Welders? Any welders on this site?

[Dave Shepard]

There's another bad one, cadmium plating maybe? They say you pass out, and when you wake up, you feel fine. Until you drop dead 24 hours later.

 

[flushcut]

Still coughing some, short on breath. I’ll be ok. I’m married with children, what’s the worst that could happen.

“That prick needs a beating!”

That’s considered premeditated in most courts.

Only if I’m the one doing the beating.

 

[BlackSmith]

There's another bad one, cadmium plating maybe? They say you pass out, and when you wake up, you feel fine. Until you drop dead 24 hours later.

There isn’t much about welding that isn’t toxic. If what you’re working on isn’t everything around you probably is. At least I’m not working in a cubicle.

 

[Tree09]

Amen to that

 

[Bodean]

Hey Welders.

Any comments on the first three welders?
They are the closest the others on different islands…

 

[flushcut]

The Lincoln ac/dc stick welder is the best bang for the buck. Solid, dependable, and will last for decades and you probably will not loose money on when your great grandkids sell it. They are called a buzz box or tombstone welder. They are just a basic welder that can weld any type of rod and can be set up for tig welding with a few accessories.

 

[Tree09]

The Miller dialarc is a badass machine, it's even got high frequency so you can tig weld aluminum way down the line. That's an old professional model, I've welded a bunch with one, it uses points to provide the high frequency so it's simple to fix. That's the one i would buy out of all the ones shown, failing that the Lincoln acdc buzzboxes. The acdc Lincolns will last forever too, and are a perfect machine to learn on and keep forever. The dialarc will be bigger than the tombstones so that might be a consideration too, but it will likely weld better than the lincons because it's a professional model.

 

[Dave Shepard]

That Miller looks very similar to my 330 A/BP. It's 860 lbs bare. Spark gap is .008" on mine.

 

[pigwot]

Finally sent the motor control printed circuit board from my little Millermatic 130 out to Innovat Corp. in Virginia to have it rebuilt. $120 incl shipping. New old stock boards are selling for $325 to $425, but are prone to the same transistor failure. The folks at Innovat will test and replace any needed components.

Innovat Corp.

 

[pigwot]

Deva,
Not sure about your area, but I understand from a friend on Oahu that ‘windward island’ living means a lot of humidity/corrosion with electronics, so definitely have someone in the know help you check out any welder you’re considering. That being said he is a musician, but what does amplifiers in prematurely could also affects welders.

 

[Tree09]

That's why you go old school, no circuit boards and mosfets. Old school is heavy but lasts.

 

[flushcut]

One other thing to consider is what you have for available power. Are the welders you are looking at single phase? 3 phase? Amp draw? Voltage? I think the Lincoln buzz box needs a 50 amp breaker. I had a Miller thunderbolt, also a buzz box, that wanted a 100amp breaker.

 

[Bart]

Per the above post, my mig can run perfectly fine 180 amps on a shit 100 ft extension cord 115v 15A. Onboard batteries, that's what set it apart from the crowd. Definitely paid a bit for that but don't regret it. Can do cordless for a short repair.

 

[Bodean]

wow.. WOW.. wow… The TreeHouse Rocks.

Thank you so much for input…. I need to learn a new thing for later on when I don’t want to climb anymore. But for now feeling good and cruising.
So much good info.. here.
Ill let you guys know when I buy one… gonna buy a couple goats tomorrow for the yard grass.
Meanwhile my boss just bought a welder, I’ll get a picture Monday. So training on the job… we bust a lot of shit.

 

[Bart]

You sign on a factory ride with Maico break-O?

 

[Bodean]

Had to look that up…. Made a little grass track through the cane grass for my kids xr100… so much fun.
I may have the only husqvarna bike on the island…. Mainly Honda and Suzuki…

 

[pigwot]

I liked working on Husky bikes back in the day. The Yamahas and Hondas and other rice burners for the most part weren’t as well-designed.

 

[Bodean]

Hey Pat. Thanks for all the rad insight.
Husky these days was recruited from the KTM team. They in bed together so tons of funding.

 

[pigwot]

Motor control board was in the mail just now. Nicely packaged and via Priority Mail. That was fast turnaround!

And it ‘wasn’t’ the Transistor at location Q51 on the schematic, as everyone on the forum assured me it would be. It was the main power relay on the board.

Innovat Corp diagnosed it properly, and definitely know their boards, and the soldering was clean.

But I won’t show you the bead I ran to test it out, once I had reassembled the welder, as sadly Innovat was not able to remotely fix my unsteady hand 🤣

 

[Bart]

Off topic again, rich judge's son in our neighbourhood got a showroom Elsinore 125 and 250 76 I believe. Noisiest tallest thing I ever saw. grade school. Only heard about the Maico's never saw one.

Does it count back on topic if I make a bzzzzzt sound?

 

[flushcut]

Not that I care derail away but maybe start a new thread about bikes so the forum isn’t dominated by Biden/Trump bullshit.

 

[pigwot]

Lot of Synchrowave 200 and 250 welders on auction near me.
Are those worth looking at?

Auction Items

 

[Tree09]

Yes

 

[pigwot]

 

[flushcut]

Pull the trigger. That’s probably a $5000.00 + machine new