In the market for a new welder, or possibly your first welder?  Got a 4x4 that is in need of some new sheet metal or maybe you're building the ultimate in skid plates or bumpers?  Thinking of making a nice tool box for your truck, or repairing something around the house?  The Millermatic 210 will help you achieve all this and then some.  You can weld Steel, Stainless Steel, and Aluminum.  Our projects consisted of mostly steel and aluminum, so that's what ours is set up for.  

Before I start, let's address the most important thing, safety.  First, if you are considering welding and have never done any, I would advise you to go to your local community college or trade school and sign up for some basic welding classes.  These are invaluable and can save you quite a bit of time and headache.  Not to mention, it will make your experience more enjoyable and much safer.  Next on the safety agenda is safety equipment.  Whenever or wherever you weld, no matter what type of welding you do (Mig, Tig, Arc, Oxy-Acetylene), always wear the appropriate helmet or goggles with the correct shade lens. You will also need a good pair of thick leather gloves and, at least, a welding sleeve.  I prefer a welding jacket, especially if you have to do any welding above your head.  If you are welding over your head, a good hood would also be something to consider as well.  Keep in mind that even with all the safety equipment and being careful, you will get the occasional hot piece of slag, or spatter that will find its way to your skin and give you an unexpected wake up call.  

A few other safety measures to consider includes making sure that the location where you're welding is safe and no flammable materials are nearby (duh, common sense right).  Keeping a fire extinguisher close at hand is also a good idea.  You can never be to cautious when welding, especially when welding on a vehicle.  After you have taken these precautionary steps it's time to move on to the fun part!  Well, almost time anyway.  You need to prep your parts first, making sure that anything you intend to weld is clean and down to bare metal.  No paint, rust, or oils should be on the material you're welding (well at least during welding anyway).  Contamination is one of the major causes of weld failure. Another problem is improper settings on the welder.   The Millermatic 210 includes a suggestion chart for wire speed and welding voltage, as well as gas type.  The chart is located on the inside of the access door to the welding wire and supply tray.  The guidelines on this chart are based on wire diameter and material that is being welded.  These are only guidelines, but you will find that they will get you in the ballpark so you can fine tune them to your needs.  The chart is very useful and I commend Miller for including such a helpful tool on the Millermatic 210!

When the welder arrived it was bolted down to a pallet and covered with a large box.  The ground cable, mig gun, gas regulator, and instructions were in a box located on the rear of the welder where the shielding gas bottle goes.  This welder is designed to weld steel, aluminum, and or stainless steel.  Since stainless is not on my agenda I won't  get into the particulars of setting up the 210 for stainless welding.  For steel welding with a shielding gas you can use CO₂ or an Argon CO₂ mixture.  This is what I chose as it produces a cleaner weld than plain CO₂ .  Note: with this welder you can use a flux core wire to weld steel and use no shielding gas. 

The 210 comes with a 3 prong industrial power cord already installed.  It also comes with a 10 foot ground cable with clamp.  A 12 foot 250 amp M25 mig gun that is suited best to .030 to .035 gauge wire and has 3 tips for both sizes included.  On the drive system for the wire, it's an industrial grade quick drive system that requires no tools to switch wire diameter, the included drive rolls are for .030 and .035 wire. The running gear is factory installed so you don't have to worry about bolting on the casters and main wheels, just to move it around.  It also has a very useful flip out gun and cable holder which is built into the case.  This not only holds both the M25 mig gun and the Spoolmate 3035 spool gun, but serves to keep your cables off the floor and out of the way.  One of the coolest and advantageous things about the welder is that it comes from the factory with dual gas solenoids installed and is also pre-wired for a spool gun so you won't need to buy any extra modules if you decide to add the spool gun.  You can purchase the welder as a "package" with a spool gun and dual gas bottle rack, or just get the 210 and buy the spool gun down the road if needed. 

