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So my partner in crime moved out of my shop and took his welder with him. I guess I have to pony up some $$ and buy a new one.

Any recommendations/insight is greatly appreciated. He had a Miller 251, I've done primarily Mig but I've scene a lot of machines that can apparently mig, tig and even some that can plasma cut as well. I'm not worried to much about cost cause I want to buy one and done. That being said I want Value not just the most expensive.


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Decide what you really need and buy from there. Most multi purpose machines I've seen unfortunately can"t do all their claimed processes well. If you want a plasma, buy a dedicated one. Same with welding machines, decide the primary process you want and buy a specific machine. The number of sales people who come into where I work with the next wonder machine can NEVER get them to do as good as a dedicated machine can. Just my $0.02.

As Rod said buy a dedicated machine, they just work better. Plus when that one machine goes down you are dead in the water. I would replace the Miller 251 with another 251 or 210. 210 will do what you need for general fabrication. The 251 is just a better machine with more capabilities. Wish I would have picked up a 251 but I have not needed anything more that what my 210 can deliver. With either machine you can run an aluminum spool gun for thicker aluminum. Lincoln makes good machines too but just not that familiar with their product. Stay between miller and Lincoln and you will be in good shape.

So if I stick with the 251 or even the 210 for mig, what's a good TIG setup to go for?


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That is a wide open questions. You can piss away a ton of money on a big setup. For simple general smaller stuff you can get away with a 165 diversion. Not too much of a duty cycle but enough for a small shop and if you aren't in a hurry. Depends on if you want a foot control or torch control, water cooled torch, and on and on. 165 diversion is about $1600 new. Sure you could find one used. Otherwise the price jumps and gets anywhere from 5-8k.

I'll jump on the "buy separate machines" bandwagon. I've used the Snap-On dual MIG/TIG machine & was not impressed. I'm pretty sure if you go to a BIG machine (read expensive!) that is really a power source I think they can run a spool gun and then TIG setup as well, but I'm pretty sure it's all purchased separately.

I don't MIG much at all, and don't even have a 220v machine but I can say my buddy's Miller seems to work well. I think it was a 210. May be bigger. For a home shop doing 1/4" thick stuff max and not frequently I'd think a 185 could do the trick.

For the TIG - I've used Lincoln and a few others infrequently and Miller a lot. Any of the above should serve you well for a home shop, but I stray towards Miller as it's what I've used the most. I used to have a Syncrowave 300 that was physically huge. I think it was built in the 80's. It did everything I ever needed & had power to spare. I replaced it with a "newer" Syncrowave 250 and I'm in the same boat. I only "upgraded" as I got the newer machine for a deal (used) and it was slightly smaller physically. I would definitely suggest buying a used machine to save a bucket of cash. Test it out 1st to make sure things function properly & you should be good. Newer machines are a bit more space friendly as they are physically smaller, but if you have a bit of room you can save some cash with an older machine. The lincoln 300/300 machines, older Airco's and the older Syncrowaves have always done well when I've used them. Parts are readily available for the Lincoln and Miller from what I've experienced. Not positive if they are for the older Airco stuff.

I realize this is an old topic, but figure I could add a little insight. I have dedicated Dynasty and Millermatic machines in my shop. In a shop environment dedicated machines are gold for all the reasons already listed.

However, I have several of the miller Multimatic 200 units. That see both shop and field use. A couple of my welders prefer the stick arc on them to the dynasty for their weld tests. The mig with 0.023 wire is great for sheet metal. Tig is lift arc only, so limited but still very good arc. I use them very frequently on job sites. In one week I had a machine running tig for tacking pipe inside an enclosure, mig welding back up some of the enclosure we had to cut away for access and running stick cap on pipe when the Trailblazer went down. All in an easily transportable package that can run on 120 or 240 vac.

So I would say that while they are definitely not as good as dedicated machines can be at specific tasks, they can be a life saver in the field.

And I would vote to stay away from the Diversion. Much better machines for better prices available out there in my opinion.

Either go with dedicated machines or get a big (like 500A) used stick welder that can do constant current (most of the big ones can) and buy accessories (like a tig setup) as needed.