A lot of mig welders are available today. But making the right choice among them is a difficult choice. While some don’t provide adequate features, other types are highly expensive.
If you are also planning to buy a new welder then we have a good suggestion for you. Among all the other mig welders available, here we’ll be discussing the Eastwood MIG 135 Amp welder. It is a versatile welder. Though it is not an industrial unit, it can perform many simple welding tasks. Its overall design is compact and is a highly portable unit.
Keep on reading to know more about this welder.
Quick Review of the Eastwood MIG 135
This welder, packed with 135 amps, welds mild and stainless steel, aluminum, and sheet metal. It provides good results with sheet metal, thicker and thin steel. With an optional plasma cutter, you can cut thinner metals as well.
You will need a 20 amp breaker to power this. It provides a contact tip, gas regulator and hose, tweco style gun and consumables, wire brush welding face shield, and an extra 0.023 contact tip in the purchase.
It is portable but we suggest buying a welding cart. Adding a decent welding cart will increase its portability. It can carry other equipment like shielding gas & welding wire.
Pros
- Lightweight and portable mig welder
- Able to weld a range of materials and material thickness
- Provides Infinite control over voltage
- Also has infinitely adjustable wire speed
- Comes with the IGBT technology, can be powered by a generator
- Spool gun ready unit, can weld aluminum pieces up to ⅛ inch
- Provides detailed settings chart for beginners inside the wiring compartment
- Provides solid 3 year warranty
Cons
- Duty cycle is not appropriate to support heavy duty work
- Spool gun is not included in this unit, hence you need to buy it separately
- Knurled drive roll is not included
- Provides very few consumables
- Shorter ground and torch leads
What’s Included
- Eastwood MIG 135 mig welding unit
- Steel MIG Wire 0.023”
- Extra Contact Tips of 0.023”
- 8’ long Ground cable and Gun Cable
- Tweco Style Torch, welding gun, and Consumables switchable drive roller
- A gas regulator with hose
- Welding Face Shield
- Wire Brush
Technical Specifications
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Welder Name | Eastwood MIG 135 Welder |
| Manufactured in | China |
| Type | MIG (Metal Inert Gas), Flux Core |
| Input voltage required | 110V / 120V |
| Output Amperage Range | 25-135 amp |
| Maximum Input Amperage | 20 amp |
| Duty cycle | 20% @ 90 amps |
| Infinite Voltage Control | Yes |
| Infinite Wire Feed Speed Control | Yes |
| Wire Feed Speed Range | 40-450 IPM |
| Length of Ground and torch leads | 8 ft |
| Input power cord length | 6 ft |
| Materials it can weld | Mild and stainless steel, Aluminum |
| Material/Metal Thickness (MIG) | Single pass: 24 gauge – 3/16 inch |
| Material/Metal Thickness (Flux core) | Single pass: 24 gauge – ¼ inch |
| Spool Gun Ready | Yes |
| Aluminum Thickness (with Spool gun) | 14 gauge – ⅛ inch (optional) |
| Wire spool sizes | 4 inch, 8 inch |
| Wire Thickness Range | 0.023-0.035 inch |
| Welder Weight | 56 lbs |
| Welder Dimensions | 16.1 × 9.5 × 14.5 inches (L×W×H) |
| Warranty | 3 year warranty available |
Where to buy
Eastwood MIG 135 unit is available on many retail websites. Hence you easily buy it from any of these sites. This unit can also be bought from the official Eastwood website which offers significant discounts on its products.
- Eastwood ( official website )
- Amazon
- Desert Cart
What You Should Know Before Buying The Eastwood MIG 135
Duty Cycle
The duty cycle of this mig welder is 20% at 90 amps. The duty cycle represents the run time of the welder. Though its duty cycle is low for industrial purposes, it is similar to other models of 140 amp welders.
It is most suitable for light-duty applications. It can be used by DIY hobbyists, a mechanic or light fabricators, farmers, handymen, sculptors, and metal artists. For them, the low duty cycle of this mig welder will not be a huge problem. Its duty cycle is adequate to support all their needs.
Stock Thickness
Eastwood MIG 135 welder can handle stock thickness from 24 gauge to 3/16 in a single pass. It is quite good but is slightly less than some of its competitors like Hobart 140. Hobart 140 can handle stock thickness up to 1/16 inch in a single. However, with multiple passes, you can get the same result with Eastwood 135 mig welder as well.
WFS Range/Welding Aluminum
As the WFS of this mig welder is on the lower end, it cannot be used to weld aluminum straight out of the box. It requires a spool gun to do aluminum welding. Now the good thing is that it is a spool gun ready unit. With the help of a spool gun, it weld 14 ga – ⅛ in. thick aluminum pieces. But sadly, it is not included in your purchase. So you have to spend your bucks to buy it.
Flux-Core Wire Roller
Flux core wire Roller better known as Knurled Drive roller which is considered very important to run flux core wire smoothly is not included in this welder. As a result, it won’t be able to Flux core weld effectively. But the good thing is you can purchase knurled rollers easily for flux core welding. Using flux-core rollers, welding will become a smooth experience.
Torch and Ground Leads
The Torch and ground leads are 8ft long only. It is not a major issue but it can be not certainly appropriate for a few. As for the majority of workshops, the relatively shorter length will not cause any problem.
Eastwood 135 Stand Out Features
Price
Eastwood MIG 135 unit comes at a comparatively lower price than most of its competing welders. This unit offers the same features to its users at a much cheaper rate. It is therefore an affordable mig welder suitable for those who are on a tight budget.