Another unique feature of the Millermatic 210 is "Gun-On-Demand".  When the welder is on, whichever welding gun you grab is ready to use, just pull the trigger and weld.  The wire speed control and the voltage output control effect both the spool gun and the mig gun.  There is no need to switch wires or to change positions on a multi-switch in order to go back and forth from one type welding to another.  It's all done internally and automatically.  You will also find that with the dual gas solenoids already installed and tied into this system, it's smooth, care free, and fool proof! 

Wondering about the quality and durability of the Millermatic 210?  First and foremost (for me this is a major plus) this machine is Made In The U.S.A., Appleton, Wisconsin to be exact.  The 210 has the highest rated welding output in its class.  30 to 210 amps of output on a seven position adjustable tap.  You can weld from  a range of 22 gauge sheet metal up to 3/8 inch thick steel with one pass.  The 210 has a 60% duty cycle at 160 amps. Duty cycle is the amount of minutes you can weld in a 10 minute time period.  So 6 minutes out of 10 is a 60% duty cycle (which is quite a bit of time).  Exclusive to the Miller welders is the Thermal Overload Protection feature.  Should you exceed the duty cycle or should the air flow or cooling be restricted, the unit will automatically shut down to keep from damaging itself and restart when it cools back off.  I have used this welder repeatedly and have NEVER had this happen.  Not to say that it could not, but it's nice to know that this feature is here to save you time and protect your investment by preventing damage to the equipment.

The drive rollers are "quick change" as mentioned before and reversible so that you can do two wire sizes with each set.  They attach to a cast aluminum wire drive for strength and longevity.  The drive motor is the largest in its class.  The cables are thick, fine strand and well insulated with the ends terminated by large, thick eyes for easy trouble free installation on the welder.  The mig gun itself has a one piece handle with a uni-cable outer jacket to keep everything together and protected. There are steel coil springs wrapped around each end of the gun cable to further protect it.  The trigger for the gun is rated at one million cycles, I don't know about you, but that's a lot of trigger pulls for me.  The 210 is superbly built and should last for quite a while.   If that isn't enough, Miller also backs it with a True Blue 3 year warranty!  

The Spoolmate 3035 spool gun is yet another high quality piece of our setup.  It comes with 20 feet of wire and hose for connecting to the Millermatic 210. The gun controls and cables attach in a matter of minutes.  All you need to do is add another regulator and the appropriate gas for the material you're welding and you're ready to go.  It comes complete with several different size tips and drive wheels for .030 and .035 wire sizes.  Another perk is that once installed, it fits nicely into the included holder on the welder.  The Spoolmate 3035 has a 60% duty cycle at 150 amps.   

Now for the meat and potatoes, so to speak.  The setup of the welder was a breeze  once you get it off the pallet which it's bolted down to.  The included instruction manual for both the Millermatic 210 and the Spoolmate 3035 are excellent.  They give you illustrated and easy to understand instructions.  A complete parts breakdown and listing of part numbers.  Also included are basic maintenance instructions, troubleshooting tips and some welding tips.  (Note you can download both of these in PDF format right off of Miller's web site)  Begin by taking the box off the tank rack in the back of the welder where you'll find the video tape.  Watch the tape first, or if you're in a hurry, break out the instructions.  However, it is important to read and follow the instructions as well as the safety precautions given in the beginning of the instructions before using the welder.

After going through the instructions it only took me about ten minutes to have the welder set up and ready to weld steel.  First put the end of the ground cable with the lug on it through the small opening to the left of the mig gun port, then slide it through the safety boot.  Remove the nut from the negative output terminal, install the lug over the negative terminal, re-install the nut and tighten.  Next, I checked to make sure the drive wheels were set for my proper wire diameter and for alignment (should either of these need to be changed the instructions show you very simply how to do this), mine were both right on the money.  Next, loosen the securing knob on the drive assembly and insert the end of the M25 welding gun into the drive assembly (making sure that it is seated fully but does not touch the drive rolls) then tighten the knob.  Install the gun trigger plug into the proper receptacle and tighten the threaded collar. Now, set your tank on the welder and chain it to the rack so it will not fall off.  Install the regulator and attach the hose between the regulator and the welder (being sure to attach it to the right gas inlet, they're labeled for trouble free installation).  Finally, install the welding wire and feed it through the mig gun.  Now you're ready to make sparks!

