HB-28 Vs L56 Vs Hobart MIG Wire

[wmgeorge]

I sold my little Miller 140 AS (115 volt) and ended up with an older Miller 175 (230 volt) with very low miles. Using C25 gas for the welder and I just stuck in the 175 a partial small roll of HB-28 .030 that was in my 140.

Just about out of that little roll and looking for something else. TSC has the Hobart brand wire .030 for $30 a 10 lb roll. Lowes has the Lincoln L-56 wire $40 for 12.5 lb roll, again .030. Sometime in the past I've used the HTP wire and had good luck so I could go that route.
I see the Lincoln wire is no longer Made in USA.

Since this model has no actual taps, can I adjust the voltage or wire speed when welding?

Suggestions on the wire?

[Sandy]

There's no garauntee the Hobart wire will be made in the USA either. If it's important read the box 1st. Other than country of origin I prefer the Hobart wire.

No real data to back up why I like one over the other, I just do.

[urch55]

George.
You can do a lot better price wise on eBay. I buy .035 solid wire on a 44 pound spool for $60.00 and that includes shipping. It's made overseas but I can buy it for twice as much money here at my LWS and still get overseas made wire. And it welds just as good as USA wire, I just don't pay for a US name. It's a shame, get some thing half price from half way around the world.

I would check the owners manual about adjusting volts. But I know you can adjust the wire speed while welding.

[wmgeorge]

I don't think I could fit a 44lb spool in my welder if I wanted...but I never tried. My understanding is the Lincoln wire was pretty good, until they moved production to Mexico. I just want good MIG wire if I need to pay a couple more bucks thats ok.

I would think since Hobart is also Miller that the wire they make would work fine... but since its made in China I assume, I was checking in with the folks on here to make sure it had not gone down in quality like the Lincoln wire.

[Dan]

The .030 Hobart brand wire from China that I've ran has produced a clean arc and very good weld puddle wetout.

L-56 has been inconsistent. One roll runs good, and the next roll produces some visible arc inconsistencies. Weld puddle wetout has been good. Actually, I just remembered a roll of L-56 that was running extremely well on a HH 187, ran like crap on a MM 180. The MM 175 and MM 180 arc characteristics are very similar.

[whateg0]

IIRC, the manual says not to adjust welder settings while welding.
(edit: I can't find it in the manual anywhere, but it seems like I did read somewhere that it was not advised. I know it isn't on tapped machines... maybe that was what I was thinking of.)

Good luck fitting anything bigger than an 8" spool inside the wire bay of the MM175. If I was doing more welding, I would probably consider a way to pipe the wire into the machine and use the bigger spool, but if I was doing that, I'd probably have a welder that was capable of handling the bigger spool in the first place. I have been buying 11 lb spools of 0.030" at my LWS for about $20. So far, I've not noticed a difference from one spool to the next, but I haven't had to change spools in the middle of a big job where it would be most apparent, either. I suppose going that route, YMMV.

HTP does have wire on Ebay for about $36.50 shipped. That's 2 - 10# spools.

Dave

P.S. - Hobart is not Miller, and Miller is not Hobart. Neither owns the other either. They just have the same parent company.

[wmgeorge]

Yes, I know I can't use anything larger than the 10 - 12 lb spools and that's fine. I was just checking before I made a mistake and getting some wire that was c**p. Hate having this production all moved to China.

Thanks for all the good answers, I guess I am headed to TSC to get the Hobart wire...

[archer]

Download a manual from Millers website. I don't think you can adjust voltage on the fly.

[whateg0]

I checked my MM180 and then looked at the MM175 manual and couldn't find any mention of it. I wouldn't be able to hold my gun hand steady enough to use my other to make adjustments on the fly anyway!

Dave

[urch55]

I don't think I could fit a 44lb spool in my welder if I wanted...but I never tried.

George.
I was not meaning for you to buy #44 spools. I was trying to bring out the deals you can get from eBay stores. You can get #10 spools for anywhere from $10 to $15 each if you look and compare. Most of the time you buy the #10 spools two at a time. Average cost would be $15 each.

[wmgeorge]

For what little welding I do, a 10 # spool will last a year or so. Just hate buying those little 2# spools at $12 a crack, for the price of 2 I can get a larger one. Its so darn hot now, projects are on hold until it cools off.