This is probably a dumb question, but Im looking for my 1st welder. My neighbor has an older Miller 130 that was a friends fathers. It sat around for years without any use. He cleaned it up and put a new spool of wire on it and it works, but from what he's said its kind of inconsistent and not real smooth.

Anyways, he owes me some $$ and we've talked about just giving me the welder as payment. Basically he was going to buy it from his friend for $200. I'll probably end up taking it to get checked out to see whats up with it and what it needs to work 100%.

I guess Im just looking for some approval to make sure Im not wasting my time. I want something I can learn to weld with on my own time instead of waiting for my neighbor to be home and working on something or having to pay other people I know that do fabrication.

Im not looking to do any huge projects, I'd like to add some tube to my buggy here and there, maybe build a new spare tire carrier, and just generally hone my skills before I go out and buy a $1500 welder.

Whatcha guys think?

"Smooth" is probably the liner to the gun, a $30 fix. I bought my welder used, and it had "inconsistent feed" operation as well. I replaced the liner (properly - the previously installed liner was even installed incorrectly - cut too short!) and it's been great ever since.

The liner...thats it. Thats what my neighbor said it probably is. Like I said, it sat for years and the whole spool that was on it was rusty, and so was the wire in the liner.

I've had one since about 1994 ish... It usually sits idle unless I need a portable for some reason.

I have had the same issues you describe, and what has worked for me to remedy it is to pull the wire back out (and remove the tip), use a blow gun to back purge the liner, and then reinsert the wire (preferabley non rusty) that I have passed through a couple of foam ear plugs. Spray the plugs with WD 40, and then weld away. Worked great on my machine, and the little bit of WD in the liner seems to help the wire feed without contaminating the weld such that I'd notice. I did this same fix on a MM200, and a MM250, both after having sat for a significant time. Blowing out the liners made the biggest difference, bit the WD helped too.
All three machines had a ton of rusty colored dust come out when doing this.

Worked for me, YMMV.

Chad

I've had a 135 for almost 7 years now and love it. I've only replaced a few things including the spool drum with the newer style setup and the ground clamp. I think the liner is about due to be changed as well. Honestly surprised I've gotten away with the original liner this long..either lucky or ignorant.

Only complaint to date is the trigger. I've had to replaced terminals and it pops out of the gun every now and then.

Do you happen to no if its a 110 or 220 unit? i would almost be willing to bet its the liner or the feed roolers another cheap fix, the miller 130 unit is a deacent welder for the hobby person and would probaly be a good machine to tinker with, the only problum id if you plan on making critical welds IE suspension brackets you probaly need somthing with more adjustment, somthing you can crank the heat up and realy tune your wire speed for good penetration. i would be willing to take some chances on the welder, especialy if you know and trust the person your gettig it from. good luck :D