To install the Spoolmate 3035 all you need to do is route the two wires and the gas tube into the same opening that the ground cable comes out of and attach them to the same studs as the M25 mig gun is attached to. (The reason for the spool gun to weld aluminum is that the aluminum wire kinks very easily, the spool gun uses the small 1 lb. spools of wire in the handle of the gun.  The drive motor and wheels for the wire are also in the gun so the wire only has to travel a few inches before it's at the welding point.)   The positive wire to the red stud and the negative wire to the black stud, plug in the gun control wire to the spool gun plug.  Slide the gas hose over the spool gun gas nipple located just above and to the right of the wire drive (it's labeled, again fool proof).  Now all you have to do is make sure the drive wheels in the gun are for the wire diameter you have (if not you will have to change them), install and feed in the wire.  It's a little different on the spool gun, the instructions illustrate this, but it involves pushing and holding down a red button on the top of the gun and feeding the wire through the drivewheels and the gun tip. Finally attach the regulator hose to the spool gun gas valve on the back of the welder.   For aluminum welding you need pure argon as a shielding gas.  You will also either have to swap tanks back and forth or get the dual tank holder.  

Now that the welder and the Spoolmate spool gun are installed and set up, it's time to build and repair.  I plugged the welder into a pre-wired 220 volt outlet and made some initial settings, took some scrap 1/2" thick steel plate and buzzed it up.  I must say that I was very impressed with the power of the welder.  It is very refreshing in this day and age to actually find something that works as advertised.  Miller states that the welder will weld up to 3/8" thick on one pass.  Well, after the first pass on the 1/2" plate their claims were proven.  There was a little more than 3/8" penetration, if I had fine tuned the adjustments a little more and took my time, I have full confidence that the 210 would weld the 1/2" with one pass.  It's great to actually have a product that does what it says.  On thin metals (like replacing four wheeling damaged body panels) it takes a little time to get used to the extra power of the 220 volt welder.  I had my best results by welding a small spot and then moving a couple of inches and doing another.  After reaching the end of the weld, going back and putting another weld beside the first, and then skipping to the next one and putting one beside it.  I did this over and over until the weld was complete.  This kept the heat distortion on the metal down and kept me from having burn through.  

Welding aluminum is a whole different ball game.  The spool gun takes a little getting used to, it's heavier than the regular mig gun and you have the spool of wire on the back of it.  You also have to plan out your welds as the gun is not small, making it difficult to get into tight places, to help with this, Miller does offer two different barrel assemblies, one which is curved, the other is straight but nine inches in length. Either of these will help you get into those tight places.  The gun works very well and has yet to kink any wire (which I ran into with another welder trying to push the wire from the welder through a normal type mig gun).  The adjustments are a bit different as far as wire speed and power versus welding with steel wire. Luckily, the settings chart on the 210's access door has recommendations for aluminum welding as well.

I have used the welder to make repair welds on body panels, add some tube to a roll cage and also weld up an aluminum organizer for a Patrol Car (always pays to keep the local law enforcement happy). I have literally tons of other projects in the works and the welder will be used and used and used.  I have no doubt that it will stand up to the long hours of welding that are ahead for it.  

The Millermatic 210 is built very well, the controls are well marked, easy to use and understand.  You can tell that the workers that built it take pride in what they do and they have an outstanding product because of it. I am very pleased with the welder and think it would be a very good investment for anyone in the market for a mig welder.  It delivers what it promises and comes from a reputable company with a long history of great welding products.  It comes with virtually everything you need to weld except gas and wire and it has a great warranty!  

Plain and simple, you can't go wrong with investing in a Millermatic 210!  It will be well worth it.

For those of you who would like to see the spec sheet on either the Millermatic 210 or the Spoolmate 3035, click on the links below to view them.  (These are in PDF format)

Millermatic 210        Spoolmate 3035

If you have any questions or comments regarding this article, contact: Glenn R. Viveiros  depdog@off-road.com    If you have any questions  or inquiries regarding this product, contact: