if that machine is a few years old, it could go for a few more years or die tomorrow. I guess your boys never heard of Powcons. I love my V-350 Pro. Grab it. 425 actual amps, the only thing lacking is AC but the V-350 is so advanced you can actually weld aluminum with DC. Trade price is awesome, I paid $3500 for mine, used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FieryFurnace Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 The guy was undecided and I had another cash offer on the trailer so I sold it for cash! The guy offered to sell the welder to me for the cash price of the trailer ($1300) but I'm putting money aside to buy land, don't really have room for the machine, and would have to learn how to stick and tig from scratch. I'll pick something up, later on down the road. In the mean time, if anyone wants to loan me $50K to buy my dream property for sale 1/4-mile from my current shop, I would be rather grateful! Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Does it have a mill pond for a water powered blacksmith shop? That would be my dream property... There will always be more welders for sale, but they aren't making any more land (at least not very quickly)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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