I've been running .045 Radnor on a MM210 with 75% for a couple years now for one heavy press that we build. Once you get it dialed in, it's pretty awesome to watch. Only recently, we started having embrittlement problems. Welds cracking for no apparent reason. So we started testing. The presses are built with 1x10 plate and 3x5x3/8 angle. Root penetration on the 1" plate was pretty sad, but the legs looked fantastic. Anything 3/4" and down looked great once etched, though. It really is impressive what it's capable of doing. I could push the welder for 15-20 minutes of staggered welding before going into thermal shutdown. I'd usually get one side done, then let it cool before moving on to the other side.
I fully understand that we should have been using a bigger machine this whole time, but this is a product that's been made for quite a few years now, and always done with a 200A range welder and .035 solid wire, and they've been holding up beautifully in the field, even though it's "wrong." They were intentionally designed with a ton of weld area to help compensate for this. When we started building them for the customer, we were in no position to buy a bigger welder, so we just kept doing it the way it had always been done, and we've had one, maybe two welds pop in the field out of the 30 or so that we've built. We went to dual-shield for more peace of mind. I believe our cracking problems were either a bad batch of cheap wire or issues with the 1" plate. I'm trying to get ahold of a spool of Lincoln or Esab to compare, but we'll see. After this last round of issues, we may cease production.
My point is: For what you want to do, I think you'd enjoy playing with it. It takes a little time to get it dialed in and get your technique right, but when you do, it produces the most satisfying hiss. Welding with it was quieter than welding 1/8" material with our 110v welder.
