Finally.... Broke down and bought a 252

[Agent Blue]

I have been looking for a Miller 252 MIG for a while. They never seem to go on sale and rarely come up on CL. This is my third Miller with a Lincoln 255 in the mix. Have to admire it a while because soon it may be scratched and have the "used " look. It fits right in with the recent Ellis 1600 bandsaw purchase. Now to increase the steel budget.

 

[BlacknTan]

I have been looking for a Miller 252 MIG for a while. They never seem to go on sale and rarely come up on CL. This is my third Miller with a Lincoln 255 in the mix. Have to admire it a while because soon it may be scratched and have the "used " look. It fits right in with the recent Ellis 1600 bandsaw purchase. Now to increase the steel budget.

That machine is used?? It looks brand spankin' new!

Beautiful machine! They've got one of those on my old job, and I was very impressed with it's performance.. That's a top quality tool that will last you a loooong time! Congrats!

 

[weldermike]

Good luck with it, we just got one at work with a 30A spoolgun as well. So far I like it, but very sensitive to tuning.

 

[Todd727]

I think you'll like it. I just upgraded from a 212. Really like the extra setup options and the digital displays that let you know what the real settings are.

 

[Shield Arc]

very sensitive to tuning.

Thought that was the reason Miller came out with the 252?! I have read where the 250 was very hard to dial in. Supposedly finding the sweet spot on a 250 was like finding hen's teeth!:laughing:

 

[yomax4]

Most of the Millers down through time ( except for the 35 and 200 ) had a pretty coarse set inductor. It made it hard to fine tune with minimal spatter. All work well, Just a little rough around the edges on the tuning. Weld On...

 

[weldermike]

Thought that was the reason Miller came out with the 252?! I have read where the 250 was very hard to dial in. Supposedly finding the sweet spot on a 250 was like finding hen's teeth!:laughing:

We also have an old 251 here as well and ballpark is close enough, you could re adjust yourself to make up the differance. The 252 on the other hand is a sweet running machine, but needs to be tuned spot on. Once your there its golden, but just finicky finding the sweet spot from job to job. For the most part with my machines I can memorize all my settings for different gauge material, not with the 252 tho, find myself always tweakin with it. Dont get me wrong, I love it, if I was the only owner operater it probably wouldnt be an issue, but I work with a couple other welders, and everyone always has there hands on the dials.

 

[Shield Arc]

Back in the 1970s I worked in a tank shop, they had all Airco machines. Seems as I read somewhere Miller and Airco were tied together some how. But anyway they were really nice machines, they could have been 3-phase machines. When I first went to work there everything was Mig, then they switched to all dual shield.
The power sources looked a lot like this one, but the feeders looked like a suitcase, somewhat like an LN-25.

 

[crazyal]

Before I bought my Lincoln 255 I was using a Miller 210. I really liked the miller but it had knobs with little lines where the Lincoln had an LED display. Over the years people had made pencil marks so they could set it back up to the same place. I actually liked the way the Miller welded better than the Lincoln when I fist got it but I'm not sure if it was just different. I would love to hear what you think about the differences between the 255 and the 252.

 

[Shield Arc]

I will try to distinguish differences between them. ( if any exist ) Sometimes having something your more comfortable with makes the biggest share of the improvement. Color me blue !

I haven't run enough Miller Mig machines in my life to shake a stick at. But spent the majority of my welding life running Miller and Lincoln engine drives welding with flux core gas less wire with either an LN-22 or LN-25 wire feeder. There is no doubt in my mind I can tell the difference between a Miller and Lincoln engine drive welding machine far as quality of arc, I'll take a Lincoln engine drive any day!

 

[weldermike]

All I can say is I have a friend named Kevin Miller, and all he runs is lincolns as well. All preferance! But with a last name like Miller, I think I would have to fight myself on that one! LOL

 

[Shield Arc]

One of the best weldors I ever worked with, his last name is Carpenter! :laughing:

 

[Agent Blue]

I have no idea if it is the blue paint or a superior machine. Rain forced me out of the outdoor activities and back in the cave. Couldn't help but fire up the 252 and find out if I made an expensive mistake or gained some ground. It was truely like reuniting with an old friend. It didn't take long to find the combination of heat and speed . I truely think there may a problem with the Lincoln because it is not consistant throughout the whole weld. It seems to lose power as the weld builds up with less penetration. This is more noticable in welds over two inches long. Start another pass and its right there but the same problem exists.The 252 is rock solid and the results display it. One Lincoln for sale. Yes I paid too much to update but such is life. Between the 1600 Ellis saw and the 252 ........ I'm real close to the gold standard.

 

[Stimw]

If you are not familiar with it read up on "Spray Welding". It produces the best MIG weld you will ever see!
The 250 class MIGs are recommended for spray.
I have a MM 210 and it is not supposed to be able to spray BUT it sure does something similar. ???
Spray sounds like you are TIG welding, there is barely any sound when you are doing it.

 

[Shield Arc]

Spray transfer is very fast! You'll need a machine that can really put out the volts, and the correct gas.
Here is a weld I made with C-10 gas.

How to Mig using both Short Arc and Spray transfer