What am I doing with a Miller Passport Plus MIG welder?  Anything I damn well want!

In the 48 hours since I unpacked my new Miller Passport Plus portable MIG welder I've taken it to my buddy's house to weld some tabs on to his buggy, I've welded a step assembly onto my neighbor's vintage Airstream trailer, I've done some much needed maintenance some steel bridge structures on my property, and I’ve welded some tabs for a light fixture on the gate and the end of my 100-foot driveway.  All stuff that wasn’t possible with my big 220-V MIG machine.

The Passport is an incredibly ingenious design.Miller hit a homerun as far as I’m concerned.It comes with a little 12-ounce paintball CO2 cylinder and internal regulator that you can use to run solid shielded welding wire out in the middle of nowhere.The cylinder is good for 25-feet of welding. And if you need more in the boonies, there’s always a Powertank on somebody’s rig. Or, you can run flux core wire if you’re butch. And if you want to run the Passport as your primary garage or shop welder, it’s got an easily accessible port to run a standard mixed gas bottle. Inside the welder there’s an easy to reach toggle switch to swap between internal and external shielding gas supply.

And one of the really neat things is Miller’s new Auto-Line power supply. You can unscrew the plug socket to switch between standard 115 VAC household current or 230 VAC. Switching between 110 and 220 requires nothing more than swapping the plug ends. The welder knows which power supply it’s hooked up to and automatically switches. On 115 VAC the Passport delivers between 30-140 amps, which is fine for most hobby stuff. If you need more out of it, the 230 VAC plug will get you 30-180 amps, which will let you do just about any job required for an automotive-type hobbyist, from welding axle brackets to monster skid plates.