Controls
One thing which we like is its minimal controls. This welder features a simple and straightforward control panel. It has minimal controls including a power switch and two control knobs for voltage and WFS control. Along with this, it offers infinite voltage control so that you can fine-tune heat to get a better welding experience. Overall, it is a user-friendly machine.
Quick Set Chart
Quick Set Charts are very user-friendly and also come in handy. It is something that helps both beginners and professionals alike.
Eastwood MIG 135 also provides a settings chart inside the unit’s door compartment for quick access.
They provide a very comprehensible and well-written chart.
Spool Gun Ready
As discussed earlier, this mig welder is spool gun ready. So if you need to weld a lot of aluminum then this unit will serve you well. With the help of a 20172 spool gun, you can weld aluminum pieces from 14 gauge – ⅛ inch thick. However, you have to purchase the spool gun on your own.
MIG Torch and Ground Clamp
The MIG Torch provided by this unit is a Tweco Style Gun. The advantage of this gun is that its replacement parts can be found easily, even in big box stores.
Along with this, its Ground Clamp comes with a braided wire strap that connects jaws. It helps the welder in establishing a good ground. This feature is not available readily in welders.
Use with a Generator
Eastwood MIG 135 welder makes use of IGBT technology and inverter based design. In other words, it means that you power this welder with a generator in addition to the household current source.
It increases the working flexibility of the welder. It also gives you the freedom to work in outside settings. An Older model used to have transformer technology. But the newest model is packed with inverter technology.
3-Year Warranty
Eastwood MIG 135 provides you with a hassle-free three year warranty. Its solid warranty cover is another reason for its popularity. Warranty services come in handy at the time of machine malfunctioning or damage. They help a lot in reducing repair costs.
Apart from this, Eastwood also provides good customer service and free technical support.
Alternative to Eastwood 135
Looking for some alternatives is never a bad idea. Therefore here are some alternative welding machines to the Eastwood 135 amp unit. Some notable ones are Handler 140, Titanium 140, Lincoln Easy MIG 140, and Millermatic 140.
Hobart Handler 140
Hobart Handler 140 is a good alternative to the Eastwood MIG 135 welding unit and is its big competition too. There are many similar features in both the welders. Both come with the same duty cycle and are used for MIG welding and flux core welding tasks.
Talking about their differences, Hobart 140 provides a slightly wide amperage range (25-140A) in comparison to the Eastwood 135 ( 25-135A). The wire feed speed of Hobart 140 is also better.
Another great feature of Hobart 140 is that it has a solid aluminum drive. You can see that the Hobart 140 welder has more features than Eastwood 135, as a result of which Hobart welders are more expensive units.
However, on the downside, Hobart Handler 140 comes with transformer technology.
In terms of performance, both the units will perform well. You can buy any of these units and be assured of a great welding experience. But if you want a little more features and are ready to spend extra bucks then you can go with Handler 140 as it is a more capable machine and a more powerful machine.
Titanium 140
Another great alternative to consider is Titanium 140 welder. It is from Harbor Freight. Titanium 140 welding unit offers a better duty cycle of 30% @ 90A in comparison to Eastwood 135 which offers a 20% duty cycle at 90A. Titanium 140 also has a metal drive system.
Apart from this, it is more portable as it weighs 32 lbs less than the Eastwood unit. It will be good for you if your work requires you to move your welder frequently from one place to another.
However, the biggest advantage that Titanium 140 welder has over Eastwood 135 is that it comes with a digital display.
What Others Users are Saying
In recent years Eastwood MIG 135 has gained much attention. According to users, Eastwood 135 is a powerful machine that provides excellent bead quality and welds perfectly be it thick steel or thin metals. It can handle 14 gauge – ⅛ inch thick mild steel and stainless steel. Its infinite wire feed speed and voltage control let users have more control over the welder.
Most of the users admired its dual input power voltage option. It allows them the freedom to work in different locations.
Users said it will suit novices perfectly as it provides a beginner friendly method. It can easily do the light fabrication works like welding bicycle frames, body panels, or fixing exhaust pipes. , farm projects, restoration projects. With this welder, users can improve their welding skills or learn them. It is a good unit for you if you are a home hobbyist or a metal fabricator.
However, users also pointed out some demerits. One thing that turned off users is that it can’t do well as a heavy duty welder. In comparison to most mig welders, its duty-cycle is comparatively low for heavy application.
Secondly, it can’t weld aluminum right away, but with the right tools, it will do better. Thirdly, it lacks a knurled roller. But it is also not a major issue as it can be purchased easily. With this drive roll its flux core capabilities increases but it leads to additional cost expenditure.
All in all, Eastwood MIG 135 received a warm response from its users. Users appreciated its many great features. Users were happy with its customer service. If they didn’t like this unit then they can return it within a week and get a full refund. It is also backed by a 3 year no hassle warranty in case anything goes wrong.
Conclusion
Eastwood MIG 135 is one of the best welders of its class which can do mig, flux cored welding process. Packed with 135 amps, its overall design features intuitive systems, excellent build quality, bead quality, and easy controls suitable for intended applications ( Flux core welding tasks & Mig welding ).
It has a good quality drive roll system and adequate wire speed. In addition, it comes with the consumables and welding wire to start welding out of the box.
Its dual input voltage or power source options allow it to work well with both thick metals and thin ones.
Eastwood 135 is not an industrial mig welder so it can’t weld for long periods. But it can be put for occasional use on a heavy basis.
Though this Eastwood unit is made in China, it doesn’t feel cheap in any way. Moreover, it is a relatively cheap welder and comes within the affordable price range.
Eastwood MIG 135 is surely a good value for money. It will be a good addition to your workshop. Also, it will serve you for most of your projects. If you are planning to buy a new welding machine, give this unit a try.
