has anyone had any experience with the multimatic 200 or 215? - field use - just for welding small brackets, nuts ect. - ill say i wont ever use the tig function but i know that will change. - primarly smaw but ocasionally mig
Was looking at that my self. Only down side I could see was you can't TIG alluminum with it.
Ive got one. The real down side is a big one; the case *looks* like the indestructible Pelican cases that the wire feeders and the Passport welders have, but it is not! The Multimatic case is just made of breakable plastic. It is not a field-grade, durable, machine. It is only a bench-top, shop-grade, machine... Also, it won't do much on 110V AC, so you will be looking for 220V power all of the time. For brackets and nuts, I'd go with a wire-feed CV inverter (Miller Passport Plus) and flux core wire, and never change it. For stick, I'd also have also a small inverter CC power source, and keep that as a separate kit. In the field, there is no point in running a Trailblazer or Bobcat as a 220VAC generator to power a Multimatic, when you could power a 8VS or 12VS wire feeder instead, with much more capacity.
I don't know about those. I have a Millermatic 252 I love it! It is a dedicated wirefeed machine. For TIG I have Dynasty 280DX. The multi process machines won't TIG as nice as a great dedicated TIG machine. For stick (SMAW) the Dynasty can't be beat, I have a Bobcat 250, but usually use an old Twentieth Century beater. Willie
The last round of field trucks that my co. purchased tend to have the Multimatics or the inverter stick welders. To power these the trucks have Enpak power packs that provide power to run them and provide electrical power plus they include an air compressor and a hydraulic pump to run the crane. The only one of our current service trucks at my shop that has a "traditional" welder is the welder/field machinist's truck which has a Big Blue 400 on a welder deck behind the cab. The previous round of trucks before these had usually Bobcats or Trailblazers mounted on the rail. Keep in mind we don't do a ton of welding work other than the dedicated guy. I think our customers farm a lot of the welding work out to somebody else but I am not sure.
Have only used my Multimatic 200 now a handful of times now, running .035 innershield. Doing maintenance work with it so far and have been able to plug into plant power vs using the trailblazer. I will agree, its not Pelican type casing, however I've seen my share of busted up Pelican cases, and also seen guys use machines that were made for the shop only in various environments and last a long time. That comes down to the user and how he cares for his machine. The other nice thing about the Multimatic is that you don't have to have a welder power source, let alone a miller one to accept the 14 pin plug in. The more I use this...the more I will critique it. Trbo